James Inglis

Born on November 24, 1845, in Edinburgh, James Inglis was educated at the Edinburgh High School and began his working life young, entering the Calcutta civil service in his teens. Over the years he lived and worked in India, traveled in the East, and later settled in Australia, experiences that gave his writing a broad, international outlook.

Inglis worked as a journalist and editor in Sydney and became well known in public life. He served in the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1885 to 1904 and was also involved in major exhibitions and colonial administration, including work connected with the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880–81.

Alongside journalism and politics, he wrote books under his own name and the pen name "Maori." His career moved between government service, newspapers, and literature, making him one of those nineteenth-century figures whose writing was shaped by travel, empire, and public debate.