Captain James MacMurdo was the first political resident of

British 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 ...

Cutch State Cutch, also spelled Kutch or Kachchh and also historically known as the Kingdom of Kutch, was a kingdom in the Kutch region from 1147 to 1819 and a princely state under British rule from 1819 to 1947. Its territories covered the present day K ...

. He played important role in bringing kutchh under British

suzerainty Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...

Biography

MacMurdo was born on 30 November 1785 in

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Lieutenant MacMurdo entered the military service in 1801 ; commanded the Resident's Guard at

Baroda State Baroda State was a state in present-day Gujarat, ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Confederacy from its formation in 1721 until its accession to the newly formed Dominion of India in 1949. With the city of Baroda (Vadodara) as its c ...

and served as Aide-de-Camp to Lieutenant- General

Oliver Nicolls General Oliver Nicolls (c.1740 – 1829) was a British Army officer. Military career Nicolls was commissioned into the 1st Regiment of Foot in November 1756.Richard Cannon''Historical record of the Life Guards containing an account of the formati ...

, Commander-in-Chief of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. He entered Cutch in the guise of Ramanandi monk. He resided at Madhavrai's Temple in Anjar and his religious activities earned him nickname, ''Bhuriya Bava''. He spoke local language and had understanding of local customs. In 1816, he was sent to Rao of Cutch state for issues regarding piracy in

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

and bandits from Vagad region entering into North Gujarat. In 1816, the Rao

Bharmalji II Maharajadhiraj Mirza Maharao Bharmalji II (reign: 6 November 1814 − 25 March 1819) was the Rao of Cutch belonging to Rajput dynasty, who ascended the throne of Princely State of Cutch one month after the death of his father Rayadhan III. Rei ...

agreed to the suzerainty of the British and he was appointed as the British Resident at

Bhuj Bhuj () is a Municipality and District Headquarters of Kutch District in the state of Gujarat, India. Etymology According to legend, Kutch was ruled by the Nāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to Kin ...

and Collector of Anjar. With support of some

Jadeja The Jadeja (also spelled Jarejo) (Gujarati: ) is a Rajput clan that inhabits the Indian state of Gujarat. They claim to be descended from the legendary Jamshed of Iran. They also claim descent from Krishna. They originated from pastoral communi ...

chiefs, the British troops led by Colonel East attacked Bhuj on 25 March 1819, and disposed Rao Bharmalji II and his son

Deshalji II Maharajadhiraj Mirza Maharao Shri Deshalji II Sahib Bahadur (b 1814- d 1860) (reign: 1819–1860) was the Rao of Cutch belonging to Jadeja dynasty, who ascended the throne of Princely State of Cutch upon deposition of his father Bharmalji II b ...

, a minor was made the ruler of Cutch State. In 1819, MacMurdo was posted as British Political Resident stationed at

. During Deshalji's minority, the affairs of the State were managed by Council of Regency, which was composed of Jadeja chiefs and was headed by MacMurdo. During his stay in Anjar, he built

MacMurdo's Bungalow MacMurdo's Bungalow is a bungalow in Anjar town of Kutch district, Gujarat, India. It was built in 1818 by James MacMurdo, the first political resident of the British East India Company to Cutch State during his stay in Anjar.- Wall paintings ...

with wall paintings which has the themes from

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

. It is now State Protected Monument. In 1819, he experienced the earthquake in Anjar and sent detailed reports regarding it to Bombay. He wrote several books and reports regarding

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

and Kutch regions. He died on 28 April 1820 at

Varnu Varnu is a village in Rapar Taluka in Kutch district of Gujarat, India. The village is on the west bank of Little Rann of Kutch. Demographics The village has population of about 600 people. Main communities residing here are Gadhvis, Rajgor, ...

near

Rann of Kutch The Rann of Kutch (alternately spelled as Kuchchh) is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. It is located in Gujarat (primarily the Kutch district), India, and in Sindh, Pakistan. It is divided into t ...

and was buried near the temple of Venudada located in the village. The people of village believe that he slept in the Venudada temple which resulted in his death though his tomb is marked that he died of

Cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

, probably during the first Asiatic cholera pandemic. His tomb reads,

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:MacMurdo, James 1785 births 1820 deaths British East India Company Army officers People from Dumfries and Galloway Deaths from cholera

Biography

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