Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe
Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe,, known as Sir Charles Metcalfe, Bt between 1822 and 1845, was a British colonial administrator. He held appointments including acting Governor-General of India, Governor of Jamaica and Governor General of the Province of Canada.
Early life and background
Metcalfe was born on 30 January 1785 in Lecture House, Calcutta then part of the Bengal Presidency.He was the second son of [Sir Sir Thomas Metcalfe, 1st Baronet|Thomas Metcalfe, 1st Baronet|Thomas Metcalfe] and Susannah Selina Sophia Debonnaire. His father first went to India in 1767 as a cadet in the British Army, and at the time of Metcalfe's birth was serving as a major in the Bengal Army. He later became a Member of Parliament, director of the British East India Company and was created a baronet on 21 December 1802. Thomas Metcalfe married Susannah in Calcutta in 1782. She was the daughter of merchant John Debonnaire, a trader at Fort St. George, Madras, who subsequently settled at the Cape of Good Hope. It was her second marriage, her first being with Major John Smith in Madras from 1776 until his death. His parents returned to England shortly after the birth of their son.
Metcalfe's elder sister was Emily Theophila, later becoming the Viscountess Ashbrook. A younger brother, Thomas, also went on to achieve distinction as a civil servant with the East India Company.
Education
Metcalfe spent four years at Eton College in Berkshire, before arriving in Bengal on 1 January 1801, a month before his sixteenth birthday. He then studied Oriental languages as the first student at Lord Wellesley's Fort William College.India
Early career
At the age of nineteen, Metcalfe was appointed political assistant to General Lake, who was then conducting the final campaign of the Second Anglo-Maratha War against Yashwantrao Holkar.In 1808 he was selected by Lord Minto for the responsible post of envoy to the court of Ranjit Singh at Lahore; here, on 25 April 1809, he concluded the important Treaty of Amritsar securing the independence of the Sikh states between the Sutlej and the Jumna.
His first tenure as Resident at Delhi began on 25 February 1811 for the East India Company, and in 1819 he received from Lord Hastings the appointment of secretary in the secret and political department. From 1820 to 1825 Sir Charles was resident at the court of the Nizam, and afterwards was summoned in an emergency to his former post at Delhi.
Agra
On 14 November 1834 Metcalfe was posted as Governor of the Presidency of Agra where he served for over four months till 20 March 1835.Acting Governor-General
In 1827 he obtained a seat in the supreme council, and in March 1835, after he had acted as the first governor of the proposed new presidency of Agra, he provisionally succeeded Lord William Bentinck as the Governor-General of Bengal. During his brief tenure of office he carried out several important measures, including that for the liberation of the press, which, while almost universally popular, complicated his relations with the directors at home to such an extent that he resigned the service of the Company in 1838. In 1835 he was also appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.North-Western Provinces
Metcalfe was Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces from 1 June 1836 to 1 June 1838.In 1838 he retired from service with the East India Company and settled in England.