David Price (East India Company officer)
Encyclopedia
David Price was a Welsh
orientalist and officer in the East India Company
.
, near Brecon
. After the death of his father, a curate, Price was educated at Christ College, Brecon
, before matriculating on 5 November 1779 as a sizar
of Jesus College, Cambridge
, but was nearly penniless by summer 1780 and had to leave the University. He decided to join the East India Company
's army, becoming a cadet in it due to his father's friends' influence, sailing for India on the Essex in 1781 and reaching Madras in August that year before volunteering to serve in southern India and returning to the Essex to take him there. He participated in the siege of Negapatam
and the capture of Trincomali in Ceylon during the passage to Bombay, arriving on 22 April 1782 and being appointed the following November to command the 2nd Battalion of Bombay sepoy
s. He then served in the wars on Tippu Sultan in 1782-84, 1790-92 and 1799, losing a leg at the siege of Dharwar in 1791 and thus being re-posted to the guard of Sir Charles Malet, political minister at Poona, then in 1792 to a staff appointment at Surat
by the Bombay governor Jonathan Duncan the elder.
During his time at Surat he had enough free time to become keenly interested in Persian culture, collecting manuscripts and studying its historical classics, including the Akbarnama
by Abu'l-Fazl
, though he also rose to become the Bombay Army's judge-advocate-general from 1795 to 1805. A brevet
captain by 1795, he was promoted to full captain two years later. He also served as military secretary and interpreter to Colonel Alexander Dow
in Malabar (1797–8) and then as Persian translator to General James Stuart, commander of the Bombay Army
(1799), being present at Seringapatam
's capture and acting as the army's prize agent (thus making his own fortune). Next he returned to Bombay to continue his studies of Persia, being promoted to major in March 1804 before finally returning to Britain in February 1805, though he only retired from the Company in October 1807, on his marriage to a relative.
He lived in retirement at Brecon, writing works on oriental history and serving as magistrate and deputy lieutenant
of Brecknockshire
. He was also a committee member of the Oriental Translation Fund, winning its gold medal in 1830, and of the Royal Asiatic Society
(bequeathing the latter over 70 oriental manuscripts). He died at his home, Watton House, Brecon.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
orientalist and officer in the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
.
Life
Price was born at Merthyr CynogMerthyr Cynog
Merthyr Cynog is a hamlet and a community in the county of Powys in mid Wales.The Welsh name signifies the 'shrine of Cynog'. The church, a place of pilgrimage, is dedicated to Saint Cynog, a son of Brychan Brycheiniog...
, near Brecon
Brecon
Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...
. After the death of his father, a curate, Price was educated at Christ College, Brecon
Christ College, Brecon
Christ College, Brecon is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school, located in the market town of Brecon in mid-Wales. It caters for pupils from eleven to eighteen.Christ College was founded by Royal Charter in 1541 by King Henry VIII...
, before matriculating on 5 November 1779 as a sizar
Sizar
At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is a student who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined job....
of Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
, but was nearly penniless by summer 1780 and had to leave the University. He decided to join the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
's army, becoming a cadet in it due to his father's friends' influence, sailing for India on the Essex in 1781 and reaching Madras in August that year before volunteering to serve in southern India and returning to the Essex to take him there. He participated in the siege of Negapatam
Battle of Negapatam (1782)
The Battle of Negapatam was the third in the series of battles fought between a British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and a French fleet under the Bailli de Suffren off the coast of India during the American Revolutionary War...
and the capture of Trincomali in Ceylon during the passage to Bombay, arriving on 22 April 1782 and being appointed the following November to command the 2nd Battalion of Bombay sepoy
Sepoy
A sepoy was formerly the designation given to an Indian soldier in the service of a European power. In the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army it remains in use for the rank of private soldier.-Etymology and Historical usage:...
s. He then served in the wars on Tippu Sultan in 1782-84, 1790-92 and 1799, losing a leg at the siege of Dharwar in 1791 and thus being re-posted to the guard of Sir Charles Malet, political minister at Poona, then in 1792 to a staff appointment at Surat
Surat
Surat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
by the Bombay governor Jonathan Duncan the elder.
