author
W. H. Inglis
Best known for a sharply argued report on the Major Hart rice-fraud case near Seringapatam, this little-known writer appears to have used print as a tool of public dispute and accountability. The surviving record is thin, which gives the work an extra sense of immediacy and historical curiosity.
1 Audiobook
A report of Major Hart's case, of rice-frauds, near Seringapatam
by W. H. Inglis
About the author
W. H. Inglis is an obscure historical author whose surviving reputation rests mainly on A report of Major Hart's case, of rice-frauds, near Seringapatam, a work now preserved by projects such as Project Gutenberg and Open Library. The book is tied to the aftermath of the British campaign around Seringapatam and focuses on allegations of fraud in the supply of rice, suggesting that Inglis was writing in the world of military administration, East India Company politics, or both.
The title page material available in modern editions shows that Inglis presented himself as the author of a non-anonymous report connected with a public controversy. That makes his writing feel less like detached history and more like intervention: a document meant to argue, defend, and persuade. Even with so little biographical information securely available, the work offers a vivid glimpse of how pamphlets and reports were used to fight reputational and political battles in the early colonial period.
No reliable biographical sketch or confirmed portrait was readily available in the sources I found, so much about the person behind the name remains uncertain. For readers, that mystery is part of the interest: Inglis survives not through a well-documented life story, but through a pointed, historically specific work that still speaks to questions of power, record-keeping, and accountability.