Robert Lindsay (1754–1836) was a Scottish colonial official and businessman who served as supervisor of

Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

from 1778 until 1787, and then as

district collector A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...

from 1787 until 1790. He is known to have taken part in the

Muharram Rebellion The Muharram Rebellion ( bn, মুহররমের হাঙ্গামা, Muhôrrômer Haṅgama) was a Bengali uprising which took place in early December 1782 against the East India Company in colonial Sylhet, eastern Bengal (now Bangla ...

Biography

Lindsay was born on 25 January 1754 to the Earl of Balcarres, James Lindsay and Anne Dalrymple. His maternal uncle, Charles Dalrymple got him into the trading lifestyle on a

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

ship to Cadiz. In 1772, he travelled to India on the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

reaching

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in September. Here, he was made an assistant to the Accountant-General of the revenue department and also studied the

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...

. On the autumn of 1776, he went on a voyage to the city of

Dacca Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

. He also learnt the

Hindustani language Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lan ...

as the importance of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

declined.

Collector of Sylhet

After a few years in Dacca, Lindsay set off for the

. On arriving, he was advised to pay his respects and visit the dargah of Shah Jalal as per tradition. It is said he took his shoes off before entering and donated five golden

mohur The Mohur is a gold coin that was formerly minted by several governments, including British India and some of the princely states which existed alongside it, the Mughal Empire, Kingdom of Nepal, and Persia (chiefly Afghanistan). It was usually ...

s (16 Bengali rupees) as he left. He mentions during his time in Sylhet, of the custom of drying fish (

shutki Fresh fish rapidly deteriorates unless some way can be found to preserve it. Drying (food), Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of microorganisms. Open air drying using sun ...

) and its "noxious" smell. In Chapter 7 of his book, he mentions the

1782 Sylhet uprising The Muharram Rebellion ( bn, মুহররমের হাঙ্গামা, Muhôrrômer Haṅgama) was a Bengali uprising which took place in early December 1782 against the East India Company in colonial Sylhet, eastern Bengal (now Bangla ...

Sylhet Shahi Eidgah Sylhet Shahi Eidgah ( bn, সিলেট শাহী ঈদগাহ), or simply Shahi Eidgah, is an open prayer hall situated in Sylhet, north-east Bangladesh, three kilometers to the north-east of the circuit house, meant for the Eid prayers. ...

. During his tenure, he successfully suppressed the Revolt of Radharam in 1786. Lindsay was succeeded as Collector of Sylhet by Hyndman and shortly after by John Willes.

Return to Britain

According to Assam District Gazetteers, vol. 10, Lindsay was "largely interested in the business, and describes the sources of his wealth in most poetic terms. 'The

chunam Lime plaster is a type of plaster composed of sand, water, and lime, usually non-hydraulic hydrated lime (also known as slaked lime, high calcium lime or air lime). Ancient lime plaster often contained horse hair for reinforcement and pozzolan add ...

or lime rock is washed by the rapid stream. A magnificent cataract was seen rolling over the adjoining precipice, the scenery altogether was truly sublime. The mountain was composed of the purest alabaster lime, and appeared in quantity equal to the supply of the whole world'." The book later states, "Mr. Lindsay's business experienced some vicissitudes owing to the violent conduct of the

Khasi Khasi may refer to: * Khasi people, an ethnic group of Meghalaya, India * Khasi language, a major Austroasiatic language spoken in Meghalaya, India * Khāṣi language, an Indo-Aryan language of Jammu and Kashmir, India See also * Khasi Hills * Gh ...

chiefs, but lime no doubt contributed largely to the fortune that he was able to accumulate in Sylhet.Allen, p. 15 On his return to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, Lindsay purchased the large estate of

Balcarres House Balcarres House lies 1km north of the village of Colinsburgh, in the East Neuk of Fife, in eastern Scotland. It is centred on a mansion built in 1595 by John Lindsay (1552–1598), second son of David, 9th Earl of Crawford. The house became the ...

in Scotland from his brother,

Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres and ''de jure'' 23rd Earl of Crawford (18 January 175227 March 1825) was the son of James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres. He was a general in the British Army. Early life He entered the army at the ag ...

, with the fortune that he had made in Bengal. He died in 1836. , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Robert 1754 births 1836 deaths Rulers of Sylhet Younger sons of earls