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← Older revision		Revision as of 15:56, 21 January 2024
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			{{Short description\|English soldier, diplomat and orientalist}}
	'''Samuel Davis''' (1760–1819) was an English soldier turned diplomat who later became a director of the [[East India Company]] (EIC). He was the father of [[John Francis Davis]], one time Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China and second governor of [[Hong Kong]].		'''Samuel Davis''' (1760–1819) was an English soldier turned diplomat who later became a director of the [[East India Company]] (EIC). He was the father of [[John Francis Davis]], one time Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China and second governor of [[Hong Kong]].

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	==Burdwan and Benares==		==Burdwan and Benares==
	[[File:DaviesHouseAttackedVizierAli.png\|thumb~~\|left\|250px~~\|Engraving of the attack on the Davis residence in Benares, 14{{nbsp}}January 1799.]]		[[File:DaviesHouseAttackedVizierAli.png\|thumb\|Engraving of the attack on the Davis residence in Benares, 14{{nbsp}}January 1799.]]
	Davis' next appointment was as Collector of [[Burdwan]], a town in the [[Bengal Presidency]]. He then spent 1795–1800 in [[Benares]] (now Varanasi), this time as Magistrate of the district and city court. Benares was also home to former ruler of [[Oudh State]], [[Wazir Ali Khan]], who had been forcibly deposed by the British in 1797. In 1799, the British authorities decided to remove Ali Khan further from his former realm and as a result rioting broke out. Davis singlehandly defended his family by shepherding them to the roof of his residence and defending the single access point with a [[pike (weapon)\|pike]].{{sfn\|Davis\|Aris\|1982\|pages=34}} The incident was the subject of a book by his son, John F. Davis, entitled ''[https://archive.org/details/vizieralikhanorm00davi Vizier Ali Khan or The Massacre of Benares, A Chapter in British Indian History]'' published in london in 1871.		Davis' next appointment was as Collector of [[Burdwan]], a town in the [[Bengal Presidency]]. He then spent 1795–1800 in [[Benares]] (now Varanasi), this time as Magistrate of the district and city court. Benares was also home to former ruler of [[Oudh State]], [[Wazir Ali Khan]], who had been forcibly deposed by the British in 1797. In 1799, the British authorities decided to remove Ali Khan further from his former realm and as a result rioting broke out. Davis singlehandly defended his family by shepherding them to the roof of his residence and defending the single access point with a [[pike (weapon)\|pike]].{{sfn\|Davis\|Aris\|1982\|pages=34}} The incident was the subject of a book by his son, John F. Davis, entitled ''[https://archive.org/details/vizieralikhanorm00davi Vizier Ali Khan or The Massacre of Benares, A Chapter in British Indian History]'' published in london in 1871.
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	{{Reflist}}		{{Reflist}}

	;Bibliography		==Bibliography==
	* {{cite book\|title=Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783\|first1=Samuel\|last1=Davis\|first2=Michael\|last2=Aris\|year=1982\|publisher=Serindia\|url=https://archive.org/stream/ViewsOfMedievalBhutanTheDiaryAndDrawingsOfSamuelDavis1783MichaelAris/Views%20of%20Medieval%20Bhutan%20--%20the%20Diary%20and%20Drawings%20of%20Samuel%20Davis%201783%20Michael%20Aris#page/n29/mode/2up}}		* {{cite book\|title=Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783\|first1=Samuel\|last1=Davis\|first2=Michael\|last2=Aris\|year=1982\|publisher=Serindia\|url=https://archive.org/stream/ViewsOfMedievalBhutanTheDiaryAndDrawingsOfSamuelDavis1783MichaelAris/Views%20of%20Medieval%20Bhutan%20--%20the%20Diary%20and%20Drawings%20of%20Samuel%20Davis%201783%20Michael%20Aris#page/n29/mode/2up}}
	* {{cite book\|title=Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa\|last=Markham\|first=Clements\|author-link=Clements Markham\|url=https://archive.org/details/pts_narrativesofmiss_3721-1221\|year=1876\|location=London\|publisher=Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill}}		* {{cite book\|title=Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa\|last=Markham\|first=Clements\|author-link=Clements Markham\|url=https://archive.org/details/pts_narrativesofmiss_3721-1221\|year=1876\|location=London\|publisher=Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill}}

			==External links==
			* {{Commons category-inline\|Samuel Davis (orientalist)}}

	{{Authority control}}		{{Authority control}}

>Mandarax: Correct spelling

2021-06-05T06:27:58Z

Correct spelling

New page

'''Samuel Davis''' (1760–1819) was an English soldier turned diplomat who later became a director of the [[East India Company]] (EIC). He was the father of [[John Francis Davis]], one time Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China and second governor of [[Hong Kong]].

