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	{{Infobox military person\|image=File:Portrait_of_John_Briggs_(cropped).jpg\|signature=File:Signature_of_John_Briggs.jpg\|unit=[[Madras Infantry]]\|rank=general\|birth_date=1785\|death_date=27 April 1875\|battles=[[First Anglo-Maratha War\|Mahratta wars]]}}		{{Infobox military person\|image=File:Portrait_of_John_Briggs_(cropped).jpg\|signature=File:Signature_of_John_Briggs.jpg\|unit=[[Madras Infantry]]\|rank=general\|birth_date=1785\|death_date=27 April 1875\|battles=[[First Anglo-Maratha War\|Mahratta wars]]}}
	General '''John Briggs''' (1785–1875) was a British officer in the army of the [[East India Company]], and an author.		General '''John Briggs''' (1785–1875) was a British officer in the army of the [[East India Company]], and an author.

Bot at 16:24, 28 September 2022

2022-09-28T16:24:42Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox military person|image=File:Portrait_of_John_Briggs_(cropped).jpg|signature=File:Signature_of_John_Briggs.jpg|unit=[[Madras Infantry]]|rank=general|birth_date=1785|death_date=27 April 1875|battles=[[First Anglo-Maratha War|Mahratta wars]]}}
General '''John Briggs''' (1785–1875) was a British officer in the army of the [[East India Company]], and an author.

==Life==
Briggs entered the [[Madras Infantry]] in 1801. He took part in the [[First Anglo-Maratha War|Mahratta wars]], serving in the final campaign as a political officer under Sir [[John Malcolm]], whom he had previously accompanied on his mission to [[Persia]] in 1810. He was one of [[Mountstuart Elphinstone]]'s assistants in the [[Dekhan]], subsequently served in [[Khandesh]], and succeeded Captain [[Grant Duff]] as resident at [[Sattára]].

In 1831 Briggs was appointed senior member of the board of commissioners for the government of [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]] when the administration of that state was assumed by the British. His appointment to this office, which was made by the governor-general [[Lord William Bentinck]], was not agreeable to the government of Madras, and after a stormy tenure which lasted around a year, Briggs resigned his post in September 1832. He was transferred to the residency of [[Nágpur]], where he remained until 1835. In that year he left India, and never returned. In 1838 he attained the military rank of major-general. He became then lieutenant-general (1851) and full general on 6 February 1861.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22497|page=1376|date=29 March 1861}}</ref>

After his return to England he took a prominent part as a member of the court of directors of the East India Company in the discussion of Indian affairs, and was an opponent of [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|Lord Dalhousie]]'s annexation policy. He was also an active member of the [[Anti-Corn-law League]].

Briggs was elected a fellow of the [[Royal Society]] in recognition of his proficiency in oriental literature. He died at [[Burgess Hill]], [[Sussex]], on 27 April 1875, at the age of eighty-nine.

==Works==
He was a good Persian scholar, and translated [[Firishta|Ferishta]]'s ''Mohammadan Power in India'', and the ''Siyar-ul-Murákhirin'', which recorded the decline of [[Mughal Empire|Moghul]] power. He was also the author of an essay on the land tax of India, and in a series of ''Letters Addressed to a Young Person in India'' he discussed questions on the conduct of army officers, and civil servants, and especially their treatment of Indians. In 1836, he wrote an essay length tract advocating the professional training of the Indian Officer class of the East India Company's armies. Indian officers provided the crucial command, control and communication functions between British officers and the rank-and-file Indian sepoys and sowars.<ref>Chandar S. Sundaram, ''Indianization, the Officer Corps, and the Indian Army: the Forgotten Debate, 1817–1917''(Lanham, MD: Lexington Books), pp. 34–5, 60</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Briggs, John (1785-1875)}}

;Attribution
{{DNB|wstitle=Briggs, John (1785-1875)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|title=Senior Commissioner of Mysore|before=[[Krishnaraja Wadiyar III]]<br /><small>(As Maharajah of Mysore)</small>|after=[[W. Morrison]]|years=1831-1832}}
{{s-end}}

==External links ==
* John Briggs, 'Account of the Origin, History, and Manners of the Race of Men called Bunjaras' in ''Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay'', vol.1 [https://archive.org/stream/transactionsofli01asiauoft#page/170/mode/2up (London, 1819)]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, John}}
[[Category:1785 births]]
[[Category:1875 deaths]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army generals]]
[[Category:18th-century British people]]
[[Category:19th-century British people]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Ethnological Society of London]]

John Briggs (East India Company officer) - Revision history

Bot at 16:24, 28 September 2022

Bot at 16:24, 28 September 2022