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 Dictionary of Indian Biography (Buckland) |
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 Dictionary of Indian Biography M to R
| Date transcribed | 2011-08-00 | | Transcribed by | Peter Bailey | | Comment | Note that notables of Indian, Afghan, etc. origin do not always follow the alphabetical name patterns established by Buckland in his original work. |
| | Surname | Outram | | | First Name(s) | James | | | Titles, Honours, etc. | Sir, Baronet | | | Birth Year | 1803 | | | Death Year | 1863 | | | Entry | Lt-General : born on Jan. 29, 1803 : educated at the Marischal College, Aberdeen : entered the Indian Army at 16 : acting Adjutant of a Bombay regt. in 1820 : was a keen sportsman, from 1822 : in 1823-4 took 74 first spears out of 123 : and between 1825 and 1834 was at the deaths of 191 tigers, besides many other large animals : was employed in Khandesh for some years, disciplining the Bhils by his Bhil corps and politic measures, and in Guzarat, 1835-8, reducing turbulent chiefs : Political Agent in Mahi Kanta : he was attached, in 1838, to Sir John (Lord) Keane's staff, when commanding the Bombay Army through Kandahar and Ghazni to Kabul. Outram, from Kabul, led the pursuit of Amir Dost Muhammad across the Hindu Kush, in 1839, and took a prominent part in the operations in South Afghanistan. In 1839 he was Political Agent at Hyderabad in Sind, and in 1841 in Upper Sind, and cultivated friendship with the Amirs. Outram, differing in his views from his superior, Sir Charles Napier, and Lord Ellenborough, regarding the annexation of Sind, a prolonged controversy ensued : he advocated the cause of the Amirs in England as strongly as in India. He heroically defended the Hyderabad Residency on Feb. 15, 1843, against 8,000 Beluchis : Lt-Colonel : and C.B. : he was Resident at Satara in 1845, and in 1847 at Baroda, where he exposed corruption in high places. The Bombay Government removed him, but Lord Dalhousie reinstated him, and made him Resident at Lucknow in Dec. 1854, and, later, when Oudh was annexed in 1856 on Outram's recommendation, the first Chief Commissioner, and K.C.B. Outram was given the command of the Persian war in 1856-7, and made G.C.B. on its conclusion. In the mutiny he commanded two Divisions of the Bengal Army, and accompanied the relief column to Lucknow, as a volunteer, in Sep. 1857, magnanimously yielding the command to Sir Henry Havelock, subsequently assuming his superior military rank, besides his position as Chief Commissioner. On the second relief, in Nov. Outram retired to the Alambagh, and held it against 120,000 rebels until the final capture of Lucknow in March, 1858. He was Military Member of the Supreme Council from 1858 to 1860, when he retired. He was made K.C.S.I. in 1861, and D.C.L. He died on March 11, 1863, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He was made a Baronet after the mutiny. In 1842, at a public dinner, Sir Charles Napier described him. as the Bayard of India, and the name has clung to him. His exploits and his great character�brave, high-minded, ambitious, warm-tempered, humble, modest, chivalrous, kind-hearted�have made Outram conspicuous among the heroes of Indian history. Statues of him have been erected in London and Calcutta. |
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A List of eminent persons who served in British India, together with short biographical notes of each
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