Dates

• Existence: 1799 - 1866

Biography

Sir John Pollard Willoughby (1799-1866), 4th baronet, entered Bombay's civil service in 1819. He was Political Agent at Kathiawar, 1828-35, Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, 1835-46, member of the Bombay Council, 1846-51, member of the Court of Directors, East India Company, 1854-58, MP for Leominster, 1857-58, and member of the Council for India, 1858-66. His letter-book has copies of 38 letters by him to govern-ors, senior officials and others in Bombay Presidency, 1827-35, on such issues as relations with local rulers, local political intrigues and questions of administrative reform. From 1831 the letters are mostly about a commission of enquiry, in which Willoughby was government prosecutor, into claims of financial mispractice against his predecessor as political agent in Kathiawar, Colonel Fretcherville Ballantyne. As Chief Secretary he corresponded with Sir Charles Trevelyan about stamping out the native practice of infanticide. Also Willoughby's detailed commentary on Sir James Outram's report in 1835 on the pacification of the province of Mahi Kanta.

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