Sir Christopher Bayly

Sir Christopher Alan Bayly (1945–2015) was a distinguished British historian renowned for his pioneering work in British Imperial, Indian, and global history. Born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Bayly was educated at The Skinners' School before attending Balliol College, Oxford, where he earned his BA and later completed a DPhil at St Antony’s College under the supervision of John Andrew Gallagher. His doctoral thesis focused on political organisation in Allahabad between 1880 and 1925. Bayly held the prestigious position of Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the University of Cambridge from 1992 to 2013, and also served as President of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He was a trustee of the British Museum and Director of Cambridge’s Centre of South Asian Studies.

Knighted in 2007 for his services to history, Bayly was a Fellow of the British Academy and recipient of the Wolfson History Oeuvre Prize. He contributed significantly to the academic community as co-editor of The New Cambridge History of India and as a member of various editorial boards. His scholarship emphasised the interconnectedness of global historical narratives, particularly the role of non-Western societies. Bayly passed away in Hyde Park, Chicago, in 2015 while serving as the Vivekananda Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago. In recognition of his legacy, the Royal Asiatic Society established the annual Bayly Prize for outstanding doctoral research in Asian studies, and he was posthumously awarded the Toynbee Prize for global history.