The grave of William Ambrose Morehead, Dean Cemetery

William Ambrose Morehead (17 October 1805 – 1 December 1863) was a British civil servant of the Indian civil service who acted as the

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 ...

for two terms in 1860 and 1860–61.

Early life and education

Morehead was born in the United Kingdom in 1805 to Rev

Robert Morehead Robert Morehead FRSE (9 March 1777 – 13 December 1842) was a Scottish clergyman and poet who served as Dean of Edinburgh from 1818 to 1832. Life Morehead was born on 9 March 1777 near Stirling in central Scotland, the son of Isabella Lockhart ...

. Ambrose was also the brother of Charles Morehead who served as

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

. Morehead had his education in United Kingdom and qualified for the Indian civil service.

Career

Morehead arrived in Madras in 1825. He attained renown for his actions against a rebellion caused by the murder of Macdonald of the Indian civil service in 1832. Morehead was made a judge of the ''sadr'' court in 1846 and in 1850, was appointed to a committee which inquired into the activities of Lord Trevelyan's administration in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Morehead served as a member of the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

from 1857 to 1862. During this time, he acted as the Governor of Madras for two terms, once in 1860 and another time, in 1860–61. He also served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras from 1860 to 1862.

Death

Morehead retired in October 1862 and died at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 1 December 1863. He is buried in the south-west spur of

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

. The grave is heavily damaged (2014). However, a huge red granite memorial stands to his memory in front of the grave, erected by "friends" around 1880 and sculpted by Stewart McGlashen. His brother

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

lies in a separate grave in the cemetery.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morehead, William Ambrose 1805 births 1863 deaths Administrators in British India Governors of Madras British East India Company people Civil servants from Edinburgh Vice Chancellors of the University of Madras Burials at the Dean Cemetery Members of the Madras Legislative Council