Edward Clive Bayley

Sir Edward Clive Bayley (1821–1884), was an Indian statesman and archæologist.

Bayley was the only son of Edward Clive Bayley, of Hope Hall, Eccles, Manchester. He was born at St. Petersburg in October 1821, and after a distinguished career at Haileybury College entered the Indian civil service in 1842, and served at Allahabad, Mirat, Balandshahr, and Rohtak. On the annexation of the Punjab he was appointed deputy-commissioner at Gujarat in April 1849, and in November under-secretary to the government of India in the foreign department, under Sir Henry Elliot. Two years later he became deputy-commissioner of the Kangra district, but in 1854 was compelled by ill-health to take furlough.

He studied law in England, and was called to the bar in 1857; he returned to India on the outbreak of the mutiny. In September 1857 he was ordered to Allahabad, where he served as an under-secretary in Sir John Peter Grant's provisional government, and held various posts in that city during the next eighteen months. In 1859 he was appointed judge in the Fattihgarh district, and, after serving in a judicial capacity at Lucknow and Agra, was called to Calcutta by Lord Canning in May 1861, to fill the post of foreign secretary pending the arrival of Sir H. Durand.

In March 1862 he became home secretary, an office he held for ten years, and was then selected by Lord Northbrook to fill a temporary vacancy on his council. In the next year, 1873, he was appointed a member of the supreme council, on which he served until his retirement in April 1878, after thirty-six years of public service. Throughout that time he had been a true friend of the natives, to whose welfare he devoted every energy. His leisure was spent in the study of the history and antiquities of India, and he published some fifteen papers in the 'Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society,' chiefly on Indian inscriptions, sculptures, and coins, of which he collected a fine cabinet.

He also contributed to the 'Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of London' some articles on the 'Genealogy of Modern Numerals,' and to the 'Numismatic Chronicle' a paper on 'Certain Dates on the Coins of the Hindu Kings of Kabul.' At the time of his death (30 April 1884) he had nearly completed the editing of the ninth volume of Elliot's 'History of India as told by its own Historians.' He held the post of vice-chancellor of the university of Calcutta for five years, and was five times president of the Bengal, and for three years of the London, Asiatic Society. He was knighted with the Star of India in 1877. Sir Edward married, in 1850, Emily Metcalfe, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe, and left a family of one son and seven daughters.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Bayley, Edward Clive". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.