Josias Du Pré

Josias Du Pré
Governor of Madras
In office
31 January 1770 – 2 February 1773
Preceded bySir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet
Succeeded byAlexander Wynch
Personal details
Born1721
South Carolina, U.S.
Died1780 (aged 58–59)
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England
SpouseRebecca Alexander

Josias Du Pré (1721–1780) was a London merchant, a director of the East India Company and Governor of Madras.[1]

Life

Wilton Park House

Du Pré was born in South Carolina, the son of Cornelius Dupré. He joined the civil service of the East India Company in 1752, as a factor, and rose through a succession of positions. He spent a period in England in the 1760s, and married there.[1] He purchased the Wilton Park Estate near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire from the Basil family in 1760,[2] or around 1770.[3]

Du Pré was Governor of Madras from 1770 to 1773. He was mostly preoccupied with the construction of fortifications there. His authority was circumscribed: Eyre Coote, the military commander, and Sir John Lindsay who had overall command in the East Indies, left him little room in which to operate.[1]

Once back in England he commissioned Richard Jupp to build a mansion at Wilton Park. Known as the "White House", it was completed in 1779.[4]

Du Pré at the end of his life became a Fellow of the Royal Society,[5] owing the honour to his appointment two decades earlier of Alexander Dalrymple as his deputy.[6]

He died at Wilton Park in 1780.[3]

Family

He married Rebecca Alexander, daughter of Nathaniel Alexander and sister of James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon, another nabob: Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon, son of the first Earl, was named after Josias.[7]

Of the children of Josias and Rebecca:

Josias Du Pré's sister Esther married Paul Porcher, and was mother of the MP Josias Du Pré Porcher.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Henry Davidson Love. Indian Records Series Vestiges of Old Madras. Mittal Publications. pp. 1–3. GGKEY:GE1U0JNYH0Q. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  2. ^ a b historyofparliamentonline.org, Du Pré, James (1778–1870), of Wilton Park, Beaconsfield, Bucks.
  3. ^ a b 'Parishes: Beaconsfield', A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3 (1925), pp. 155-165. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42542 Date accessed: 20 April 2012.
  4. ^ Bull, Clare. "Wilton Park". Beaconsfield and District Historical Society. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Fellow Details". Royal Society. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  6. ^ Christa Jungnickel; Russell McCormmach (1999). Cavendish: The Experimental Life. Bucknell University Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-8387-5445-0. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  7. ^ Jupp, P. J. "Alexander, Du Pre". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/93359. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  8. ^ thepeerage.com, Eliza Dupré.
  9. ^ historyofparliamentonline.org, Porcher, Josias Du Pré (?1761–1820), of Hillingdon House, Mdx. and Winslade House, Devon.
Political offices
Preceded by Governor of Madras
1770–1773 		Succeeded by