MALCOLM, SIR JOHN (1769-1833), Anglo-Indian soldier, diplomatist, administrator and author, was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on May 2, 1769, the son of a farmer. He received a cadetship in the Indian army, and in April 1783 he landed at Madras, shortly afterwards joining his regiment at Vellore. He held various important appointments. In 1799 he became a friend of Lord Wellesley who sent him as envoy to the Persian court to arrange an alliance. He negotiated favourable treaties at Teheran and returned to Bombay by way of Baghdad in May 180i. He then acted as private secretary to Lord Wellesley, and in 1803 was appointed to the Mysore residency. At the close of the Mahratta War, in 1804, and again in 1805, he negotiated im portant treaties with Sindhia and Holkar, and in 1806, besides seeing the arrangements arising out of these alliances carried out, he directed the difficult work of reducing the immense body of irregular native troops.
In 1808 Malcolm was again sent on a mission to Persia. After his return to England he wrote his History of Persia (2 vols., 1815). On his return to India in 1817 he was appointed by Lord Moira his political agent in the Deccan ; as brigadier-general under Sir T. Hislop he took a distinguished part in the victory
of Mehidpur (Dec. 21, 1817), as also in the subsequent work of settling the country. In 1821 he returned once more to England, where he remained until 1827, when he was appointed governor of Bombay. His influence in this office was directed to the promo tion of various economical reforms and useful administrative measures. Leaving India for the last time in 1830, he shortly after his arrival in England entered parliament as member for Launces ton, and opposed the Reform Bill. He died on May 3o, 1833.
Besides the work mentioned above, Sir John Malcolm oublished Sketch of the Political History of India since . . . 1784 (in 1811 and 1826) ; Sketch of the Sikhs (1812) ; Observations on the Disturbances in the Madras Army in 1809 (1812) ; Persia, a Poem, anonymous (1814) ; A Memoir of Central (2 vols., 1823) ; and Sketches of Persia, anonymous (1827). A posthumous work, Life of Robert, Lord Clive, appeared in 1836. See Life and Correspondence of Sir John Malcolm, by J. W. Kaye (2 vols., 1856).