Arthur Purves Phayre

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Sir Arthur Purves Phayre (May 7, 1812 - December 14, 1885) was the first Commissioner of British Burma, 1862-1867, Governor of Mauritius, 1874-1878, and author.

Phayre was born in Shrewsbury and educated at Shrewsbury School. He joined the Indian Army in 1828. In 1846 he was appointed assistant to the commissioner of the province of Tenasserim, Burma, and in 1849 he was made commissioner of Arakan. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852), he became commissioner of Pegu.

In 1862 Phayre was made commissioner for the entire province of British Burma. He left Burma in 1867, serving for a few years (1874–78) as governor of Mauritius. He retired to Bray in Ireland, and was knighted in 1878.

Phayre wrote the first standard History of Burma (1883). He is commemorated in the names of a number of animals, including Phayre's Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei, Phayre's squirrel Callosciurus phayrei and the Eared Pitta Pitta phayrei.