- Louis Mallet
Sir Louis Mallet (1823-
16 February 1890 , Bath) was a British civil servant. He wasPermanent Under-Secretary of State forIndia .He was born in
London and was in all probability educated there, though at which school or college is not known. He began his career in theCivil Service as a clerk in theAudit Office and appears to have initially had nothing to do withIndia . He would have gained a certain amount of experience in matters commercial, as he wasPrivate Secretary to the President of theBoard of Trade between 1848-1852 and between 1855-1857. In his official career, he does not appear to have dealt directly with India until 1872, rather dealing with commercial matters, as Assistant Commissioner for a Trade Treaty withFrance 1860-1865 and then again for a similar Treaty withAustria 1865-1867.In 1872, he was appointed to the
Council of India , where he remained until 1874, being appointed during that year as thePermanent Under-Secretary of State for India, a position left vacant by the death of the incumbent SirHerman Merivale . He remained there until his retirement in 1883, touring India in 1875-1876, which was facilitated by the opening of theSuez Canal in 1869. After retirement, he represented India at a Monetary Conference held in Paris in 1887, while his knowledge of matters commercial was put to use as a member of theRoyal Commission on Precious Metals also constituted in 1887.In 1858 he married Frances Helen Pellew, and they had four children, all being sons. His mother's name was Frances Merivale; he was in fact a first cousin of his predecessor at the India Office. His major publication was "Free Exchange", which came out in 1891, after his death.
His son was Sir
Bernard Mallet .
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