William Henry Sykes - Misplaced Pages

British politician and naturalist

Colonel William Henry Sykes, FRS (25 January 1790 – 16 June 1872) was an English naturalist who served with the British military in India and was specifically known for his work with the Indian Army as a politician, Indologist and ornithologist. One of the pioneers of the Victorian statistical movement, a founder of the Royal Statistical Society, he conducted surveys and examined the efficiency of army operation. Returning from service in India, he became a director of the East India Company and a member of parliament representing Aberdeen.

Life and career

Sykes was born near Bradford in Yorkshire. His father was Samuel Sykes of Friezing Hall, and they belonged to the family of Sykeses of Yorkshire. He joined military service as a cadet in 1803 and obtained a commission on 1 May 1804 with the Honourable East India Company. Joining the Bombay Army, he was to lieutenancy on 12 October 1805. He saw action at the siege of Bhurtpur under Lord Lake in 1805. He commanded a regiment at the battles of Kirkee and Poonah and was involved in the capture of hill forts. By 1810 he could speak Hindi and Marathi languages. He became a captain on 25 January 1819 and travelled for four years across Europe from 1820. He returned to India in October 1824 and was appointed by Mountstuart Elphinstone as a statistical reporter to the Bombay government. He then collected statistical and natural history researches, and completed a census of the population of the Deccan, producing two voluminous statistical reports, and a complete natural history report illustrated with drawings. He married Elizabeth, daughter of William Hay of Renistoun, in 1824. He was promoted to the rank of major on 8 September 1826 and to lieutenant-colonel on 9 April 1831. In December 1829 the post of statistical reporter was abolished, but he took leave from military duty and continued to work on his statistical surveys. He completed this in January 1831 and left for Europe on furlough. He retired from active service with the rank of colonel on 18 June 1833, and in September 1835 he became a Royal Commissioner in Lunacy, a post he held till 1845. On account of his knowledge of Indian matters, he was made a director of the East India Company in 1840. In 1867 he was elected chairman of the court of directors of the East India Company.

In 1847 he tried to contest for the Member of Parliament seat for Aberdeen but failed. In 1857 he contested again, representing the liberal interest against John Farley Leith, and was elected. He continued to hold the seat for several terms. He was elected president of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1858. He was also a member of the Society of Arts and the Royal British Association.

Sykes was elected Lord Rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen (whose founder, George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal, was an ancestor of his wife) in 1854. He took a special interest in libraries and information accessibility, seeking university libraries to remain open for longer and supporting the role of public libraries. He noted that England was lagging behind Europe in the size of public libraries noting that the per-capita availability of books in London was 22 books for 100 persons while Paris had 160 for 100, Florence 317 per 100; Dresden 490 per 100; Munich 780; and Copenhagen 467 per 100. He also noted that Munich had 17 public libraries. In his installation talk as Lord Rector, he also claimed that he could help establish a commission in the Indian Army for the best students of mathematics, natural philosophy, natural history, Biblical criticism and classics if they had expertise in military drawing, and geology apart from good conduct. He was a founder member, in 1835, and president of the Royal Statistical Society, 1863–1965; he was the eleventh holder of that post but the first not to be a peer or baronet. He also became an Honorary Metropolitan Commissioner in September 1835. Despite suffering from bronchitis he attended all parliament sessions and died in Kensington, London, aged 82.

Contributions

As a "Statistical Reporter" he travelled across the Deccan region, collecting data on populations apart from collecting natural history specimens. Some of statistical research contributions included the computations of the cost of maintenance per soldier. He calculated for instance that the French army had a much lower cost than that of the British army, which according to him allowed the French to maintain two soldiers for the cost of one "English" soldier. He also worked out that native Indian soldiers were healthier than their European counterparts and that it was possible to provide pension and insurance to Indian soldiers with a very low premium although this was never implemented.

Sykes was a pioneer meteorologist in India, taking regular temperature and atmospheric pressure readings; he noticed regular patterns in diurnal pressure variations and noted that the range was greatest in winter, while the least difference occurred during the monsoons.

