Henry George Keene (1826 – 26 March 1915) was an English historian of medieval and modern India.

Life

Keene was born at the East India College, Haileybury.

Henry George Keene Henry George Keene (30 September 1781–29 January 1864) was an English employee of the East India Company, as soldier, civil servant, and orientalist. He was known as a Persian scholar, and also was a churchman and academic. Life Born on 30 Sep ...

(1781–1864) was his father. 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

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

, going to India as an

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 Southea ...

employee in 1847. His career as an official was limited, but he began to write. From 1847 to 1882 Keene served in the

Bengal 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 p ...

. During the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

he was Superintendent at Dehra Doon. In his subsequent service Keene was in frequent disagreement with his superiors, and when he reached the 35 years' limit he had not got beyond the grade of a district and sessions Judge. He retired with the decoration of CIE, and with a literary reputation. Keene died on 26 March 1915 at his residence in

Westward Ho! Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England. The A39 road provides access from the towns of Barnstaple, Bideford, and Bude. It lies at the south end of Northam Burrows and faces westward into Bideford Bay, opposite Sau ...

Works

Keene's books included: *''Chabeena. Trivial talk on Indian topics. By a wayfarer'' (1865), as H. G. K. Contains discussion of

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...

's justification for British rule. * ''Fifty-Seven: some account of the administration in Indian districts during the revolt of the Bengal army'' (1883) *
A Sketch of the History of Hindustán, from the first Muslim Conquest to the Fall of the Mughol Empire
'. London: W. H. Allen & Co. (1885) *
The Fall of the Moghal Empire
' (1886) or ''The Moghul empire; from the death of Aurungzeb to the overthrow of the Mahratta power'' * (ed.) '' An Oriental Biographical Dictionary'', based on materials collected by Thomas William Beale (1894
online
concerned largely with Islamic Indian biographies. *''Servant of "John Company"'' (1897) *
The Great Anarchy or Darkness before Dawn. Sketches of Military Adventure in Hindustan during the Period immediately preceding British Occupation
'. London: W. Thaker & Co. (1901). * ''History of India Vol. 1: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Nineteenth Century, for the Use of Students and Colleges'' (1906) * ''Here and There: Memories, Indian and Other'' (1906) * ''Hindustan Under Free Lances, 1770-1820: Sketches of Military Adventure in Hindustan'' (1907) * ''Turks in India: Critical Chapters on the Administration of That Country by the Chughtai, Babar, and His Descendants'' *

' * ''British Administration During the Revolt of 1857'' * ''Madhava Rao Sindhia and the Hindú reconquest of India'' "Keene's Handbooks" covered a number of Indian cities. He also wrote for the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' and ''

Chambers's Encyclopaedia ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia'' was founded in 1859Chambers, W. & R"Concluding Notice"in ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia''. London: W. & R. Chambers, 1868, Vol. 10, pp. v–viii. by William and Robert Chambers of Edinburgh and became one of the most ...

''. s:The Indian Biographical Dictionary (1915)/Keene, Henry George

Family

Keene was twice married, and was survived by four sons and five daughters. Among his sons were: * Henry George Keene of the Indian Financial Department * Colonel Alfred Keene, D.S.O., editor of the Journal of the

National Service League The National Service League (NSL) was a British pressure group founded in February 1902 to campaign for the introduction of compulsory military training in Great Britain, in order to protect the country against invasion, particularly from Germany ...

* Captain Geoffrey Keene, 29th Punjabis.

Notes

External links

*
Online Books Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keene, Henry George 1826 births 1915 deaths British East India Company civil servants Historians of India 19th-century English historians Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire English male non-fiction writers 20th-century English historians