BUCKINGHAM, JAMES SILK (1786-1855), English au thor and traveller, was born near Falmouth, the son of a farmer. His youth was spent at sea. After years of wandering he estab lished in 1818 the Calcutta Journal. This venture at first proved highly successful, but in 1823 the paper's outspoken criticisms of the East India Company led to the expulsion. of Buckingham from India and to the suppression of the paper by John Adam, the acting governor-general. His case was brought before parlia ment, and a pension of £200 a year was awarded him by the East India Company as compensation. On his return to England Buckingham published the Oriental Herald (1824) and the Athenaeum (1828) which was not a success in his hands. In par liament, where he sat as member for Sheffield from 1832-37, he was a strong advocate of temperance and of social reform. He was a most voluminous writer, and at the time of his death was at work on his autobiography, two volumes of the intended four being completed and published (1855).
His youngest son, LEICESTER SILK BUCKINGHAM (1825-1867), was a successful playwright, several of his free adaptations of French comedies being produced in London between 186o and 1867.