Sykes' collections of animals resulted in the publications of catalogues of birds and mammals from the Deccan region, many of which were published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society. His discoveries included fifty-six birds new to science, including the Indian pond heron. Sykes also studied the fish of the area, and wrote papers on the quails and hemipodes of India. His list of birds of the Deccan contained almost 236 species. He was an authority on the natural history of the Deccan region and he corresponded with many other naturalists. He used his influence during his position at the East India Company and Charles Darwin wrote to him to influence decisions in favour of including Edward Blyth on an expedition to China. Sykes's lark (Galerida deva) of peninsular India is named after him. In addition, a race of blue-headed wagtail (Motacilla flava beema) was given the common name Sykes's wagtail in British Birds (1907).

Sykes wrote extensively on Buddhism and its antiquity. In an 1842 paper published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, he contended that the Brahmins were likely not native to India and that Pali was older than Sanskrit. He believed that, rather than Brahmanism, it was Buddhism that had reigned supreme in India's ancient past. Referring to the recently translated travelogue of Faxian, Sykes paid tribute to "the literature of that remarkable people—the Chinese" that thankfully existed to illuminate India's past. He hoped that, "by proper means, applied in a cautious, kindly and forbearing spirit, such farther changes may be effected as will raise the intellectual standard of the Hindus, improve their moral and social condition, and assist to promote their eternal welfare." In 1856, the citizens of Bombay presented Sykes with a medal for his advocacy in favour of a native system of education.

Sykes also wrote on the Taiping Rebellion holding the British Government guilty of unjustifiable aggression towards China. He also held the British responsible for precipitating the 1857 rebellion by being insensitive to local customs, citing the earlier case of the Vellore mutiny. In a commentary to the British media which had suggested that the mutineers were using greased cartridges, one of the immediate causes of the uprising, against the British he pointed out that they were all using 'Brown Bess' and conventional musket ammunition. He was one of the founding members of the Asiatic Society of Bombay.

Legacy

The Sykes' monkey Cercopithecus albogularis was named after him.
The bird Sykes's nightjar or the Sindh nightjar Caprimulgus mahrattensis was named after him.
The bird Sykes's warbler Iduna rama was named after him.

Publications

Sykes, W.H. (1846). "Statistics of the Administration of Civil and Criminal Justice in British India from 1841 to 1844, both Inclusive". Journal of the Statistical Society of London. 9 (4): 310–338. doi:10.2307/2337677. JSTOR 2337677.
Sykes, WH (1839). "On the Quails and Hemipodii of India". Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. 2 (1): 1–24. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1839.tb00004.x.
Sykes, WH (1839). "On the Fishes of the Dukhun". Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. 2 (5): 349–378. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1839.tb00029.x.
Sykes, WH (1839). "Some Account of the Land-crabs of the Dukhun". Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London. 2 (3): 181–184. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1839.tb03206.x.
Sykes, WH (1836). "Land Tenures of Dukhun". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. 3 (2): 350–376. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00014337. JSTOR 44011994. S2CID 162483236.
Sykes, WH 1834–8. On the Fishes of the Dukhun, and on the Fossils collected at Cutch.
Sykes, WH (1835). "On the atmospheric tides and meteorology of Dukhun (Deccan), East Indies". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 125: 161–220. Bibcode:1835RSPT..125..161S. doi:10.1098/rstl.1835.0012. S2CID 186208263.
Sykes, W.H. (1850). "Discussion of meteorological observations taken in India, at various heights, embracing those at Dodabetta on the Neelgherry Mountains, at 8640 feet above the level of the sea". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 140: 297–378. doi:10.1098/rstl.1850.0016. S2CID 111239855.
Sykes, W.H. (1833). "On a portion of Dukhun, East Indies". Transactions of the Geological Society. 4 (2): 409–432. doi:10.1144/transgslb.4.2.409. S2CID 140668005.
Sykes, WH 1837. On the Increase of Wealth and Expenditure in the various classes of Society in the United Kingdom.
Sykes, WH 1838. Special Reports on the Statistics of the Four Collectorates of Dukhun.
Sykes, WH 1841. Notes on the Religious, Moral and Political State of Ancient India.
Sykes, WH 1847. Prices of the Cerelia and other Edibles in India and England compared. Quarterly Journal of the Statistical Society of London 10(4):289-315.

