Charles D'Oyly

Sir Charles D'Oyly, 7th Baronet, was a British public official and painter from Dacca (now Dhaka). He was a member of the Bengal Civil Service based in Calcutta, Dacca and Patna from 1797 to 1838. Although he held senior positions with the East India Company's civil service, he is best known as an amateur artist who published many books featuring engravings and lithographs featuring Indian subject matter.

Charles D'Oyly was born in Murshidabad, Bengal, India on 17 September 1781 into a family that had long served in India. He was the son of Sir John-Hadley D'Oyly, 6th Baronet and Diana Rochfort. His father was the East India Company's resident at the Court of Nawab Babar Ali of Murshidabad.

D'Oyly went to England with the family in 1785 and received his first formal education there. In 1798 he returned to India as Assistant to the Registrar in the Court of Appeal in Calcutta. In 1803 he was appointed Keeper of the Records in the Governor General's office, and in 1805, he married his cousin, Marian Greer, daughter of William Greer.

From 1808 to 1817, he was Collector of Dacca. Here, D'Oyly met George Chinnery, who spent a great deal of time staying with D'Oyly during his early career. The pair became close friends and went on several expeditions together. Chinnery had a considerable influence on the development of D'Oyly's artistic style and painted at least two portraits of the D'Oylys.

In 1815 or 1817 (the date is disputed), D'Oyly married Elizabeth Jane Ross, daughter of Major Thomas Ross. After his father's death in 1818, D'Oyly inherited the baronetage and received a knighthood; also in 1818, he became City Collector of Customs in Calcutta. Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Marquess of Hastings, the Governor-General, was very taken with D'Oyly, who served as the Governor's aide-de-camp whenever he was in Calcutta.

The D'Oylys were sociable, hospitable, witty conversationalists and active members of colonial society, but they were not snobs and disliked the formality and pretensions associated with English society in India.

They regularly invited new British arrivals as guests in their private home, often for extended periods. Brian Houghton Hodgson stayed with the couple when he first arrived in India in the 1820s; the D'Oylys introduced him to society and helped him establish connections with high officials of the Indian government. Hodgson and the D'Oylys shared an interest in the arts, and became lifelong friends.

From 1821 to 1831, D'Oyly was Opium Agent of Bihar and Commercial Resident of Patna; this was one of his most productive periods, and he produced numerous paintings and sketches. In July 1824, he founded an amateur art society which he named "United Patna and Gaya Society" or "Behar School of Athens", with the objective of "the promotion of Arts and Sciences and […] the circulation of fun and merriment of all descriptions." He also established his own publishing operation, the Bihar Lithography Press, to publish his lithographs and engravings, employing Jairam Das, a Patna artist trained in the Mughal tradition, as his assistant.

Between 1832 and 1833, D'Oyly took leave at the Cape of Good Hope, returning to Calcutta to become the Senior Member of the Board of Customs, Salt, Opium and of the Marine. After working for the Company for forty years, D'Oyly's failing health compelled him to retire and leave India in 1838. The greater part of the rest of his life was spent in Italy; he died in Livorno on 21 September 1845 without issue.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023