Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Pritchard, Charles Bradley
PRITCHARD, Sir CHARLES BRADLEY (1837–1903), Anglo-Indian administrator, born at Clapham on 5 May 1837, was eldest son of Prof. Charles Pritchard (1808–1893) [q. v.] by his first wife Emily, daughter of J. Newton. After early education by his father he entered Rugby in 1849, and was transferred to Sherborne in 1852. Obtaining a nomination to the Indian army, he went to Addiscombe in 1854, but securing a writership in the Indian civil service, he completed his education at Haileybury.
On his arrival at Bombay in Jan. 1858 Pritchard first served as assistant magistrate and collector at Belgaum, and did useful work in freeing the district of bandits. In 1865 he was put in charge of the Thana district, and carried on a successful crusade against a system of frauds on the forest department. Nominated to the province of Khandesh in 1867, he was active in checking the enslavement of the native Bhils by the moneylenders, and in organising relief measures during the famine of 1868. The trenchant manner in which he dealt with frauds in the public departments led to his appointment as first collector of salt revenue in the Bombay presidency. In this capacity Pritchard reformed the administration, suppressed smuggling, and established a large salt factory at Kharaghoda. Considerable opposition was excited by the system of private licences, which he introduced with a view to ensuring that the salt was properly weighed, but thanks to his persevering efforts the hostile movement gradually collapsed. The stability of the Bombay salt revenue was henceforth assured, and when in 1876 a commission was appointed to reform the abuses of the Madras salt revenue, Pritchard was nominated its president.
In 1877 he undertook the difficult task of reforming the system for the manufacture and sale of opium and native spirits in the Bombay presidency. Pritchard' s policy was to confine the manufacture of opium and spirits to a few selected places, to raise the excise duty to the highest possible rate, to reduce the number of retail shops, and to levy high licence fees. Measures were also taken to bring under control the supply of raw material from which the spirit was manufactured, and to restrict to contractors of known probity the right to sell spirits. These regulations despite their unpopularity were steadily enforced, and in recognition of his services Pritchard was made commissioner of customs in 1881, and of salt and ablcari (excise on spirits) in 1882. Under his capable administration the Bombay presidency derived a largely increased revenue, amounting between 1874 and 1888 to an advance of 145 per cent. Pritchard, who had been made C.S.I. in 1886, held the post of commissioner of Sind from 1887 to 1889, and there he did much to develop harbour works and railway communications. He revived the idea of the Jamrao canal, which was completed in 1901, and he set on foot the scheme for the construction of a line linking up Karachi with the railway system of Rajputana, which was carried out by his successor, Sir Arthur Trevor.
In Nov. 1890 Pritchard was promoted to be revenue member of the government of Bombay, and in 1891 was created K.C.I.E. In the following year he took his seat on the viceroy's legislative council as member for the pubhc works department. During his tenure of office he frequently found himself at variance with Lord Elgin, the viceroy, and with the majority of his colleagues on questions of high policy. He disapproved of the 'forward' policy, and he joined Sir Antony (afterwards Lord) MacDonneU and Sir James Westland [q. v. Suppl. II] in protesting against the expenditure of blood and treasure on expeditions to Waziristan, Swat, Chitral, and Tira. In 1896 his health showed signs of failure, and he resigned his seat on the council. Returning home, he settled in London, where he died on 23 Nor. 1903. He was buried at Norwood.
He married in 1862 Emily Dorothea, daughter of Hamerton John Williams, by whom he had issue two surviving sons and two daughters, both deceased. His youngest daughter, Ethel, married in 1898 Sir Steyning Edgerley, K.C.V.O., and died in 1912.
A memorial tablet to Pritchard was placed in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. A portrait by Sir George Reid is at Karachi, Sind, India.
[The Times, 25 Nov. 1903; Times of India, 29 Nov. 1896; National Review, Jan. 1904, art. by H. M. Birdwood; Ada Pritchard, Memoirs of Prof. Pritchard, 1897; C. E. Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography; private information from his daughter, Mrs. Ranken.]