CAUTLEY, Proby Thomas. Suffolk 3.1.1802 — Sydenham, Kent 25.1.1871. Sir. British Engineer Officer in India. Son of the Rev. Thomas C. and Catherine Proby. Some give as the place of birth Stratford St.Mary, others Roydon, where his father was rector (both are in Suffolk). Educated at Charterhouse and Addiscombe. In 1819 entered the Bengal Artillery, and in 1824-30 assisted Colonel Robert Smith in reconstructing the old irrigation channel of the Doab, from Hardwar to Kanpur. In 1826 participated in the siege of Bharatpur. In 1831-43 “held charge of the above canal. Framed the project of the Ganges canal, sanctioned by the Court of Directors in 1841, and constructed between 1843 and 1854.” Returned to England as Colonel in 1854, and served 1858-68 as a Member of the Council of India. In India “he explored largely in the Sivalik range of hills and acquired many fossils of scientific value, which he presented to the British Museum.” In Behat he also found ancient ruins and 170 old coins for the A.S.B. Knighted as K.C.B. 185?. Twice married, 1834 with Frances Bacon and 1865 with Julia Susannah Richards, one daughter and one son.
Publications: Contributed many papers to the A.S.B. and to the Geographical Society, chiefly on fossils; “Discovery of an ancient town near Behut, in the Doab”, JASB 3, 1834, 43f., 221–227.
– With H. Falconer, Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis, being the fossil Zoology of the Sewalik Hills, in the north of India. 1. Proboscidea. 64 p. L. 1846.
– Report on the Ganges Canal Works. 1-3 & atlas vol. L. 1860; Ganges canal: a disquisition on the heads of the Ganges of Jumna canals, North-western Provinces. 7+101 p. L. 1864.
Sources: Buckland, Dictionary; several sources in Br. Biogr. Arch.; *A.J.A[rbuthnot], D.N.B. 3, 1242-1244; *J. Brown, Notes and Records of the Royal Soc. 34, 1980, 185-225 ; Wikipedia with photo.
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