William Petrie (1747 – 27 October 1816) was a British officer of the

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 South ...

Chennai 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 ...

(formerly Madras) during the 1780s, and was Governor of Prince of Wales Island (

Penang Island Penang Island ( ms, Pulau Pinang; zh, 檳榔嶼; ta, பினாங்கு தீவு) is part of the state of Penang, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was named Prince of Wales Island when it was occupied by the British Ea ...

) from 1812 to 1816. An amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

, Petrie helped found the first modern observatory outside Europe, the

Madras Observatory The Madras Observatory was an astronomical observatory which had its origins in a private observatory set up by William Petrie in 1786 and later moved and managed by the British East India Company from 1792 in Madras (now known as Chennai). The ...

Life

East India Company career

The chronology of his advancement through the Honorable East India Company is as follows: * 1765 - Writer * 1771 - Factor * 1774 - Junior Merchant * 1776 - Senior Merchant; At Home * 1778 - In India * 1782 - At Home * 1790 - Member of the Council of the Governor * 1793 - At Home * 1800 - President of the Board of Revenue, and Member of the Council of the Governor * 1809 - Appointed Governor of the Prince of Wales Island * Died 27 October 1816, at Prince of Wales Island.

Astronomy

In 1786, Petrie set up a private observatory as a geographical and navigational aid in his residence in

Egmore Egmore is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Situated on the northern banks of the Coovum River, Egmore is an important residential area as well as a commercial and transportation hub. The Egmore Railway Station was the main terminus of the Ma ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

,Cited by Raghunathan, M. S. and Rajasakaran, G. in "Subaltern Science in the South, 1792-1947", chapter 22 in , pp.669-719. recording the first modern astronomical observations outside

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

on 5 December 1786. His observatory and instruments later contributed to the first modern observatory outside Europe, the

, being established in nearby

Nungambakkam Nungambakkam is a locality in downtown Chennai, India. The neighborhood abounds with multi-national commercial establishments, important government offices, foreign consulates, educational institutions, shopping malls, sporting facilities, to ...

; an original instrument (a gridiron astronomical clock made by John Shelton) donated by Petrie to the observatory can be seen at the

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory is a solar observatory owned and operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. It is on the southern tip of the Palani Hills from Kodaikanal town. The Evershed effect was first detected at this observato ...

. Petrie's efforts led to Michael Topping (1747–96) being appointed as the astronomer of this observatory by the Company (the observatory later evolved into

Indian Institute of Astrophysics The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), with its headquarters in Bengaluru,is an autonomous Research Institute wholly financed by the department of Science and Technology, Government of India. IIA conducts research primarily in the areas of ...

). Petrie was a Member of Council in Madras in the 1790s, and acted for three months as Governor of Madras in 1807. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

in November 1795.

Governor of Penang

Petrie received his appointment on 29 Nov 1811 probably owing to Archibald Seton being absent on duty with the

Java Expedition The Invasion of Java in 1811 was a successful British amphibious operation against the Dutch East Indian island of Java that took place between August and September 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars. Originally established as a colony of the Dutch R ...

. Seton was officially Lieutenant-Governor of Penang from 9 May 1811 to 27 July 1812 but was absent on duty with The Java Expedition from 13 May 1811 until the end. Petrie served as Acting Governor till the end of Seton's official rule and then as Governor of Penang from September 1812 to October 1816. He died, aged 69, while still in office. A number of the “interactions” with the public by the Governors were recorded in the ''Prince of Wales Island Gazette''. In the last days of 1813, Petrie requested that “the Gentlemen of His Majesty’s and the Honorable Company’s Civil, Naval and Military Service, and the other Gentlemen of the Settlement will honor him with their company at Breakfast at half past eight; and at dinner, at half past four o’clock, on New Year’s Day.”New Ways of Knowing: The Prince of Wales Island Gazette—Penang’s First Newspaper by Geoff Wade, University of Hong Kong; Email gwade@hkucc.hku.hk, Presented at The Penang Story – International Conference 2002 18–21 April 2002, The City Bayview Hotel, Penang, Malaysia organised by The Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications Following his death, his 'widow' was granted a pension by the East India Company. She was not legally his widow, but a Eurasian woman, Mrs Warren, the daughter of

Jean Baptiste François Joseph de Warren Jean Baptiste François Joseph de Warren or John Warren (21 September 1769 – 9 February 1830) was an army captain and later Lieutenant Colonel with Her Majesty's 33rd Regiment of Foot, East India Company in India, surveyor and amateur astronome ...

, an officer in the French army at

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

. She bore Petrie five children, and later died at her home in Baker Street, London on 20 March 1819.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrie, William 1747 births 1816 deaths British East India Company people History of Penang Fellows of the Royal Society Governors of Penang Administrators in British Penang