John Beames
| John Beames | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
21 June 1837 England |
| Died | 24 May 1902 (aged 64) |
| Nationality | England |
| Occupation | Civil servant, author |
| Parent(s) | Rev. Thomas Beames |
John Beames (21 June 1837 – 24 May 1902) was a civil servant in British India and an author. He served in the Punjab from March 1859, to late 1861 and in Bengal from December 1861 until the conclusion of his service in 1893. He was also a scholar of Indian history, literature and linguistics. His great work was a comparative grammar of Indo-Aryan languages, published in 3 volumes in 1872–1879. By the time he retired from the Indian Civil Service in March 1893, Beames had gained extensive knowledge of Indian life and in 1896 chose to set down in writing an account of his career. This account was first published in 1961 as Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian.
Beames was born in the Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich, a few hours after the death of William IV and the consequent ascent of Queen Victoria to the English throne. He was the eldest son of Rev. Thomas Beames, preacher of St James's Church, Piccadilly and grandson of John Beames Esq., a barrister and later bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and spent his formative years moving around England with his father's appointment to various parishes before being sent for education at Merchant Taylors' School in 1847 and Haileybury College in 1856. In his fourth term at Haileybury, Beames won the College's Classic, and Sanskrit prizes as well as the Persian Medal. This affinity with languages served him well in India and permitted him to excel in his early examinations in Calcutta.
Beames arrived in India in 1858 to work in the Indian Civil Service (ICS), serving in the Punjab from March 1859 to late 1861. From December 1861, he was employed in the Bengal Presidency, becoming a permanent Collector in 1867 and a Commissioner in 1881. He thrice officiated as a Member of the Board of Revenue. He was a District Officer and Collector of several districts in Bengal, and the Commissioner of Chittagong until he retired in 1893. In his autobiography, which was not published until 1961, he describes himself as "an obscure person – an average, ordinary, middle-class Englishman".
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