Life

Thomas Duer Broughton was son of the Reverend Thomas Broughton, rector of St. Peter's, Bristol. He was educated at Eton

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

, and went to India in 1795 as a cadet 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...

's Bengal Army

Bengal Army

The Bengal Army was the army of the Presidency of Bengal, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia. Although based in Bengal in eastern India, the presidency stretched across northern India and the Himalayas all the way to the North West Frontier Province...

. He became a lieutenant in 1797 and fought at the siege of Seringapatam

Siege of Seringapatam

Siege of Seringapatam can refer to:* Siege of Seringapatam during the Third Anglo-Mysore War* Siege of Seringapatam during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War...

 in 1799. He was afterwards appointed Commandant of the Cadet Corps, described in his obituary in the United Services Magazine as " a sort of college formed to receive the cadets, and teach and discipline them on their first arrival in the country, an office obviously requiring sound judgment and discreet management". In 1802 he was appointed military resident with the Mahratta

Mahratta

Mahratta may refer to* the Maratha caste, a ruling class of the Indian subcontinent* the Maratha EmpireShips*SS Mahratta , lost in a collision with SS Victoria in 1887 in the River Hoogly.* SS Mahratta , lost on the Goodwin Sands in 1909....

s. He published his experiences in a book entitled Letters written in a Mahratta Camp during the year 1809, descriptive of the character, manners, domestic habits, and religious ceremonies of the Mahrattas (1813). During this period he also collected Hindi poems from the oral tradition, publishing his transcriptions and translations as Selections from the Popular Poetry of the Hindoos (1814). He was appointed to the command at Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

, shortly before the restoration of the island to the Dutch. In 1829 he was promoted to the rank of colonel.

On his return from India he became honorary secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society,and travelled widely in Britain and southern Europe. He also published Edward and Laura, a free translation of a French novel by a follower of Rousseau

Jean Rousseau

Jean Rousseau was a French viol player, composer, and author remembered principally for his Traité de la viole , a valuable source of information on the performance practices of his time....

, and translations of Persian poetry.

He died in Dorset Square, London, on 16 November 1835.