John Inglis

John Forbes David Inglis (5 August 1820 – 13 March 1894) was an East India Company civil servant, who became Chief Commissioner of Oudh in North India. His disagreement with Lord Lytton's Afghan policy led to him being passed over for an expected promotion to be Governor of North West Province. He took early retirement and on his return to Edinburgh, he founded, jointly with his daughter Elsie Inglis, the Scottish Association for the Medical Education of Women. That association established the Edinburgh Medical College for Women at a time that women were not accepted into British university medical schools. Early life He was born on 5 August 1820, second youngest son of David Inglis and his wife Martha (née Money). David Inglis had spent most of his life in India as writer, or solicitor, for the East India Company. His father Alexander Inglis, who originated from Kingsmills, Inverness-shire, emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina leaving his son David to be brought up in Scotland by an uncle. John Inglis was tutored by Rev Dr Joseph Niblock, a well known Greek scholar and educator. He then won a place at the East India College at Haileybury, moving to study there in 1839. An incident at the school gives an interesting insight into the adolescence of a young man, described in later life as 'dedicated, pious, godly and 'honest'. On 29 May 1839 the Principal of the East India College at Haileybury, Charles Le Bas, wrote to Inglis' father: