Francis Cunningham (Indian Army officer)

Francis Cunningham (1820 – 3 December 1875) was an officer in the Madras Army, member of the Mysore Commission as secretary to Mark Cubbon, and a literary editor.

After undergoing training at the Military Seminary of the British East India Company at Addiscombe, then in Surrey, Francis was gazetted as an Ensign and posted to the 23rd Madras Native Infantry in 1838.

[2] As Secretary to the Mysore Commission and a deputy to Sir Mark Cubbon, the Chief Commissioner at Bangalore he played an active role in the development of Bangalore including the Horticultural Gardens at Lalbagh, constructions including the one he built for Sir Mark Cubbon in the nearby Nandi Hills and possibly, a large bungalow called the Balabrooie.

When Cubbon retired and left Bangalore in 1861, Cunningham stayed on in a private capacity but his health declined, lobbying on behalf of the deposed Maharaja Krishna Rajendra Wodeyar III, arguing that he should be allowed to adopt an heir and that the kingdom should be restored to him.

He wielded a ready and incisive pen, his official letters showing great command of language, in which was often a vein of irony and humour that was unpalatable to the recipients.

He had left the commission before I joined, but had taken service with the Raja at Mysore, his principal duty being to compose the despatches which His Highness sent to the Government about his claims, a task which his literary qualifications enabled him to perform exceedingly well, although his presence at the capital and the encouragement given by him to intriguing parties were a source of some embarrassment to me...'[3] Cunningham returned to England and settled at 18 Clarendon Road, Kensington, where his house was filled with books and rare pictures including four 1798 pencil drawings of Charles Lamb, S. T. Coleridge, Robert Southey, and William Wordsworth.