James Talboys Wheeler

Born in Oxford on December 22, 1824, James Talboys Wheeler first worked as a publisher and bookseller before turning more fully to writing and scholarship. Early in his career he produced educational handbooks and a study of the geography of Herodotus, showing the wide range of interests that marked his work.

In 1858 he went to India as editor of the Madras Spectator, then soon became professor of moral and mental philosophy at Presidency College in Madras. Not long after, the Madras government asked him to examine old records, work that led to his History of Madras in the Olden Time. He later served in government posts in Calcutta and Rangoon, including work in the foreign department of the Government of India, and his official research on political and historical records fed directly into his historical writing.

Wheeler is best remembered as a historian of India and the British Empire in South Asia. His major works include The History of India from the Earliest Ages, Early Records of British India, and India under British Rule. He died on January 26, 1897, leaving behind a body of work valued for its detailed use of records, even as modern readers may approach it with awareness of its colonial-era viewpoint.