Sir Charles Warre Malet, 1st Baronet (30 December 1752 – 24 January 1815) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

diplomat who served in the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

as a

Resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceut ...

in the court of the

Peshwa The Peshwa was the second highest office in the Maratha Empire, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary when Shahu gave t ...

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

. He was the oldest son of Alexander Malet (1704–1775), a rector at Combe Florey in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, and his wife Ann. His first position was the

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

residency at

Cambay Khambhat state or Cambay state was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The city of Khambhat in present-day Gujarat was its capital. The state was bounded in the north by the Kaira district (Kheda district, Kheda) and in the sout ...

from 1774 to 1785. He served in the East India Company and in 1785 was appointed Resident to the court of the Peshwas of Mahratta, subsequently building a house in a splendid park outside the town of

Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

. He considered

western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of western states of India, Republic of India. The Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative divisions of India, Adminis ...

an asset to improve British trade with China, and considered it important to have greater control over the rulers of western India. When

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

attacked

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

in 1789,

Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading Britis ...

made an alliance with the

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

who ruled

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

and the

of the

through Malet. This treaty was signed with difficulty, as Tipu also sought to forge alliances with the

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

s. For his efforts Malet was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in February 1791. He left India in 1798 and married

Susanna Wales Susanna (sometimes spelled Susannah) Wales, Lady Malet was a British artist. Biography Wales was the daughter of Scottish artist James Wales. She appears to have travelled with her father to India in the 1790s, either to Poona or Bombay, bef ...

(daughter of painter James Wales) in England. He continued to take an interest in India and influenced

Thomas Daniell Thomas Daniell (174919 March 1840) was an English Landscape art, landscape painter who also painted Orientalist themes. He spent seven years in India, accompanied by his nephew William Daniell, William, also an artist, and published several se ...

to publish Wales's paintings of the caves at

Ellora The Ellora Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Aurangabad, India. It is one of the largest rock-cut cave complexes in the world, with artwork dating from the period 600–1000 AD, including Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain caves., Quote: "The ...

, apart from writing about them. He was created a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and of the

Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

. He had eight children by Susanna, several of whom served in India: *

Sir Alexander Malet, 2nd Baronet Sir Alexander Malet, 2nd Baronet (1800–1886) was an English diplomat and writer. Life The eldest son of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet, born at Hartham Park, Wiltshire in June 1800, he succeeded to the baronetcy in 1815. He was educated at ...

(23 Jul 1800 – 28 Nov 1886) * Lt Col Charles St Lo Malet (10 Jan 1802 – 20 Sep 1889) * William Wyndham Malet (29 Sep 1803 – 12 Jun 1885) * Lt Col George Grenville Malet (7 Mar 1805 – 9 Dec 1856) * Arthur Malet (7 Nov 1806 – 13 Sep 1888) * Hugh Poyntz Malet (13 Aug 1808 – 10 Mar 1904) * Octavius Warre Malet (7 May 1811 – 11 Dec 1891) * Alfred Augustus Malet (29 Aug 1814 – 21 Mar 1898). He also had three children through his mistress Jahanara Khan, a princess from

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

. In 1798 He left Bibi Jahanara Khan in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

and her three children later moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

after being baptized as

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

. Portraits of the family were painted by James Wales. Malet lived in

Wilbury House Wilbury House or Wilbury Park is an 18th-century Neo-Palladian country house in the parish of Newton Tony, Wiltshire in South West England, about northeast of Salisbury. It is a Grade I listed building, and the surrounding park and garden are Gr ...

, a country house in Wiltshire designed by William Benson. Upon his death the baronetcy passed to his son Alexander.

References

Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Fellows of the Royal Society 1752 births 1815 deaths {{English-bio-stub