==Early life==
Samuel was born in the [[West Indies]] the younger son of soldier John Davis, whose appointment as [[Commissary general]] there had been signed by King [[George II of Great Britain|George II]] in 1759 and countersigned by [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]]. After his father died, Davis returned to England with his mother (who was of Welsh descent, née Phillips) and his two sisters. He became a cadet of the EIC under the aegis of director [[Laurence Sulivan]] in 1788, and sailed for India aboard the ''Earl of Oxford'', which also brought the artist [[William Hodges]] to India, arriving in [[Madras]] in early 1780.{{sfn|Markham|1876|page=lxxi}}{{sfn|Davis|Aris|1982|pages=30–31}}

==Bhutan==
In 1783, [[Warren Hastings]], the [[Governor-General of India|Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal)]] assigned Davis "Draftsman and Surveyor" on [[Samuel Turner (diplomat)|Samuel Turner]]'s forthcoming mission to [[Bhutan]] and [[Tibet]].{{sfn|Davis|Aris|1982|pages=31}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Edward|last=Heawood|title=A History of Geographical Discovery: In the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPLIiA26uIwC|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-60049-2|page=380}}</ref> Unfortunately, the Tibetans (or more probably the Chinese ''[[amban]]s'', the ''de facto'' authority in Tibet) viewed his "scientific" profession with suspicion and he was forced to remain in Bhutan until Turner and the others returned.{{sfn|Markham|1876|page=lxxi}} Whilst in Bhutan he turned his attention to recording the buildings and landscape of the country in a series of drawings. These were published some 200 years later as ''Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783''.

==Bhagalpur==
On his return from Bhutan, in around 1784 he became Assistant to the Collector of [[Bhagalpur]] and Registrar of its Adalat Court. In Bhagalpur he met lawyer and orientalist [[William Jones (philologist)|William Jones]] who had recently founded [[The Asiatic Society]] of which Davis subsequently became a member.{{sfn|Davis|Aris|1982|pages=31}} The two became firm friends based on their shared love of mathematics while along with another member of The Asiatic Society, [[Reuben Burrow]], Davis studied astronomical tables obtained by the French astronomer [[Guillaume Le Gentil]], French Resident at the [[Faizabad]] court of [[Shuja-ud-Daula]] who in turn had obtained them from [[Tiruvallur]] [[Brahmin]]s on the [[Coromandel Coast]]. The tables showed accurate Indian scientific knowledge of astronomy dating back to the third century BCE. As part of his research, Davis also learned [[Sanskrit]] and [[Hindi]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael J.|last=Franklin|title='Orientalist Jones': Sir William Jones, Poet, Lawyer, and Linguist, 1746–1794|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ1F42u9sBYC|year=2011|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-953200-1|page=223}}</ref> For the next ten years, Jones and Davis carried on a running correspondence on the topic of ''[[jyotisha]]'' or Hindu astronomy.{{sfn|Davis|Aris|1982|pages=31}} While in Bhagalpur, Davis also met landscape artist [[Thomas Daniell]] and his nephew [[William Daniell|William]] whom he encouraged to visit the [[Himalayas]]. In 1792 he was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27Davis,%20Samuel%27%29|title= Fellow Details|publisher= Royal Society|access-date= 20 January 2017}}</ref>

