British official Charles D’Oyly, remembered most for his paintings of Indian life and society, was born on this day in Murshidabad, Bengal, where his father was the East India Company’s resident in the Nawab’s court. His paintings were often a sharp comment on British colonial society.
He occupied several company positions in Calcutta, Dacca (Dhaka) and Patna.
D’Oyly was influenced by the painter George Chinnery, who stayed with D’Oyly in Dacca. He published several illustrated books, including The European in India, The Costume and Customs of Modern India and Views of Calcutta and Its Environs.
When D’Oyly was opium agent of Bihar and commercial resident of Patna, he founded United Patna and Gaya Society or Behar School of Athens, to promote “Arts and Sciences and […] the circulation of fun and merriment of all descriptions…”.
His book Tom Raw, the Griffin (1828) is an illustrated satire that tells the story of the adventures of a cadet in the East India Company. It has been described as “exuberantly comic” and terrifyingly prescient about the future of empires.
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