Buist George 1805-1860

George Buist was a Scottish journalist and scientist. He was the editor of The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce which his successor Robert Knight renamed The Times of India. Buist became unpaid inspector of the observatories of Bombay. Whilst in England, in 1845, he obtained special grants from the government for improving agricultural machines and rural economy in India, and for establishing 12 observatories for meteorological and tidal research. He also formed the geological collection for the museum of Elphinstone College, Bombay.

In 1846 Buist was appointed to the honorary position of sheriff of Bombay. In 1847 he planned, and in 1850 founded, the Bombay Reformatory School of Industry for the reformation and education of Indian children, of which he was superintendent, under the patronage of the governor, Lord Elphinstone.