Page:Dictionary of Indian Biography.djvu/423

 STRACHEY, SIR HENRY, BARONET (1736–1810)

Son of Henry Strachey : born May 23, 1736 : was Private and Political Secretary to Lord Clive in India, 1764 : M.P. for several places between 1768 and 1807 : Secretary to the Commissioners for restoring peace to North America, 1776 : introduced indigo into America : Storekeeper of the Ordnance, 1780–2, and again in 1783 : Joint Secretary of the Treasury and Joint Under Secretary for the Home Department, 1782 : assisted the King's Commissioners in negotiating the peace with North America in Paris, 1782. John Adams, one of the American Peace Commissioners, writing from Paris, described Henry Strachey thus : "Strachey is as artful and insinuating a man as they could send : he pushes and presses every point as far as it can possibly go; he has a most eager, earnest, pointed spirit." Master of the King's house-hold, 1794 : Baronet, 1801 : F.S.A. : died Jan. I, 1810.

STRACHEY, SIR JOHN (1823–)

I.C.S. : son of Edward Strachey, B.C.S. : born June 5, 1823, educated at Halleybury : went out to India in 1842 : served in the N.W.P. in important appointments : presided over a Commission to inquire into the cholera epidemic of 1861 : was Judicial Commissioner in the Central Provinces in 1862 : President of the Sanitary Commission, 1864 : Officiating Chief Commissioner of Oudh, 1866–7 : Member of the Governor-General's Supreme Council from March, 1868, to Nov. 1872 : during which time he acted as Viceroy and Governor-General from Feb. 9, 1872, on the death of the Earl of Mayo, to Lord Napier of Merchistoun's arrival on Feb. 23 : Lieutenant-Governor of the N.W.P. from April, 1874, to Dec. 1876 : Financial Member of the Supreme Council from Dec. 1876, to Dec. 1880, when he left India : Member of the Council of India from 1885–95 : he published Hastings and the Rohilla War, 1892 : and India, its Administration and Progress, 1903 : and, with Lt-General Sir R. Strachey (q.v.), The Finance and Public Works of India, 1869–81, in 1882 : K.C.S.I. 1873 : G.C.S.I., 1878.

STRACHEY, SIR RICHARD (1817–)

Son of E. Strachey, of the Bengal Civil Service : born July 24, 1817 : educated privately and at Addiscombe : entered the Bombay Engineers in 1836 : was transferred to Bengal and employed in the Irrigation Department : was in the battles of Badiwal, Aliwal, and Sobraon in 1845–6, Brevet-Major : in 1857 was Under Secretary, P.W.D. : in the mutiny was Secretary to Sir J. P. Grant (q.v.), in the temporary Lieutenant-Governorship of "the Central Provinces" : Consulting Engineer, Railway Department, 1858 : Secretary P.W.D., 1862 : Inspr-General of Irrigation, 1866 : in the Governor-General's Legislative Council, 1869 : originated the schemes for decentralizing the finances, and for carrying out Railway and Irrigation works on borrowed capital : in 1871, Inspr-General of railway material and stores, India Office : in 1875, Lieutenant-General and Member of the Council of India : in 1878–9, presided over the Indian Famine Commission : acted as Finance Member, and as Military Member of the Supreme Council, 1878–9 : again Member of the Council of India, 1879–89 : became Chairman of the East Indian Railway Co., 1889 : in 1892 he represented the Indian Government at the Brussels Monetary Conference and, later, was a Member of Lord Herschell's Currency Committee: F.R.S., 1854 : Royal Medallist of the Royal Society, 1897 : Chairman of the Meteorological Council : President of the Royal Geographical Society, 1887–9 : LL.D. Cambridge, 1892 : C.S.I, in 1861 : G.C.S.I., 1897 : wrote Lectures on Geography, and, with his brother. Sir John Strachey (q.v.). The Finances and Public Works of India, 1869–81, 1882.

STRAIGHT, SIR DOUGLAS (1844–)

Born Oct. 22, 1844 : son of Robert Marshall Straight : educated at East Sheen and Harrow : engaged in journalism till 1865 : called to the bar, 1865. and had a large practice in criminal cases : M.P. for Shrewsbury, 1870–4 : Puisne Judge of the Allahabad High Court, 1879–92 : retired, 1892 : Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette since 1896 : Knighted, 1892 : LL.D.