Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833) was a British soldier, colonial administrator, diplomat, linguist, and historian. He was born in Scotland, left school at age 12, and, through an uncle, secured a position in the East India Company. While stationed in various parts of India as an officer in the company's military forces, he became interested in foreign languages, which he studied diligently. He became fluent in Persian and, over the years, served as an interpreter and British envoy to Persia in various capacities. Malcolm wrote a number of books while living in Persia and during several extended stays in England, including Sketch of the Political History of India (1811), Observations on the Disturbances in the Madras Army in 1809 (1812), Sketch of the Sikhs (1812), and his most famous work, The History of Persia: From the Most Early Period to the Present Time, published in 1815. His last official post was as governor of Bombay in 1827-30. He returned to England in 1831, and completed two other works, Government of India (1833), and Life of Clive (posthumously published in 1836). The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir John Malcolm is a two-volume biography, written by Sir John William Kaye (1814-76), a onetime officer in the army of the East India Company who resigned in 1841 to devote himself full time to the writing of military history. Kaye's other works include the two-volume History of the War in Afghanistan (1851) and the three-volume The History of the Sepoy War in India, 1857-8 (1864-76). World Digital Library.
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- London, Smith, Elder, and co.; [etc., etc.] 1856.
