British East India Company administrator, antiquarian and editor Edward Clive Bayley was born in St Petersburg on this day.

He held high administrative posts in north India. In 1849, he was appointed undersecretary to the government of India in the foreign department, serving under Henry Elliot, orientalist and archaeologist, who encouraged Bayley to pursue his interest in antiquities.

In 1862, Bayley was made home secretary. He was a member of the supreme council from 1873 to 1878.

He was the vice-chancellor of Calcutta University from 1870 to 1875 and served as the president of The Asiatic Society of Bengal. He published papers on Indian inscriptions, sculptures and coins. He had almost done editing the ninth volume of Elliot’s History of India as told by its own historians.

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