Bernard Coventry (10 December 1859 – 26 January 1929) was a British agronomist who served as the founding director of the

Imperial Agricultural Research Institute The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India's national institute for agricultural research, education and Agricultural extension, extension. The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact t ...

in Pusa, Bengal Presidency, India from 1904. Coventry was the son of Reverend John Coventry of Burgate House, Hants, and Catherine Seton. He was educated at Beaumont College and went to work in the indigo industry in India in 1881 becoming a part owner of the Dalsing Sarai Indigo Concern in Bihar. He conducted experiments to introduce rhea ('' Boehmeria nivea'') cultivation in India and calculated the profitability of processing and exporting the fibre to Europe. His research was commended by Sir John Woodburn in 1902. In 1800 he was involved in research on indigo, taking out a patent for improved indigo processing. In 1898 some Bihar indigo farmers formed an Indigo Improvement Syndicate (IIS) with the aims of conducting experiments. In 1901 Bihar Indigo Planters Association (BIPA) with their chemist Christopher Rawson and the IIS combined to work on experiments on the recommendation of Sir George Watt. Coventry worked with Begg, Dunlop and Company who hired a chemist E.A. Hancock and tried testing better indigo species (including ''

Indigofera arrecta ''Indigofera arrecta'', variously called the Bengal, Java, or Natal indigo, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to SubSaharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Madagascar, and has been introduced to the Indian S ...

'', experiments on which were also made at Calcutta by

David Prain Sir David Prain (11 July 1857 – 16 March 1944) was a Scottish botanist who worked in India at the Calcutta Botanical Garden and went on to become Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Life Born to David Prain, a saddler, and his wife ...

) and varieties from around the world. After Hancock left, the station at Dalsingserai hired

Hugh Martin-Leake Hugh Martin-Leake (28 October 1878 – 29 April 1977) was a British economic botanist who worked in India, primarily on the improvement of indigo and opium cultivation. He served as an economic botanist and as a director of agriculture in the Unite ...

and chemist William P. Bloxam. By 1903 the BIPA stopped funding the project but IIS continued to support it and a fresh government grant was made in 1903 leading to a research station at Peeprah. Here Cyril Bergtheil was recruited. The research work was highly regarded by several officials including

James Mollison James Mollison (20 March 1931 – 19 January 2020) was acting director of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) from 1971 to 1977 and director from 1977 to 1989. He was director of the National Gallery of Victoria from 1989 to 1995. Ea ...

Denzil Ibbetson Sir Denzil Charles Jelf Ibbetson (30 August 1847 – 21 February 1908)Talbot (2012). was an administrator in British India and an author. He served as Chief-Commissioner of the Central Provinces and Berar from 1898 to 1899 and Lie ...

, and David Prain. Mollison who became the first Inspector General of Agriculture recommended that the Dalsingserai team be absorbed into the first agricultural science establishment formed at Pusa. Coventry was appointed principal of the Agricultural College at Pusa in 1904. The institution later became the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute. He was appointed a Companion, Order of the Indian Empire on 14 June 1912 and served as an advisor on agriculture to the government until 1916. Coventry married Ella Gordon Dalgleish on 7 January 1892 at Dalsingserai and they had four daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coventry, Bernard 1859 births 1929 deaths British agronomists People from the Bengal Presidency British people in colonial India Scientists from the British Empire