Phayre was born in Shrewsbury and educated at Shrewsbury School. His father Richard Phayre, Esq. was grandson of Colonel Robert Phayre, of Killoughram Forest. A brother, Sir Robert Phayre (1820–1897), also served in India.
He joined the Indian Army in 1828. In 1846 he was appointed assistant to the commissioner of the province of Tenasserim, Burma, and in 1849 he was made commissioner of Arakan. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852), he became commissioner of Pegu. He was made a brevet captain in 1854 and in 1862 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel.
Work
Government office
In 1862, Phayre was made commissioner for the entire province of British Burma. He left Burma in 1867. He served as 12th governor of Mauritius from 21 September 1874 to 31 December 1878.[1]
He was appointed a CB in 1864, promoted to colonel in 1866 and was knighted with the KCSI in 1867. In 1871, he was promoted to major-general and was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1873. He retired to Bray in Ireland and was appointed a GCMG in 1878.[2]
Naturalist
Phayre wrote the first standard History of Burma (1883). He is commemorated in the names of a number of animals, including:
Phayre collected coins (some are now in the British Museum collection), and in 1882 wrote Coins of Arakan, of Pegu, and of Burma, International Numismata Orientalia, part 8. The title page notes that he was a corresponding member of the Société Académique Indo-Chinoise. He was also a member of the Royal Asiatic Society.[4]
A dove Proper gorged with an Eastern crown Or in the beak an olive branch Vert.
Escutcheon
Gules a cross moline Argent surmounted of a bend Azure in the sinister chief point an Eastern crown Or all within a bordure of the last.
Motto
Virtute Tutus
Descendants: Colonel Robert Bernard Phayre MC 2/4th Prince of Wales Own Gurkha Rifles, son Colonel Robert Desmond Hensley Phayre Royal Artillery, son Lt Col Robert (Robin) Dermot Spinks Phayre LI, cousin Col Terence Peter Phayre Knott MC RM, of whom son Captain Robert Knott AAC changed name by deed poll to Phayre, to prevent family name dying out.
^Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Phayre", p. 205).
