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Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Philip Meadows Taylor (25 September 1808 – 13 May 1876), an administrator 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 ...
and a novelist, made notable contributions to public knowledge of
South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...
. Though largely self-taught, he was a
polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...
, working alternately as a judge, engineer, artist, and
man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...
.


Life and writings

Taylor was born in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, England, where his father, Philip Meadows Taylor, was a merchant. His mother was Jane Honoria Alicia, daughter of Bertram Mitford of
Mitford Castle Mitford Castle is an English castle dating from the end of the 11th century and located in the village of Mitford, Northumberland, to the west of Morpeth. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building, enlisted on 20 Octobe ...
,
Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
. Richard Garnett (rev. David Washbrook): "Taylor, Philip Meadows (1808–1876)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP

Retrieved 13 May 2018.]
At the age of 15, Taylor was sent out to India to become a clerk to a
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 ...
merchant, Mr Baxter. However, Baxter was in financial difficulties, and in 1824 Taylor gladly accepted a commission in the service of the
Nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...
of
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
, with which he remained dutifully attached throughout his long career. He was speedily transferred from military duty to a civil appointment, and in this capacity acquired a proficient knowledge of the languages and the people of southern India. Meanwhile, Taylor studied the laws, geology and the antiquities of the country and became an early expert on
megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...
s. See more at
South Asian Stone Age The South Asian Stone Age spans the prehistoric age from the earliest use of stone tools in the Paleolithic period to the rise of agriculture, domestication, and pottery in the Neolithic period across present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepa ...
. He was alternately judge, engineer, artist, and a man of letters. While on furlough in England in 1840, he published the first of his Indian novels, '' Confessions of a Thug'', in which he reproduced the scenes which he had heard about the
Thuggee Thuggee (, ) was a network of organized crime in British Raj India in the 19th century of gangs that traversed the Indian subcontinent murdering and robbing people.Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...
. Taylor himself is thought to have married in about 1830, although his autobiography states 1840, to Mary Palmer, daughter of William Palmer (1780-1867) who was the son of General William Palmer (1740-1816) and his second wife Bibi Faiz Bakhsh ‘Faiz-un-Nisa’ Begum (died 1828) . Returning to India he acted, from 1840 to 1853 as a correspondent for ''
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 ...
'' and wrote a ''Student's Manual of the History of India'' (1870). About 1850, Meadows Taylor was appointed by the Nizam's government to administer, during a long minority, the principality of the young
Raja Venkatappa Nayaka Raja Venkatappa Nayaka IV or Nalvadi lakshya (?–1858), was a prominent final ruler from the Nayak Dynasty of Shorapur (or Surapur) in present-day Yadgiri district of Karnataka state. He refused to accept the suzerainty of the British East In ...
. He succeeded without European assistance in raising this small territory to a high degree of prosperity. Such was his influence with the natives that during the Indian Mutiny in 1857, he held his ground without military support. Colonel Taylor, whose merits were recognized and acknowledged by then by the British government of India – although he had never been in the service of the
Company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
– was subsequently appointed Deputy Commissioner of the western "
Ceded Districts Ceded Districts is the name of an area in the Deccan, India that was 'ceded' to the British East India Company by the Nizam in 1800. The name was in use during the whole period of the British Raj, even though the denomination had no official w ...
". He succeeded in establishing a new assessment of revenues that was more equitable to cultivators and more productive to the government. By perseverance he had risen from the condition of a half-educated youth without patronage, and without even the support of the Company, to the successful government of some of the most important provinces of India, in extent with a population of over five million. He received an
Order of the Star of India The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander ( GCSI) # Knight Commander ( KCSI) # Companion ( CSI) No appointments ...
on his retirement from service in 1860 and was given a pension. In 1875 his sight failed, and on medical advice, he decided to spend the winter in India but contracted
jungle fever ''Jungle Fever'' is a 1991 American romantic drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee. Starring Lee, Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Samuel L. Jackson, Lonette McKee, John Turturro, Frank Vincent, ...
. He died in
Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...
, France, on his way home, on 13 May 1876.


Contributions to Gulburga

Taylor made several contributions to the
Gulburga Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is headquarters of eponymous Kalaburagi district and Kalaburagi division, Kalaburagi city is governed by a Municipal Corporation, It is called a Sufi cit ...
region in India by initiating a number of reforms. He encouraged the improvement of agriculture, opened up job opportunities, started schools and improved infrastructure. He was known to spend his own money on providing drought relief. The local people began calling him "Mahadev Baba". Taylor undertook notable archaeological excavations in Gulburga, publishing his findings in the ''Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy'' and the ''Journal of The Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society''.


Tributes

Richard Garnett commented, "His ''Confessions of a Thug'' is a classic adventure novel, which inspired the young of several imperial generations and was much imitated by other colonial fiction writers for over a century." Rich tributes were paid to Taylor, by the
Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...
in its ''History of Indian Archaeology 1784–1947'' by Sourindranath Roy. Taylor's archaeological work is acknowledged there as highly significant.


Bibliography


Novels

* '' Confessions of a Thug'' (1839 2nd ed., London, 1873) * ''Tippoo Sultaun: The Tale of the
Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
War'' (1840) * ''Tara: A
Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...
Tale'' (Edinburgh/London: 1863) * ''Ralph Darnell'' (1865) * ''Seeta'' (London: 1872) * ''A Noble Queen: A Romance of Indian History'' (London: 1878)


Non-fiction

* ''The Megalithic Tombs and other Ancient Remains in the
Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...
'' (reprint, Hyderabad, 1941) * ''The Student's Manual of the History of
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 ...
'' (London, 1871)


Posthumous publications

* ''The Story of My Life'' (London, 1877) * ''Tobacco – a Farmer's Crop'' (1886) * ''The Letters to Henry Reeve'' (1947)Details from British Library catalogu
Retrieved 13 May 2018.
/ref>


Arms


References

* *


External links

* * * Philip Meadows Taylor.
The story of my life, by M. Taylor. Ed. by his daughter (A.M. Taylor)
'. Oxford University, 1882 * Philip Meadows Taylor.
Confessions of a Thug
'. Oxford University Press, 1839 * Philip Meadows Taylor.
Tippoo Sultaun; a tale of the Mysore war
' C K Paul, 1880 * David Finkelstei
Philip Meadows Taylor – Victorian Fiction Research Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Philip Meadows 1808 births 1876 deaths Novelists from Liverpool British people in colonial India Administrators in British India Companions of the Order of the Star of India People from Hyderabad State 19th-century British novelists British male novelists 19th-century British non-fiction writers British male non-fiction writers 19th-century British historians British autobiographers British Army officers