11 Facts About Richard Strachey

Richard Strachey was born on 24 July 1817, at Sutton Court, Stowey, Somerset.

In 1848, with J E Winterbottom, he entered Tibet to explore Lakes Manasarovar and Rakshastal, which his brother Henry Strachey had visited in 1846.

Richard Strachey left India in 1871, but in 1877 he was sent there to confer with the government on the purchase of the East Indian railway, and was then selected as president of the commission of inquiry into Indian famines.

In 1892, Richard Strachey attended the International Monetary Conference at Brussels as delegate for British India.

Richard Strachey was a member of the council of the Secretary of State for India from 1875 to 1889, when he resigned his seat to accept the post of chairman of the East Indian Railway Company.

Richard Strachey devoted much time to meteorological research, was largely instrumental in the formation of the Indian meteorological department, and became chairman of the meteorological council of the Royal Society in 1883.

Richard Strachey did much good work for the Royal Society, served on its council four times, from 1872 to 1874,1880 to 1881,1884 to 1886, and 1890 to 1891, and was twice a vice-president; he was a member of its meteorological committee in 1867, and he was a member of the council which replaced the committee in 1876, and from 1883 to 1895 was its chairman.

Richard Strachey laid the foundations of the scientific study of Indian meteorology, organising a department whose labours have been of use in assisting to forecast droughts and consequent scarcity and of no little advantage to meteorologists generally.

Richard Strachey was about 37 years old when he married Caroline Bowles, who died in 1855, within a year of their wedding.

On 4 January 1859, the 42-year-old Richard married 18-year-old Jane Maria Grant, to be known henceforth as Jane, Lady Strachey.

Richard Strachey's wife was to become a well-known author and supporter of women's suffrage, who would co-lead the Mud March of 1907 in London.