Tanjore Ramachandra Rao (1825-1879) was an Indian civil servant who became the first native Indian to serve as Deputy Commissioner of Police of

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Early life

Ramachandra Rao was born in

Tanjore Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

in 1825 in a

Deshastha Brahmin Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Br ...

family which traced its origins to

Bijapur Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...

. After brief initial education, Ramachandra Rao moved to

in 1840 and caught the attention of Major Crisp, translator to the Madras government, who trained him in calculation and computation and employed Rao as his private writer from August 1840 to March 1841. Later, through Crisp's recommendation, Ramachandra Rao was appointed Superintendent of the Madras observatory.

Early career

In January 1844, Ramachandra Rao joined the Military Fund Office as a minute writer but switched over to the Police Department in October 1847. Ramachandra Rao's proficiency in multiple languages won him rapid promotions until 1854, when he was appointed Interpreter to the Chief Magistrate. Shortly afterwards, Rao was appointed Kannada translator to the Supreme Court of Madras with the backing of

John Bruce Norton John Bruce Norton (8 July 1815 – 13 July 1883) was a British barrister and educationist who served as the Advocate-General of the Madras Presidency. He was the father of the barrister and Indian independence activist Eardley Norton. Early ...

As Deputy Commissioner of Police

During the tenure of Charles Trevelyan as

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...

, Ramachandra Rao was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Police with Boulderson as the Commissioner. Ramachandra Rao was the first Indian to serve in the post. As Deputy Commissioner, Ramachandra Rao successfully solved the case of a burglary in Adyar, the Dindigul Robbery Case and the Great Note Forgery Case of 1875. In 1875, he was in charge of the security arrangements during the visit of 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 ...

(later King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

) of India. Rao earned the praise of Prince Albert Edward and was personally presented a gold chain by him.

Later years

Ramachandra Rao retired in late 1878 due to failing health. He died in mid-1879 at the age of 54.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, T. Ramachandra 1825 births 1879 deaths People from Thanjavur district Indian police officers