James Thomason (3 May 1804 – 17 September 1853) was a British administrator of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

and

Lieutenant-Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a " second-in-com ...

of the

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdo ...

between 1843 and 1853.

Early life

The son of Thomas Truebody Thomason, a British cleric in Bengal from 1808, and his first wife Elizabeth Fawcett, he was born on 3 May 1804 in

Little Shelford Little Shelford is a village located to the south of Cambridge, in the county of Cambridgeshire, in eastern England. The River Granta lies between it and the larger village of Great Shelford, and both are served by Shelford railway station, whic ...

. He was educated in England from 1814, at Aspenden Hall School, Hertfordshire, where he knew

Thomas Babington Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1 ...

, living with his paternal grandmother Mrs Dornford, and

Charles Simeon Charles Simeon (24 September 1759 – 13 November 1836) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric. Life and career He was born at Reading, Berkshire, in 1759 and baptised at St Laurence's parish church on 24 October of that year. He was the ...

. Simeon, in Cambridge, his godfather and effective guardian, gave him a great deal of attention. In 1818 Thomason became a pupil in 1819 at Stanstead Park, near

Racton Racton is a hamlet in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It lies on the B2147 road 2.1 miles (3.4 km) northeast of Emsworth and within the civil parish of Stoughton. The hamlet lies along the River Ems. 0.4 miles north of th ...

in Sussex, of

George Hodson George S. Hodson (June 1868 – January 9, 1924) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Boston Beaneaters in 1894 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1895.

, who was tutoring

Albert Way Albert Way (23 June 1805 – 22 March 1874) was an English antiquary, and principal founder of the Royal Archaeological Institute. Birth and family background Way was born in Bath, Somerset, on 23 June 1805. He was the only son of Lewis Way ...

, son of

Lewis Way Lewis Way (1772–1840) was an English barrister and churchman, noted for his Christian outreach to the Jewish people. He is not to be confused with his grandfather, also called Lewis Way, a director of the South Sea Company. Life Lewis Way was b ...

in what became a small class of six boys that included

Samuel Wilberforce Samuel Wilberforce, FRS (7 September 1805 – 19 July 1873) was an English bishop in the Church of England, and the third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his day. Natural ...

. He moved on to

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

Career in India

James Thomason returned to India in 1822. He held numerous positions there, including magistrate-collector, settlement officer in Azamgarh (1832–37), and foreign secretary to the government of India (1842–43). In 1843 he was named

of the

, a post he held for ten years. By 1853 he had also established a system of 897 locally supported elementary schools in centrally located villages that provided a

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

for children throughout the region. He was appointed as governor of Madras by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

, but did not survive to assume the post. He died on 27 September 1853, at

Bareilly Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The c ...

, India, where he was staying with Maynie Hay, his married daughter.

Legacy

ThomasonCollegeOfEngineeringRoorkeeEst1847

James Thomason proposed that a civil engineering college be established at Roorkee. In 1847, the first civil engineering college in India begun in part to train engineers for the

Ganges Canal The Ganges Canal or Ganga Canal is a canal system that irrigates the Doab region between the Ganges River and the Yamuna River in India. The canal is primarily an irrigation canal, although parts of it were also used for navigation, primaril ...

was opened and named the

Thomason College of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (abbreviated IIT Roorkee) is a technical university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It is the oldest engineering institution in India, and was founded as the College of Civil Engineering in Bri ...

in Thomason's memory by

Proby Cautley Sir Proby Thomas Cautley, KCB (3 January 1802 – 25 January 1871), English engineer and palaeontologist, born in Stratford St Mary, Suffolk, is best known for conceiving and supervising the construction of the Ganges canal during East India ...

, the designer of the canal. It gained university status in 1949 It is now the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

Early life

Career in India

Legacy

References

Further reading