Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [1750 - 1798] (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
7 documents handwritten
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Sir Charles Warre Malet entered the service of the East India Company at an early age. He filled various posts, including charge of a mission to the Mughal emperor and of the residency at Cambay from 1774 to 1785, where he formed views in favour of expanding British power in India. Malet also developed an unrivalled knowledge of Gujarat and western India more generally, and was dispatched by the government in Calcutta to persuade the Maratha leader Sindhia to accept the appointment of a company resident to the court of the peshwa at Poona, a post which he took up himself in November 1785. He considered western India an asset to improve British trade with China, and considered it important to have greater control over the rulers of western India. When Tipu Sultan attacked Travancore in 1789, Cornwallis made an alliance with the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Peshwa of Mahratta through Malet. This treaty was signed with difficulty, as Tipu also sought to forge alliances with the Peshwas. For his efforts Malet was created a baronet in February 1791. Malet retired to Britain in 1798 accompanied by Susanna (d. 1868), daughter of the portrait painter James Wales. The couple married on 17 September the following year and had eight sons. He died at Bath on 24 January 1815, when he was described as living at Wilbury House, Wiltshire.
Repository
Archival history
The papers of Charles Malet were found within his father's papers by his son, Alexander Malet. They had been collected during Malet's residence in India. The papers were donated to the Oriental Translation Committee with a number of Persian manuscripts for possible translation. Their donation was minuted and listed in the Report of the Committee dated 7 May 1828 and found within the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society II, 1830, pp. xxxiii-xxxv.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Documents of Maratha History from the possession of Sir Charles Warre Malet, part of a larger donation of manuscripts and tracts given by his son to the Oriental Translation Committee for possible translation.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- Persian
- Marathi
- Arabic
- Sanskrit
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
A list of the manuscripts and tracts donated by Alexander Malet to the Oriental Translation Committee can be found in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society II, 1830, pp. xxxiv-xxxv. Unfortunately not all of the tracts are still in the Society's possession. The ones remaining are those contained within this catalogue.
A full translation of SC29/2/1 has been published as Bakhar of Panipat by Raghunath Yadav Chitragupt originally written in 1761, edited and translated by Uday S. Kulkarni with transliteration by Ninad Bedekar, (Mula Mutha Publishers, Pune, India, 2014).
The manuscripts donated are still in the Society's collections. Details can be found here.
Notes area
Note
The titles for the file entries were taken from the list of donated Tracts in the the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society II, 1830.