Sir Jervoise Athelstane Baines (17 October 1847 – 26 November 1925) was an administrator in the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

during the period of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

Early life

Baines was the son of Edward Baines, the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Yalding Yalding is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The village is situated south west of Maidstone at a point where the Rivers Teise and Beult join the River Medway. At the 2001 census, the parish, which incl ...

in Kent, and his wife, Catherine Eularia Baines. He was born on 17 October 1847 in the village of

Bluntisham Bluntisham is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,003. Bluntisham lies approximately east of Huntingdon. Bluntisham is situated within Huntingdonshire whi ...

in the former English county of

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popul ...

. He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

and at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. In 1868, he passed the

competitive examination An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...

for entry into the Indian Civil Service, spent two years in training and was then posted to the

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

India

Baines arrived in India in 1870, approximately halfway through the five-year-long attempt to collect statistical population data, which was the first such exercise by the Raj administration. In 1881, he was deputy superintendent of the census in the Presidency and excelled to the degree that he was appointed Census Commissioner for the national census of 1891. He had worked as an assistant collector and magistrate at

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

from 1883 and held various other posts while in India. Baines spent much of his time organising the censuses and also analysing and producing reports based on their data, which were "widely recognised as the work of a brilliant ethnographer and statistician", according to an obituary published in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

''. For the 1891 census, Baines changed the classification from that which had been used in the exercise of 1881. His obituary in the Journal of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

describes the changes as being "first the separation of caste from religion and, secondly, the substitution of the population ''subsisting'' by an occupation for that ''exercising'' it." He wrote the resultant 300-page General Report. His work influenced that of his successors, such as

H. H. Risley Sir Herbert Hope Risley (4 January 1851 – 30 September 1911) was a British ethnography, ethnographer and colonial administrator, a member of the Indian Civil Service who conducted extensive studies on the tribes and castes of the Bengal ...

and Edward Gait, and his obituary in the Journal of the

noted that

Later life and recognition

In January 1894, Baines was made a

Companion of the Order of the Star of India The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander (GCSI) # Knight Commander ( KCSI) # Companion ( CSI) No appointments ...

. He had worked on the decennial Report on Moral and Material Progress for 1891 and he was appointed as Secretary to the

Royal Opium Commission The Royal Commission on Opium was a British Royal commission, Royal Commission that investigated the opium trade in British Raj, British India in 1893–1895, particularly focusing on the medical impacts of opium consumption within India. Set up ...

for the period 1894–1895. He retired near to the end of 1895. Returning to England, he initially settled in London and became involved in local politics and administration, becoming an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

between 1898 and 1902. He moved to

Kidlington Kidlington is a major village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal, north of Oxford and 7 miles (12 km) south-west of Bicester. It remains officially a village ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1904, was knighted in 1905. and was a member of the

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, includ ...

from 1917 until 1922. Much of his involvement in Oxfordshire politics concerned education. Baines was elected a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 1881 and served a term as its president between 1909 and 1910, following a continuous period as a member of the Society's Council from 1895. The society awarded him its Guy Medal in Gold in 1900, making him one of the eight people to receive the honour between its inception in 1892 and 1930. Baines was also a fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

from 1896, an Honorary Member of the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuousl ...

and an elected member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

from 1897. He died at Kidlington on 26 November 1925. He had married Constance Pyne in 1874, and the couple had a son and a daughter. Baines was well liked in the princely state of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

for his services to the Maharajah. He owned land in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

and these two locations are now named "Bains Compound" in his memory.

Works

Among his written works are ''Ethnography (castes and tribes)'', which was published in 1912, contributions to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (as ''J.A.B.''), and numerous journal papers. The latter mostly concerned demographics, such as ''The Recent Trend of Population in England and Wales''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baines, Jervoise Athelstane 1847 births 1925 deaths Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British ethnologists British statisticians Companions of the Order of the Star of India People educated at Rugby School Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society People from Oxford Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society People from Bluntisham Knights Bachelor

Early life

India

Later life and recognition

Works

See also

References