Notes in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

Sykes, W.H. (1835). "Description of the wild dog of the Western Ghats". Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 3 (3): 405–411. doi:10.1017/S0950473700001142.
Sykes, W.H. (1835). "Some account of the Kolisurra silk-worm of the Deccan". Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 3 (3): 541–547. doi:10.1017/S0950473700001245.
Sykes, WH 1833. Ornaments on figures in cave temples at Karli. 451.
Sykes, WH (1835). "Land Tenures of the Dekkan". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 (4): 205–233. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00094363. JSTOR 25207464. S2CID 163125872.
Sykes, WH 1837. The Upas or Poison-tree of Java. 194.
Sykes, WH 1837. Inscriptions from the Budh caves near Junar. 287.
Sykes, WH 1837. Oil and cordage plants of the Dekhan, Addenda 22.
Sykes, WH 1839. Siva in the cave temples at Elephanta and Ellora. 81.
Sykes, WH 1839. Inscription at Sanchi re proprietary right in the soil. 246
Sykes, WH 1839. India before the Mohameddan invasion. 248.
Sykes, WH 1848. Catalogue of Chinese Buddhistical works. 199
Sykes, WH 1856. Miniature chaityas and Buddhist inscriptions in Sarnath. 37.
Sykes, WH 1858. Traits of Indian character. 223.
Sykes, WH 1858. Golden relics discovered in Rangoon. 298

Notes

^ Woodward, BB. Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 55. p. 258.
"Untitled". Western Daily Press. 14 June 1867. p. 3.
^ Laurie, Col. WFB (1887). Distinguished Anglo-Indian. London: W H Allen & Co. pp. 104–109.
^ "Colonel Sykes, M.P." Aberdeen Journal. 19 June 1872. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
"Public breakfast to Colonel Sykes". Aberdeen Journal. 5 April 1854. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Address delivered by Colonel W.H. Sykes, at the ceremony of his installation as the Lord Rector of Marischal College and University, Aberdeen, on Thursday 30th March, 1854. Aberdeen: The Herald Office. 1854.
Talbot PA (2010). "Colonel William Henry Sykes: His contribution to statistical accounting". Accounting History. 15 (2): 253–276. doi:10.1177/1032373209359332. S2CID 143343493.
Sykes, W.H. (1864). "Comparison of the Organisation and Cost in Detail of the English and French Armies". Journal of the Statistical Society. 27: 1–69.
Talbot, PA (2005). "Colonel W H Sykes, Statistician. Statistically costing the British and French armies of 1864". Military History Journal. 13 (4).
Talbot, Philip (2013). "The Equation of Life in the East India Company Armies: Statistical Arguments for the provision of Private Pensions". International Journal of Social Science Studies. 1 (2): 230–241. doi:10.11114/ijsss.v1i2.208.
Markham, Clements R. (1878). A memoir on the Indian surveys (2 ed.). London: W.H. Allen & Co. pp. 284–285.
Kinnear, N.B. (1952). "The history of Indian mammalogy and ornithology. Part II. Birds". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 51 (1): 104–110.
Letter from Darwin to Sykes 20 December 1859 Darwin Correspondence project
Singh 2004, p. 37.
JAS 1842, p. 14.
Sykes, WH (1863). The Taeping Rebellion in China: Its Origins, Progress, and Present Condition. London: Warren Hall & Co.
"Colonel Sykes on the mutinies in India". Jersey Independent and Daily Telegraph. 23 September 1857. p. 1 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Anonymous (1877) . "Editor's preface". Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay. 1: xix.
Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon Guide to African Mammals. Academic Press Limited, London. ISBN 0-12-408355-2
Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 332–333.

References

Singh, Upinder (2004). The discovery of ancient India: early archaeologists and the beginnings of archaeology. Permanent Black. ISBN 9788178240886.
Society, Asiatic (1842). "Asiatic Journal". Journal of the Asiatic Society. Parbury, Allen, and Company.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Henry Sykes
Woodward, B. B. Woodward (revised by M. G. M. Jones). "Sykes, William Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26871. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byGeorge Thompson	Member of Parliament for Aberdeen 1857–1872	Succeeded byJohn Farley Leith
Academic offices
Preceded byEarl of Carlisle	Rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen 1854–1855	Succeeded byAusten Henry Layard

v t e Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Ernest Charles Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 Robert Nicholas Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–2014 John Pullinger 2014–2016 Peter Diggle 2017–2018 David Spiegelhalter 2019– Deborah Ashby
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