Edward Clive Bayley

Sir Edward Clive Bayley (17 October 1821 – 30 April 1884), was an Anglo-Indian civil servant, statesman and archaeologist.

Early life Edward Clive Bayley, standing second from right, with John Lawrence, Viceroy of India and other council members. c. 1864

Bayley was the only son of Edward Clive Bayley, of Hope Hall, Eccles, Lancashire, and Margaret Fenton. He was born at St. Petersburg in October 1821, and educated at the East India Company College.

Career Bayley entered the Indian civil service in 1842, and served at Allahabad, Meerut, Bulandshahr, and Rohtak. On the annexation of the Punjab he was appointed deputy-commissioner at Gujarat in April 1849, and in November under-secretary to the government of India in the foreign department, under Sir Henry Elliot. Two years later he became deputy-commissioner of the Kangra district, but in 1854 was compelled by poor health to take leave.

Works Bayley's leisure was spent in the study of the history and antiquities of India, and he published some fifteen papers in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, mainly on Indian inscriptions, sculptures, and coins, which he collected.

He also contributed to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of London (1882–83) some articles on the 'Genealogy of Modern Numerals,' and to the Numismatic Chronicle (1882) a paper on 'Certain Dates on the Coins of the Hindu kings of Kabul.' At the time of his death, he had nearly completed the editing of the ninth volume of H. M. Elliot's History of India as told by its own Historians (1886). He held the post of vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta for five years and was five times president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.