Sir Arthur Purves Phayre (7 May 1812 – 14 December 1885) was a career British Indian Army officer who was the first Commissioner of British Burma, 1862–1867,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

, 1874–1878, and author. His brother, Sir

Robert Phayre Colonel Robert Phaire, (1619?–1682), was an officer in the Irish Protestant and then the New Model armies and a Regicide. He was one of the three officers to whom the warrant for the execution of Charles I was addressed, but he escaped severe ...

(1820–1897), also served in India. They were part of the Phayre family, of which Lt Col

, who served the British administration in Ireland in the 17th century, also had the death warrant of Charles I addressed to him and two other Colonels. Descendants: Colonel Robert Bernard Phayre MC 2/4th Prince of Wales Own Gurkha Rifles, son Colonel Robert Desmond Hensley Phayre Royal Artillery, son Lt Col Robert (Robin) Dermot Spinks Phayre LI, cousin Col Terence Peter Phayre Knott MC RM, of whom son Captain Robert Knott AAC changed name by deed poll to Phayre, to prevent family name dying out, lives in Kenya.

Early life

Phayre was born in Shrewsbury and educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into ...

. He joined the Indian Army in 1828. In 1846 he was appointed assistant to the commissioner of the province of Tenasserim, Burma, and in 1849 he was made commissioner of

Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...

. After the

Second Anglo-Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( my, ဒုတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် မြန်မာ စစ် ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese Empire and British Em ...

(1852), he became commissioner of

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon langua ...

. He was made a Brevet Captain in 1854 and in 1862 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.

Work

Government office

In 1862 Phayre was made commissioner for the entire province of British Burma. He left Burma in 1867. He served as 12th Governor of Mauritius from 21 Sep 1874 to 31 Dec 1878. He was appointed a CB in 1864, promoted to Colonel in 1866 and was knighted with the KCSI in 1867. In 1871, he was promoted to Major-General and was promoted to Lieutenant-General in 1873. He retired to Bray in Ireland and was appointed a GCMG in 1878.

Naturalist

Phayre wrote the first standard ''History of Burma'' (1883). He is commemorated in the names of a number of animals, including: *

Phayre's leaf monkey Phayre's leaf monkey (''Trachypithecus phayrei''), also known as Phayre's langur, is a species of lutung native to South and Southeast Asia, namely India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Populations from further east are now thought to belong to other s ...

, ''Trachypithecus phayrei'' *

Indochinese flying squirrel The Indochinese flying squirrel (''Hylopetes phayrei''), also known as Phayre's flying squirrel, is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việ ...

, ''Hylopetes phayrei'' * Phayre's squirrel, ''Callosciurus phayrei'' *

Eared pitta The eared pitta (''Hydrornis phayrei'') is a species of bird in the pitta family, Pittidae, and is found in Southeast Asia. Description It has formerly been placed into its own genus, ''Anthocincla'', on account of its apparent primitive charact ...

, ''Pitta phayrei'' *Brown Asian forest tortoise, '' Manouria emys phayrei'' * Ashy-headed green pigeon, ''Treron phayrei''

Numismatist

Phayre collected coins (some are now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

collection), and in 1882 wrote ''Coins of Arakan, of Pegu, and of Burma'', International Numismata Orientalia, part 8. The title page notes that he was a corresponding member of the Société Académique Indo-Chinoise. He was also a member of the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

.Obituary, in the JRAS Royal Asiatic Society. Proceedings of the Sixty-Third Anniversary Meeting of the Society, Held on 17 May 1886 Henry Yule The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland New Series, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Oct., 1886), pp. I-CLXIX Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25208848

References

External links

* http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Myanmar.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Phayre, Arthur Purves 1812 births 1885 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Companions of the Order of the Bath Governors of British Mauritius Administrators in British Burma People educated at Shrewsbury School Military personnel from Shrewsbury British Indian Army generals British East India Company Army officers Indian Army cavalry generals of World War I English naturalists 19th-century naturalists British numismatists Scientists from Shrewsbury