Dennis Kincaid (16 October 1905 – 10 June 1937) was a civil servant in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
, a novelist and the writer of ''Shivaji: The Grand Rebel'', a widely respected account of the life of the sixteenth century self-made Emperor, and ''British social life in India, 1608-1937'', a classic account of the British in colonial
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
Dennis Charles Alexander Kincaid was born on 16 October 1905, the elder son of
Charles Augustus Kincaid
Charles Augustus Kincaid, CVO (1870–1954) was a British administrator in India. A member of the Indian Civil Service, he was the son of Major-General William Kincaid, sometime Resident of Bhopal.
Kincaid co-authored with Dattatray Balwant Par ...
.
His father was a senior member of the Indian Civil Service, and was also a well-known novelist and historical writer.
His grandfather was Major-General
William Kincaid, the Resident of
Bhopal
Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...
.
Kincaid studied at
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world.
With a governing body of a master and aro ...
(1924–1927), then obtained a post with the Indian Civil Service.
He arrived in
Bombay
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
in 1928, where he was assigned work with the courts.
He wrote two novels about life in India.
His ''Cactus Land'' (1934) was an unusual story, breaking with the conventions of Indian novels of that period.
Kincaid drowned on 10 June 1937 while swimming in a rough sea.
[
His work ''British social life in India, 1608-1937'' was not quite complete at the time of his death, and was completed by his friend David Farrer.][
His treatment of ]Anglo-Indians
Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Anglo-Indian" has a ...
in this book has been criticized as being an "over-the-top caricature".[
]
Bibliography
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Further reading
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kincaid, Dennis
1905 births
1937 deaths
Historians of India
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Deaths by drowning in India
20th-century British historians
British people in colonial India