Major William Davy, Bengal Army, Persian Secretary to the Governor-General, in Persian dress, 1781 (c)

Oil on board attributed to Tilly Kettle (1735-1786) 1780 (c).

Davy was one of the East India Company's greatest scholars of Persian, the Mughal language of government and culture. He worked as the Persian Secretary of Warren Hastings, Governor General of Bengal (1773-1785). As well as translating official papers, he also translated many of the great works of Mughal scholarship. He died in 1784 during a voyage back to Britain.