Malcolm, John, Sir, 1769-1833

Person

Malcolm, John, Sir, 1769-1833

Sir John Malcolm, Indian administrator and diplomat, and biographer of Robert Clive (Clive of India), was born in Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1769, to George and Margaret Malcolm (née Pasley). He entered the service of the East Indian Company in 1782. He undertook three tours of duties in India, from 1783 to 1812, from 1817 to 1821, and from 1827 to 1830. During his service with the East Indian Company he was involved in numerous military campaigns and eventually reached the rank of Major General. As a diplomat he was dispatched on a range of diplomatic missions in different parts of India and in Persia, before being appointed governor of Bombay in 1827. He married, in 1807, Charlotte Campbell, daughter of Colonel Alexander Campbell who later became commander-in-chief of the Madras army. He published a number of pamphlets and books on India and Persia as well as his biography of Clive of India. When Malcolm died in 1833, however, he had only written the first fifteen chapters of the biography; the remainder was completed by an anonymous acquaintance of his and the book was eventually published in 1836. The anonymous acquaintance was in fact William Erskine (1773-1852), the noted historian and orientalist who came to Bombay in 1804. He was commissioned by Malcolm's widow to complete Malcolm's biography of Clive.