resident. The gaekwár himself was suspected of complicity. Pelly arrived on 30 Nov. as special commissioner, and in January 1875 arrested the gaekwár under orders from the government of India. He was tried by a commission consisting of Maharaja Sindhia, Maharaja of Jaipúr, Sir Dinkar Ráo, Sir Richard Couch, Sir Richard Meade, and Mr. P. S. Melvill, the defence being conducted by Serjeant Ballantine. The guilt of the gaekwár was not proved; but the supreme government, considering that his incapacity was established, deposed him and appointed a successor. Pelly's conduct throughout was approved by both sides, and Ballantine has recorded that his ‘demeanour to the prince was characterised by all the courtesy and consideration that his duty would permit.’
In 1876 Pelly was again in attendance on the government of India, but was soon sent to Pesháwar as envoy-extraordinary and plenipotentiary for Afghan affairs. His mission was one of many steps which preceded the outbreak of war in 1878. The amír, Sher Ali, owing to the assiduous attentions he had received from British India on one side and from Russia on the other, formed an altogether exaggerated notion of his own importance. He harboured many grievances against the government of India, and took no pains to disguise his resentment, which he gratified by civility to Russia and discourtesy to England. To remove, if possible, the doubts excited by his conduct, a conference at Pesháwar between Sir Lewis Pelly and an Afghan representative, Saiyid Núr Muhammad Sháh, was arranged. They met on 23 Jan. 1877, but after some unprofitable discussions the Afghan envoy died on 2 March, and Pelly was immediately recalled. In August of that year he retired from the service, and was created K.C.B.
Returning to England, he married Miss Amy Lowder in 1878, and in 1883 he was offered charge of the Congo Free State by the king of the Belgians. But he declined the post, and found his chief employment in assisting the Geographical and Asiatic Societies until 1885, when he was elected M.P. for North Hackney in the conservative interest. Next year he was re-elected, and he continued to represent the constituency till his death. In the House of Commons he confined his speeches to subjects which he understood, and earned the respect of the house. He died at Falmouth on 22 April 1892, leaving no issue. Though short in stature, he was well and strongly built, and his appearance was distinguished. There is an excellent portrait of him by Madame Canziani in Lady Pelly's possession.
Pelly had considerable literary aptitude. Besides ‘The Views and Opinions of Brigadier-general John Jacob, C.B.,’ London, 1858, he published: ‘The Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain: collected from Oral Tradition,’ 2 vols. London, 1879; a pamphlet on the ‘North-west Frontier of India,’ 1858; several papers in the ‘Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society;’ and occasional articles and letters in periodicals and newspapers.
Sir Lewis's elder brother, Surgeon-general Saville Marriott Pelly (1819–1895), after education at Winchester and Guy's Hospital, joined the Indian medical service. He joined the Sind irregular horse during Sir Charles Napier's campaigns (1844–7), and subsequently on the Sind frontier under General John Jacob [q. v.] He served with the second regiment light cavalry in Rajputana during the mutiny campaign, and joined in the pursuit of Tantia Topee with the column under Brigadier Parke. He was present as principal medical officer of the Indian medical department throughout the Abyssinian campaign of 1867–8 under Lord Napier of Magdala, obtained the companionship of the Bath, and retired as inspector-general of hospitals in the Bombay presidency in 1870. He died at Woodstock House, Lee, on 3 April 1895, leaving a widow with two sons and two daughters.
[Documents kindly lent by Lady Pelly; Journal of a Journey from Persia to India, through Herat and Candahar; Report of a Journey to the Wahabee Capital of Riyadh, in Central Arabia (Bombay, 1866); Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (1865, and obituary notice by Major-general Sir Frederic John Goldsmid, K.C.S.I., June 1892); The Trial and Deposition of Mulhar Ráo, Gaekwár of Baroda (Bombay, 1875); Ballantine's Experiences of a Barrister's Life, 1882; further papers relating to the Affairs of Afghanistan, No. 2, 1878; Forbes's Afghan Wars (London, 1892), pp. 163–7.]
PEMBER, ROBERT (d. 1560), scholar, was admitted fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, 26 July 1524, being described as of the diocese of Hereford. He was one of the group of scholars whose reputation raised that college to the highest place among English centres of learning. He taught Greek to Roger Ascham, with whom he formed a close friendship, and of whose talents he had a very high opinion. His advice to Ascham is summed up in a figurative sentence contained in a letter to him: ‘Use diligence that thou mayest be perfect, not according to the stoical, but the lyrical perfection, that
