Charles Stuart (East India Company officer)
Charles Stuart (c. 1758 – 31 March 1828) was an officer in the East India Company Army and is well known for being one of the few British officers to embrace Hindu culture while stationed there, earning the nickname Hindoo Stuart.[1][2] He also wrote books and several newspaper articles extolling Hindu culture and tradition and urging its adoption by Europeans settled in India, and deploring the attitudes and activities of the Utilitarians and missionaries who deprecated Indian culture. He is mentioned in William Dalrymple's book White Mughals (2002).
Charles Stuart
Hindoo Stuart
c. 1758
Kingdom of Ireland
31 March 1828
Calcutta, British India
Major General
Background and family[edit]
Stuart was born in either 1757 or 1758 in Dublin.[3] He was said to be the son of Thomas Smyth, Mayor of Limerick and MP for Limerick City. His grandparents were Charles Smyth (1694–1783), also MP for Limerick, and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet.[4]
His nephews included the diplomat Robert Stuart and the naturalist and surgeon James Stuart. The clergyman and footballer Robert King was his great-nephew.
Little is known of his early life, but his later writings demonstrate that he may have had a classical education, learning Latin and poetry.[3]