1887.] Dr. B. Mitras remarks on Mr. A. Orote. 99 



Dr. Rajendralala Mitra made the following remarks on the death 

 of Mr. Arthur Grote, an Honorary Member of the Society. 



Gentlemen, at the last annual meeting the President announced the 

 death, on December 4th, of Mr. Arthur Grote ; but it was not convenient 

 at the time to give, as usual, a brief account of the life of that gentleman. 

 He served the Society long and faithfully, and rescued it from more than 

 one critical situation. It is meet, therefore, that we should, on the present 

 occasion, place on record a brief obituary note to express our sense of the 

 loss we have sustained, and as I had the privilege of his friendship for 

 well-nigh forty years, and have a vivid personal knowledge of his career in 

 this country, I request your permission to make a few remarks in 

 memoriam. 



Anglo-Indian society is so transitory that ten years suffice to re- 

 place one generation by another ; and as Mr. Grote retired from India 

 eighteen years ago, I am afraid very few of you, gentlemen, remember 

 him. The Society, however, recognised his services by electiug him an 

 Honorary Member ; and his portrait on the wall before me shows the 

 estimation in which he was held by his colleagues during his sojourn 

 amongst us. 



Arthur Grote was born at Beckenham in Kent, on the 29th of 

 November, 1814. His father was the leading member of a large and 

 nourishing banking-house, and his eldest brother, George Grote, immor- 

 talized his name by writing the best philosophical history of Greece that 

 we have in the English language. I have no information about the 

 early life of Arthur Grote beyond the fact that he was for some time 

 at Harrow, where he was noted for his proficiency in Latin and Greek. 

 As a younger son, a writership in the Indian Civil Service was deemed 

 the most appropriate profession for him, and he entered Haileybury 

 College early in 1832. His career in that institution was a highly dis- 

 tinguished one, and he passed out with several prizes in Arabic, Persian, 

 Hindustani, and Bengali. Arriving at Calcutta in Jane, 1823, he had to 

 go through the usual course of training in the then College of Fort 

 William, where he carried away a prize for Sanskrit, and excellent certi- 

 ficates for general proficiency. He commenced official life as an Assis- 

 tant to the Magistrate of Jessore in 1834, and, after passing through 

 subordinate posts in Bauleah, and Murshidabad, attained the rank of a 

 Magistrate at Hughli in 1836. This rise, even in those days of earlv 

 promotion, was held to be remarkable, and it established Mr. Grote's re- 

 putation as an able and energetic officer. Prom Hughli he was trans- 

 ferred to Midnapur, where he served as a Magistrate for over five years 

 (1838 to '43). In March, 1843, his health broke down under the arduous 

 labours he had to get through in carrying on the Revenue settlement 