==Burdwan and Benares==
[[File:DaviesHouseAttackedVizierAli.png|thumb|left|250px|Engraving of the attack on the Davis residence in Benares, 14{{nbsp}}January 1799.]]
Davis' next appointment was as Collector of [[Burdwan]], a town in the [[Bengal Presidency]]. He then spent 1795–1800 in [[Benares]] (now Varanasi), this time as Magistrate of the district and city court. Benares was also home to former ruler of [[Oudh State]], [[Wazir Ali Khan]], who had been forcibly deposed by the British in 1797. In 1799, the British authorities decided to remove Ali Khan further from his former realm and as a result rioting broke out. Davis singlehandly defended his family by shepherding them to the roof of his residence and defending the single access point with a [[pike (weapon)|pike]].{{sfn|Davis|Aris|1982|pages=34}} The incident was the subject of a book by his son, John F. Davis, entitled ''[https://archive.org/details/vizieralikhanorm00davi Vizier Ali Khan or The Massacre of Benares, A Chapter in British Indian History]'' published in london in 1871.
{{clear}}

==Later career==
During the remainder of his stay in India, Davis held a succession of more senior positions including Superintendent-General of Police and Justice of the Peace at [[Calcutta]], member of the Board of Revenue and Accountant-General of India. He resigned from the civil service in February 1806 and after a stop at [[St. Helena]] to engage in his love for painting, arrived back in England in July the same year.
He was elected a director of the EIC in October at the instigation of President of the Board of Control, [[Henry Dundas]] and to the latter's disgust, acted independently thereafter until his death in 1819.<BLOCKQUOTE>"At the time of the renewal of the [company's] Charter in 1814, the Committee of the House of Commons entrusted him [Davis] with the task of drawing up, in their name, the memorable "Fifth Report on the Revenues of Bengal", which remains a monument of his intimate acquaintance with the internal administration of India"{{sfn|Davis|Aris|1982|page=36}}</BLOCKQUOTE>

==Personal life==
While in Burdwan, Davis married Henrietta Boileau, who was from a refugee French noble family{{sfn|Davis|Aris|1982|pages=34}} who had come to England in the early eighteenth century from [[Languedoc]] in the South of France. She was the first cousin of [[John Boileau]], 1st Baronet of Tacolnestone Hall in Norfolk. The couple went on to have four sons and seven daughters. Their eldest son [[John Francis Davis]], became second [[Governor of Hong Kong]] followed by Lestock-Francis and Sullivan, both of whom died in India in 1820 and 1821 respectively. Their daughters were as follows:<ref>{{cite book|title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire|last=Burke|first=Bernard|author-link=Bernard Burke|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GCZBAQAAMAAJ|year=1860|publisher=Harrison and Sons|location=London|page=271}}</ref>
*Henrietta-Anne, who married Henry Baynes Ward in 1821.
*Anne, who married Lieutenant-Colonel [[Henry Dundas Campbell]] in 1827
*Maria–Jane, who married Lieutenant Colonel [[John Rivett-Carnac]], RN in 1826.<ref>{{cite news |title=Marriages |work=Hampshire Chronicle |date=20 March 1826 |access-date=28 August 2015 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000231/18260320/021/0002| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
*Elizabeth, who married Sir [[Henry Willock]], KLS.
*Frances, who died in 1828.
*Alicia, who married the Reverend John Lockwood, rector of [[Kingham]] in 1832.
*Julia, who in 1839 married [[John Edwardes Lyall]], [[Advocate-General of Bengal]], who died in 1845 of [[cholera]].

==Death==
Davis died on 16{{nbsp}}June 1819 at Birdhurst Lodge near [[Croydon]] in Surrey, which is believed to have been his country home.{{sfn|Davis|Aris|1982|pages=38}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography
* {{cite book|title=Views of Medieval Bhutan: the diary and drawings of Samuel Davis, 1783|first1=Samuel|last1=Davis|first2=Michael|last2=Aris|year=1982|publisher=Serindia|url=https://archive.org/stream/ViewsOfMedievalBhutanTheDiaryAndDrawingsOfSamuelDavis1783MichaelAris/Views%20of%20Medieval%20Bhutan%20--%20the%20Diary%20and%20Drawings%20of%20Samuel%20Davis%201783%20Michael%20Aris#page/n29/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book|title=Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet and of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa|last=Markham|first=Clements|author-link=Clements Markham|url=https://archive.org/details/pts_narrativesofmiss_3721-1221|year=1876|location=London|publisher=Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Samuel}}
[[Category:1760 births]]
[[Category:1819 deaths]]
[[Category:British East India Company civil servants]]

Samuel Davis (orientalist) - Revision history

Flash255 at 10:26, 21 January 2024

>Mandarax: Correct spelling