John Dickinson (1815–1876) was an English writer on India.
Early life
The son of the papermaker
John Dickinson
John Dickinson (November 13, O.S. November 2">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. November 21732Various sources indicate a birth date of November 8, 12 or 13, but his most recent biographer ...
of Nash Mills,
Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley () is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. It is an old settlement and is mentioned (under the name of Langelai) in the Domesday Book. Economically the village is closely linked to Watford and w ...
, Hertfordshire, he was born on 28 December 1815 and educated at
Eton College
Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
. He declined to take part in his father's business.
Dickinson travelled in Europe and began to write on behalf of liberal causes.
India Reform Society
Taking up Indian reform, Dickinson had support from his uncle, General Thomas Dickinson, of the Bombay Engineers, and his cousin,
Sebastian Stewart Dickinson. A public works commission was appointed by
Lord Dalhousie
James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie (22 April 1812 – 19 December 1860), known as the Earl of Dalhousie between 1838 and 1849, was a Scottish statesman and colonial administrator in British India. He served as Governor-Ge ...
in 1852 to inquire into the deficiencies of administration pointed out by Dickinson and his friends. On 12 March 1853, a meeting was held in Dickinson's rooms, and a society was formed under the name of the India Reform Society.
Initially involved, besides Dickinson, were two Members of Parliament,
John Blackett and
Henry Danby Seymour
Henry Danby Seymour (1 July 1820 – 4 August 1877) was a British gentleman and Liberal Party politician.
Life
Seymour was the eldest son of Henry Seymour and wife Jane Hopkinson. Alfred Seymour was his brother. He matriculated at Christ Churc ...
.
John Bright
John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies.
A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn La ...
came onto the committee, and his contacts gave the Society access to many more MPs; his interests included Indian cotton as an alternative source to the United States, and lobbying the British government to have Indian infrastructure improved. Another activist was Francis Carnac Brown who had been a committee member of the earlier
British India Society, formed in 1839 by
Joseph Pease Joseph Pease may refer to:
* Joseph Pease (railway pioneer) (1799–1872), railway owner, first Quaker elected Member of Parliament
** Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet (1828–1903), MP 1865–1903, full name Joseph Whitwell Pease, son of Joseph Pea ...
(1772–1846).
The debate in parliament of 1853 on the renewal of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
's charter gave the society a short-term objective, and the maintenance of good faith towards the Indian states a major theme. The
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
made for another push, in efforts towards moderation, and to prevent exclusive attention to penal and repressive measures, and Dickinson organised a series of public meetings.
After 1859 the India Reform Society began to languish: at a meeting in 1861 Bright resigned the chairmanship, and carried by a motion appointing Dickinson his successor. The publication in 1864–5 of two pamphlets entitled ''Dhar not restored'' roused in Calcutta feeling against Dickinson, who was called a "needy adventurer".
By 1865 the Society had ceased to function.
Life
On the death of his father in 1869, Dickinson inherited a fortune, but was in weak health. He corresponded with
Tukojirao Holkar II
Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai Shri Sir Tukoji Rao II Holkar XI Bahadur (3 May 1835 – 17 June 1886) was the Maharaja of Indore ( Holkar State) and a member of the Maratha Holkar dynasty in the Indian subcontinent. His birth name was Shri ...
, maharajah of
Indore
Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...
. On 23 November 1876 he was found dead in his study, at 1 Upper Grosvenor Street, London.
Works
Dickinson wrote:
*''Letters on the Cotton and Roads of Western India'' (1851) based on a series of letters appeared in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' in 1850 and 1851
*''India, its Government under Bureaucracy'', London, 1852. It was reprinted in 1853 as one of a series of "India Reform Tracts".
*''The Famine in the North-West Provinces of India'', London, 1861.
*''Reply to the Indigo Planters' pamphlet entitled "Brahmins and Pariahs", published by the Indigo manufacturers of Bengal'', London, 1861.
*''A Letter to Lord Stanley on the Policy of the Secretary of State for India'', London, 1863.
*''Dhar not restored'', 1864.
*''Sequel to "Dhar not restored", and a Proposal to extend the Principle of Restoration'', London, 1865.
*''A Scheme for the Establishment of Efficient Militia Reserves'', London, 1871.
*''Last Counsels of an Unknown Counsellor'', edited by
Evans Bell
Thomas Evans Bell (11 November 1825 – 12 September 1887) was an English Indian army officer and writer. He used the pseudonyms Undecimus (in ''The Reasoner'') and Indicus (1865).
Life
The son of William Bell, he was educated in Wandsworth, L ...
, London, 1877; another edition 1883. A reply to Holkar's critics.
Notes
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, John
1815 births
1876 deaths
English writers
People educated at Eton College
People from Abbots Langley
English male writers