Sir Henry Evan Murchison James (20 January 1846 – 20 August 1923) was a British civil servant in the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

from 1865 to 1900. He was the

Commissioner in Sind The governor of Sindh is the appointed head of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The office of the governor as the head of the province is largely a ceremonial position; the executive powers lie with the Chief Secretary of Sindh, Chief Secretary ...

from 1891 to 1900.

Official duties

He formally opened Dayaram Jethmal Sind College on 15 October 1893 in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. After stepping down as commissioner, he was knighted as a knight commander of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...

in the 1901 New Year Honours List.

Travel to China

In 1886–1887, James used a two-year leave to travel to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Together with two younger Britons, the officer

Francis Younghusband Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, (31 May 1863 – 31 July 1942) was a British Army officer, explorer and spiritual writer. He is remembered for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia; especially the 1904 British ...

and the diplomat Harry English Fulford, he explored

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

, travelling through the frontier areas of Chinese settlement in the region and to the

Changbai Mountains The Changbai Mountains () are a major mountain range in East Asia that extends from the Northeast Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, across the China-North Korea border (41°41' to 42°51'N; 127°43' to 128°16'E), to the Nor ...

. He published his travel notes, and a solid dose of background information, in a book, ''The Long White Mountain, or, A journey in Manchuria...''. Over a century later, the factual material contained in a work still served as a major source for the historians of the region.. See numerous citations of Henry James' work throughout this book.

Named after

The town of Jamesabad in mirpurkhas District of Sind was named after him.

Works

References

External links

* 1846 births 1923 deaths Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Companions of the Order of the Star of India Members of the Bombay Legislative Council {{UK-gov-bio-stub