George Bruce Malleson was born on 8 May 1825 in
Wimbledon, London, the son of John Malleson. Educated at Wimbledon and
Winchester, he obtained a cadetship in the
Bengal Army's
Bengal Native Infantry in 1842, and served in the
Second Anglo-Burmese War. His subsequent appointments were in the civil line, the last being that of guardian to the young
maharaja of
Mysore Chamarajendra Wadiyar X from 1869 to 1877. He retired from the military at the rank of
colonel in 1877, having been created C.S.I. in the
1872 Birthday Honours. He was a prolific writer, his first work to attract attention being the famous "
Red Pamphlet", published at
Calcutta in 1857, when the
Sepoy Mutiny was at its height. He continued, and considerably rewrote the
History of the Indian Mutiny 1857-8 (6 vols., 1878–1880), which was begun but left
unfinished by
Sir John Kaye. Among his other books the most valuable are
History of the French in India (2nd ed., 1893) and
The Decisive Battles of India (3rd ed., 1888). He authored the biographies of the Mughal Emperor
Akbar, the French governor-general
Dupleix and the British officer
Robert Clive for the
Rulers of India series. He died at 27 West Cromwell Road,
London, on 1 March 1898. ==Works==