Sir William Schlich, K.C.I.E., F.R.S

Abstract

THE death of Sir William Schlich, who succumbed to an attack of bronchitis on September 27, at eighty-five years of age, removes from the world of forestry one of its outstanding figures of the past half-century. A native of Hesse-Darmstadt, Schlich studied at the University of Giessen, taking his degree of Ph.D. in 1866. The same year he was offered and accepted a post in the Indian Forest Department, then in its infancy, and was posted to Burma, where he served as deputy conservator of forests until 1870, when he was transferred to Sind, where he remained for two years. In 1872 he was promoted to the conservatorship of Bengal, which in those days comprised the present provinces of Bengal, Assam, and Behar and Orissa. For seven years he threw himself with energy and conspicuous success into the arduous work of organising forest operations in this huge tract. After a spell of leave to Europe, followed by a short period of service as conservator of forests in the Punjab, he was appointed towards the end of 1881 to act as inspector-general of forests to the Government of India: he was confirmed in this appointment in 1883, when his predecessor, Dr. Brandis, retired from the service, and held it until 1885, when he proceeded to England to take up the post of professor of forestry in the newly created forestry branch at the Royal Indian Engineering College at Coopers Hill.