William Henry Sykes facts for kids
Colonel William Henry Sykes (born January 25, 1790 – died June 16, 1872) was an English naturalist. He was also a FRS, which means he was a very important scientist. William Henry Sykes served in the British military in India. He was well-known for his work with the Indian Army as a politician, someone who studies India's history and culture (an Indologist), and a bird expert (an ornithologist).
Sykes was one of the first people to use statistics in the Victorian era. He helped start the Royal Statistical Society. He also did surveys and looked at how well the army was working. After his time in India, he became a director of the East India Company. He also became a member of Parliament for Aberdeen.
Life and Career
William Henry Sykes was born near Bradford in Yorkshire, England. He came from a family called Sykeses of Yorkshire. He joined the military as a young cadet in 1803. By 1804, he was an officer with the Honourable East India Company. He joined the Bombay Army and became a lieutenant in 1805.
He fought in the siege of Bhurtpur in 1805. He also led a regiment in the battles of Kirkee and Poonah. He helped capture hill forts. By 1810, he could speak Hindi and Marathi.
He became a captain in 1819. From 1820, he traveled around Europe for four years. He returned to India in 1824. There, he was asked to collect statistics for the Bombay government. He gathered information on natural history and completed a count of people in the Deccan region. He wrote two big reports with statistics and one on natural history.
In 1824, he married Elizabeth Hay. He was promoted to major in 1826 and to lieutenant-colonel in 1831. Even when his job as a statistical reporter ended, he kept working on his surveys. He finished this work in 1831 and went back to Europe. He left the army as a colonel in 1833.
Because he knew so much about India, he became a director of the East India Company in 1840. In 1867, he became the chairman of the company's directors.
In 1847, he tried to become a Member of Parliament for Aberdeen but did not win. In 1857, he tried again and was elected. He stayed in this role for several terms. In 1858, he became president of the Royal Asiatic Society. He was also a member of other important groups like the Society of Arts.
In 1854, Sykes was elected Lord Rector of Marischal College in Aberdeen. He cared a lot about libraries and making information easy to find. He wanted university libraries to stay open longer. He also supported public libraries. He pointed out that England had fewer public books than other European cities. For example, London had 22 books per 100 people, but Paris had 160.
He was a founder of the Royal Statistical Society in 1835. He later became its president from 1863 to 1865. He was the first president who was not a lord or a baronet. He died in Kensington, London, at 82 years old.
Contributions
As a "Statistical Reporter," Sykes traveled through the Deccan region of India. He collected information about people and also gathered animal and plant specimens. One of his statistical findings was about the cost of keeping soldiers. He found that the French army cost less than the British army. He also believed that Indian soldiers were healthier than European ones. He thought it would be cheap to offer pensions and insurance to Indian soldiers, but this idea was never put into action.
Sykes was also a pioneer in studying weather in India. He regularly measured temperature and air pressure. He noticed that air pressure changed a lot during the day, especially in winter. The smallest changes happened during the monsoon season.
Sykes collected many animals. He wrote lists of birds and mammals from the Deccan region. Many of his findings were published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society. He discovered 56 new bird species, including the Indian pond heron. Sykes also studied the fish of the area. He wrote papers about the quails and hemipodes of India. His list of Deccan birds had almost 236 species. He was an expert on the natural history of the Deccan. He talked with many other naturalists.
He used his position at the East India Company to help other scientists. For example, Charles Darwin asked him to help Edward Blyth join an expedition to China. The bird Sykes's lark (Galerida deva) is named after him. Also, a type of blue-headed wagtail (Motacilla flava beema) is sometimes called Sykes's wagtail.
Sykes wrote a lot about Buddhism and its ancient history. In an 1842 paper, he suggested that the Brahmins might not have been originally from India. He also thought that Pali was an older language than Sanskrit. He believed that Buddhism, not Brahmanism, was the main religion in India's ancient past. He praised Chinese writings, like the travelogue of Faxian, for helping to understand India's past. He hoped that with careful and kind efforts, the people of India could improve their knowledge and way of life. In 1856, people in Bombay gave Sykes a medal for supporting education for local people.
Sykes also wrote about the Taiping Rebellion in China. He believed the British government was wrong to attack China. He also thought the British were responsible for causing the 1857 rebellion. He said they did not respect local customs, like what happened in the Vellore mutiny. He pointed out that the rebels were using regular musket ammunition, not greased cartridges as some British media suggested. He was one of the people who helped start the Asiatic Society of Bombay.
Legacy
Several animals were named after William Henry Sykes:
- The Sykes' monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis) was named after him.
- The bird Sykes's nightjar or the Sindh nightjar (Caprimulgus mahrattensis) was named after him.
- The bird Sykes's warbler (Iduna rama) was named after him.
Images for kids
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William Henry Sykes.
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Sykes in 1857
