Thomas Metcalfe, 4th Baronet

Thomas Metcalfe on a drawing from the Delhi Book , a volume with 120 pictures by Indian artists, which Metcalfe sent his daughters to England in 1844. Metcalfe (center above, on the red chair) is shown during a procession on the occasion of the Indian festival of Id.

Sir Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe, 4th Baronet KCB (* 1795 , † 1853 ) was a British civil servant and member of the lower house of the British Parliament , who played a decisive role in the history of British India .

Life

Metcalfe was one of the personalities of the British East India Company , who ensured the exercise of supremacy in India . He came to Delhi in 1813 and stayed there until the end of his life. From 1835 he held the role of resident in Delhi.

In 1846 he inherited from his relative Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe his 1802 created title Baronet , of Chilton in the County of Berkshire.

One of the goals he pursued was to ensure that after the death of Bahadur Shah II, the rule of the Mughals would expire (so-called Doctrine of Lapse ). Bahadur Shah, on the other hand, tried to impose his favorite son Mirza Jawan Bakht as heir to the throne . Metcalfe's death in 1853 is sometimes attributed to poisoning on behalf of Zinat Mahals , the mother of Mirza Jawan Bakht.

Thomas Metcalfe's son, Theophilus Metcalfe, was also stationed in India from the 1850s. He was serving in Delhi, which was met with displeasure from his father. He survived the Indian uprising of 1857 , but was believed to be partly responsible for the massacre of Indian civilians after Delhi was retaken by British troops. He was sent back to England in 1858.

literature

Ursula Beisinger: The origins of the uprising of 1857 in Oudh , Frankfurt am Main, Univ. Diss., 1959
Christopher Hibbert: The great mutiny: India 1857 , London [u. a.] 1988
Tapti Roy: The politics of a popular uprising: Bundelkhand in 1857 , Delhi [u. a.] 1994

Web links

Commons : Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Great Britain House of Commons: Journals of the House of Commons . HM Stationery Office, 1806 ( google.de [accessed July 22, 2017]).
^ Pegram Harrison: Review of Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860-1920 . In: Enterprise & Society . tape 9 , no. 3 , 2008, p. 537-539 , JSTOR : 23701172 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles Metcalfe	Baronet, of Chilton 1846-1853	Theophilus Metcalfe

personal data
SURNAME	Metcalfe, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Metcalfe, Sir Thomas Theophilus, 4th Baronet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British colonialist
DATE OF BIRTH	1795
DATE OF DEATH	1853

[1] Great Britain House of Commons: Journals of the House of Commons . HM Stationery Office, 1806 ( google.de [accessed July 22, 2017]).

[2] Pegram Harrison: Review of Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860-1920 . In: Enterprise & Society . tape 9 , no. 3 , 2008, p. 537-539 , JSTOR : 23701172 .