James Peile (administrator)

Sir James Braithwaite Peile (1833-1906) was a British administrator during the British Raj, who served as the acting Governor of Bombay in March 1885.

Peile was educated at Repton School and Oriel College, Oxford, and appointed to the Bombay civil service in 1855. He held a number of positions over the following thirty years, including municipal commissioner of Bombay, political agent in Kathiawar, and vice-chancellor of Bombay University. He was offered, but declined, the position of commissioner of Sind. After a career mostly spent in Bombay, he retired in 1887 and was appointed to the Council of India, a position he held for a further fifteen years.

Politically, he supported increased devolution of powers to the Indian provinces and a limited increase in Indian participation in the civil service.

His son, James Peile, became a clergyman, later Archdeacon of Warwick and Archdeacon of Worcester.

References

• The India List and India Office List (1905), p. 585
• Hardiman, David. "Peile, Sir James Braithwaite (1833–1906)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35457.  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)