Josias Du Pre
Josias Du Pre (also Du Pré, Dupré or Dupre) (1721–1780) was a London merchant, a director of the East India Company and Governor of Madras.[1]
Life
Du Pre was born in South Carolina, the son of Cornelius Dupre. He joined the civil service of the East India Company in 1752, as a factor, and rose through a succession of positions. He spent a period in England in the 1760s, and married there.[1] He purchased the Wilton Park Estate near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire from the Basil family in 1760,[2] or around 1770.[3]
Du Pre was Governor of Madras from 1770 to 1773. He was mostly preoccupied with the construction of fortifications there. His authority was circumscribed: Eyre Coote, the military commander, and Sir John Lindsay who had overall command in the East Indies, left him little room in which to operate.[1]
Once back in England he commissioned Richard Jupp to build a mansion at Wilton Park. Known as the "White House", it was completed in 1779.[4]
Du Pre at the end of his life became a Fellow of the Royal Society,[5] owing the honour to his appointment two decades earlier of Alexander Dalrymple as his deputy.[6]
He died at Wilton Park in 1780.[3]
Family
He married Rebecca Alexander, daughter of Nathaniel Alexander and sister of James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon, another nabob: Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon, son of the first Earl, was named after Josias.[7]
Of the children of Josias and Rebecca:
- James Du Pre was a Member of Parliament.[2]
- Eliza married Colonel Brice, and then Rev. John Blackwood, son of Sir John Blackwood, 2nd Baronet.[8]
- Rebecca married Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 9th Baronet; Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 10th Baronet was their son.
Josias Du Pre's sister Esther married Paul Porcher, and was mother of the MP Josias Du Pré Porcher.[9]
Notes
- Henry Davidson Love. Indian Records Series Vestiges of Old Madras. Mittal Publications. pp. 1–3. GGKEY:GE1U0JNYH0Q. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
- historyofparliamentonline.org, Du Pré, James (1778–1870), of Wilton Park, Beaconsfield, Bucks.
- 'Parishes: Beaconsfield', A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3 (1925), pp. 155-165. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42542 Date accessed: 20 April 2012.
- Bull, Clare. "Wilton Park". Beaconsfield and District Historical Society. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
- "Fellow Details". Royal Society. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- Christa Jungnickel; Russell McCormmach (1999). Cavendish: The Experimental Life. Bucknell University Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-8387-5445-0. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
- Jupp, P. J. "Alexander, Du Pre". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/93359. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- thepeerage.com, Eliza Dupré.
- historyofparliamentonline.org, Porcher, Josias Du Pré (?1761–1820), of Hillingdon House, Mdx. and Winslade House, Devon.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles Bourchier |
Governor of Madras 1770–1773 |
Succeeded by Alexander Wynch |