| Administrative History | Sir Henry Yule (1820 - 1889), geographer, youngest son of Major William Yule of the East India Company and his wife Eliza, was born at Inveresk, near Edinburgh and was educated at the high school in the city. After training at Addiscombe, where he graduated as head of the college, he spent a year at Chatham before being appointed to the Bengal Engineers in 1840 and posted to India. Between 1843 and 1849 he worked on the restoration and development of the irrigation system in the North-West Provinces, serving with, among others, Robert Cornelis Napier. Yule was also involved in the Sikh wars of 1845-46 and 1848-49 after which he took a period of leave, lecturing at the Scottish Military Academy and publishing a volume entitled 'Fortification' and a pamphlet 'The African Squadron Vindicated'. In 1855 he was appointed under-secretary to the newly formed public works department in India, and produced a report to government entitled 'A Narrative of the Mission to Ava in 1855' while acting as chronicler to Colonel Phayre's friendly embassy to Burmah. Yule retired from the army in 1862, being made C.B. in 1863, and moved to Palermo where he concentrated on writing a series of well-received books. The publication of ''Mirabilia descripta. The Wonders of the East', by Jordanus' (1863), 'Cathay and the Way thither' (1866), and 'Marco Polo' (1871) led him to receive the gold medal of the Geographical Society of Italy and the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society and contributed to his reputation as an outstanding geographer. He returned to England after his first wife's death in 1875, becoming a valued member of the Indian council and President of the Hakluyt Society. Despite suffering from poor health he continued to write, producing 'Hobson Jobson, a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words and Phrases' (1886) and the 'Diary of Sir William Hedges' (1887), while also contributing to the 'Encyclopedia Britannica' and various Asiatic and geographical journals. His writings proved influential in awakening interest in the geography, medieval history and archaeology of Central Asia in the late 19th century and he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Edinbrugh in 1884 and was created K.C.S.I. in 1889. He was married twice, to his cousin Anna Maria (d.1875) in 1843, and to Mary Wilhelmina (d. 1881) in 1877. Henry Yule, who served under and was a life-long friend of Robert Cornelis Napier, died on 30 December 1889.
Summary from entries by Colonel R. H. Vetch, DNB, Vol. XL, 1894 (pp.75-81) and Coutts Trotter, DNB, Vol. LXIII, 1900 (pp.405-407). |