Henry Thoby Prinsep

Henry Thoby Prinsep (1792–1878) was an English official of the Indian Civil Service, and historian of India. In later life he entered politics, and was a significant figure of the cultural circles of London.

He was the fourth son of John Prinsep, active as a soldier and businessman in India, who returned to England in 1788 and settled at Thoby Priory in Essex. Henry Thoby Prinsep was born there on 15 July 1793, brother to James Prinsep and the barrister Charles Robert Prinsep. He was educated under a private tutor, and then at the age of thirteen joined Tonbridge School under Vicesimus Knox II, where he was placed in the sixth form. In 1807, having obtained a writership to Bengal, he entered the East India College, then at Hertford Castle.

Leaving the college in December 1808, Prinsep arrived at Calcutta on 20 July 1809, at the age of sixteen. After passing two years there, first as a student in Writers' Buildings, where he saw much of Holt Mackenzie, and then as an assistant in the office of the court of Sadr Adálat, be was sent to Murshidábad, where he was employed as assistant to the magistrate, and also as registrar, a dealing with petty suits. After serving in the Jungle Mehuls and in Bákarganj, Prinsep was appointed, in 1814, to a subordinate office in the secretariat, and a member of the suite of the governor-general, Lord Moira, whom he accompanied through Oudh and the North-Western Provinces. He was subsequently the first holder of the office of superintendent and remembrancer of legal affairs, protecting the interests of the government in the courts of the provinces; but was summoned to join the governor-general's camp during prolonged tours.

In 1819 and 1820, while still holding his permanent appointment, Prinsep was employed in special inquiries. An investigation into land tenures in Bardhaman district led to Regulation 8 of 1819 for Bengal. On 16 December 1820 he was appointed Persian secretary to government. He was appointed a member of council, first during a temporary vacancy in 1835, and five years later, when he was permanently appointed to the office. He finally retired from the service and left India in 1843.

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