During his time at Surat he had enough free time to become keenly interested in Persian culture, collecting manuscripts and studying its historical classics, including the Akbarnama
Akbarnama
The ' , which literally means Book of Akbar, is the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor , commissioned by Akbar himself and written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abul Fazl who was one of the nine jewels in Akbar's court...
by Abu'l-Fazl
Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
Shaikh Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak also known as Abu'l-Fazl, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami was the vizier of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, and author of the Akbarnama, the official history of Akbar's reign in three volumes, and a Persian translation of the Bible...
, though he also rose to become the Bombay Army's judge-advocate-general from 1795 to 1805. A brevet
Brevet (military)
In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
captain by 1795, he was promoted to full captain two years later. He also served as military secretary and interpreter to Colonel Alexander Dow
Alexander Dow
Alexander Dow was an Orientalist, writer, playwright and army officer in the East India Company.-Life:...
in Malabar (1797–8) and then as Persian translator to General James Stuart, commander of the Bombay Army
Bombay Army
The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia.The Presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government of India Act 1858 transferred all three presidencies to the direct...
(1799), being present at Seringapatam
Battle of Seringapatam
The Siege of Seringapatam was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's...
's capture and acting as the army's prize agent (thus making his own fortune). Next he returned to Bombay to continue his studies of Persia, being promoted to major in March 1804 before finally returning to Britain in February 1805, though he only retired from the Company in October 1807, on his marriage to a relative.
He lived in retirement at Brecon, writing works on oriental history and serving as magistrate and deputy lieutenant
Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire
This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire. After 1723, all Lord Lieutenants were also Custos Rotulorum of Brecknockshire...
of Brecknockshire
Brecknockshire
Brecknockshire , also known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, and a former administrative county.-Geography:...
. He was also a committee member of the Oriental Translation Fund, winning its gold medal in 1830, and of the Royal Asiatic Society
Royal Asiatic Society
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was established, according to its Royal Charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia." From its incorporation the Society...
(bequeathing the latter over 70 oriental manuscripts). He died at his home, Watton House, Brecon.
Works
- Chronological retrospect, or, Memoirs of the principal events of MahommedanMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
history … from original Persian authorities (3 vols., 1811, 1812, 1821), which soon became a reference work, covering the period from Muhamed's death of Muhammad to AkbarAkbar the GreatAkbar , also known as Shahanshah Akbar-e-Azam or Akbar the Great , was the third Mughal Emperor. He was of Timurid descent; the son of Emperor Humayun, and the grandson of the Mughal Emperor Zaheeruddin Muhammad Babur, the ruler who founded the Mughal dynasty in India...
's accession, with the earlier volumes mainly based on the Persian chronicles of MirkhondMirkhondMīr-Khvānd, Moḥammad ibn Khvāndshāh ibn Maḥmūd was a noted Persian-language historian of the fifteenth century. Born in 1433 in Bukhārā, present-day Uzbekistan, the son of a pious man belonging to an old Bukhāran family of sayyids, or direct descendants of Muḥammad, Mīr-Khvvānd grew up and died in...
and KhwandamirMuhammad KhwandamirGhiyāś ad-Dīn Moḥammad Khwāndamīr, Khvandamir, or Khondamir or Hondemir was a Persian Islamic scholar born in Herat, in 880 AH or 1475 CE, a grandson and successor to noted historian Mirkhond.-Biography:...
, and the final volume mainly on Abu'l-FazlAbu'l-Fazl ibn MubarakShaikh Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak also known as Abu'l-Fazl, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami was the vizier of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, and author of the Akbarnama, the official history of Akbar's reign in three volumes, and a Persian translation of the Bible... - Essay towards the History of Arabia antecedent to the Birth of Mahommed (1824, from the Persian text of Et-TabariMuhammad ibn Jarir al-TabariAbu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
) - translation of the Memoirs of the Emperor JahangueirJahangirJahangir was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1605 until his death. The name Jahangir is from Persian جهانگیر,meaning "Conqueror of the World"...
(1829; new edn, 1972) - Account of the Siege and Reduction of ChaiturChaitur-External links:*http://villages.euttaranchal.com/PauriGarhwal/Pauri/Chaitur/06020163...
… from the Akbar-namahAkbarnamaThe ' , which literally means Book of Akbar, is the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor , commissioned by Akbar himself and written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abul Fazl who was one of the nine jewels in Akbar's court...
(1831) - The Last Days of KrishnaKrishnaKrishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
(1831) - Memoirs of the early life and service of a field officer (1839) - published anonymously