Holt Mackenzie, PC (1786–1876) was a British colonial administrator in India. The son of the Scottish writer

Henry Mackenzie Henry Mackenzie FRSE (August 1745 – 14 January 1831, born and died in Edinburgh) was a Scottish lawyer, novelist and writer sometimes seen as the Addison of the North. While remembered mostly as an author, his main income came from legal role ...

, Holt Mackenzie and of Penuel, daughter of Sir Ludovich Grant of Grant. He obtained an

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

writership in July 1807 and rose steadily until he retired to England in 1831. In India, he was instrumental for setting up the

Mahalwari The Mahalwari system is used in India to protect village-level-autonomy. It was introduced by Holt Mackenzie in 1822. The word "Mahalwari" is derived from the Hindi word ''Mahal'', which means house, district, neighborhood or quarter. Mahalwari con ...

system of land revenue. After returning to England, he became a member of the Board of Control, and was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1832. The same year, he stood unsuccessfully for Elgin Burghs.

References

* "Mr. Holt Mackenzie", ''The Times'', 3 April 1876, p. 4. British East India Company civil servants 1876 deaths Scottish expatriate sportspeople in India Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom effects in 1822