Lewis Pelly

Lieutenant General Sir Lewis Pelly, KCSI (14 November 1825 – 22 April 1892) was Conservative Member of Parliament for Hackney North from 1885 to 1892 and an East India Company officer.

Lewis Pelly
Born	14 November 1825 Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, England
Died	22 April 1892 (aged 66) Falmouth, Cornwall, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Indian Army
Rank	Lieutenant General
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India

Early years

He was the son of John Hinde Pelly of Hyde House, Gloucestershire and was educated at Rugby School. Sir John Henry Pelly, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company and Governor of the Bank of England, was his uncle.[1]

Career

He entered the East India Company service in 1840 and served in Sind before its annexation. Appointed to the regimental staff in 1842, he was promoted to lieutenant in 1843.

In 1852, he acted as Assistant Reader at the Court of Guicowar and then he transferred to the civil service of Sind until 1856, being promoted to Captain in 1855. As aide-de-camp to General John Jacob in 1857, he commanded a troop of cavalry in that year's Persian expedition. He was secretary to Sir James Outram during the occupation of Bushire and Kharack and was in the Frontier Force of the Sind Irregular Horse in 1858, before being a judge in Kurrachee in 1859.

He was Secretary of Legation at the Court of Persia from 1859 to 1860, before being appointed chargé d'affaires there. During his time in this post, he was sent on a special mission through Eastern Persia, Oman, Herat, Afghanistan and Balochistan in 1860 and to the Comoros Islands and Mozambique in 1861. In May 1861, he was part of the expedition which eventually placed Bahrain under British rule.

Promoted to major in 1861, he was appointed Political Agent and Consul at Zanzibar, from where he visited and reported on the Seychelle Islands in 1862.

Next, he was transferred back to Persia as Political Resident (1862 to 1872). He officially visited Riyadh in 1865 to meet with the ruler of the Second Saudi State, Faisal bin Turki.[2] He published an account of his journey and, on 12 September 1868, he signed a treaty with Mohammed bin Thani which recognised the independence of Qatar. In 1872–1873, he accompanied Sir Bartle Frere in the Anti-Slavery Mission to the east coast of Africa. During his time as Political Resident, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1866 and then colonel in 1871.

On 21 June 1873, he was appointed Agent to the Governor General of Rajpootana and, ex officio, Chief Commissioner of Baroda, remaining in this post until 1878.

Returning to England, in 1878 he married Amy Henrietta Lowder, who was born in 1847 at Calne in Wiltshire. In 1881, they were living at 1, Eaton Square, London.

In 1885, by now a lieutenant general, he was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for the newly created North Hackney constituency. He died in Falmouth on 22 April 1892, and is buried at Merstham in Surrey.

Honours

• C. S. I., 1867
• K. C. S. I., 1874

Publications

• Pelly, Sir Lewis Report on a Journey to Riyadh in Central Arabia, 1865

References

1. "Pelly, Lewis" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
2. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi. "The Direct Instruments of Western Control over the Arabs: The Shining Example of the House of Saud" (PDF). Social sciences and humanities. Retrieved 25 January 2021.

• Debretts Illustrated Baronetage, with the Knightage, 1876, Dean & Son (London), 1876
• Whitaker's Almanack, various editions, 1885 to 1892

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lewis Pelly