Thomas R. Metcalf (May 31, 1934 – June 18, 2026) was an American historian of South Asia, especially colonial India, and of the British Empire. Metcalf was the Emeritus Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies and professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the author of Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860-1920 (2008), A Concise History of Modern India (with Barbara Metcalf, 2006), Forging the Raj: Essays on British India in the Heyday of Empire (2005), Ideologies of the Raj (1997), and other books on the history of colonial India.
Metcalf was educated at Amherst College, the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. He completed his doctoral research at Harvard, with supervision from David Owen. His dissertation was written up for publication as a book, The aftermath of revolt: India, 1857-1870, published in 1964.
Metcalf was married to historian Barbara D. Metcalf, who survives him. Metcalf died June 18, 2026, at the age of 92.
Selected bibliography
Metcalf, Thomas R. (1964). The aftermath of revolt: India, 1857-1870. Princeton University Press. .
References