Life and Career
Sykes was born near Bradford in Yorkshire. His father Samuel Sykes of Friezing Hall and they belonged to the family of Sykeses of Yorkshire. He joined military service as a cadet in 1803 and obtained a commission on 1 May 1804 with the Honourable East India Company. Joining the Bombay Army he was to lieutenancy on 12 October 1805. He saw action at the siege of Bhurtpur under Lord Lake in 1805. He commanded a regiment at the battles of Kirkee and Poonah and was involved in the capture of hill forts. By 1810 he could speak Hindi and Marathi languages. He became a captain on 25 January 1819 and travelled for four years across Europe from 1820. He returned to India in October 1824 and was appointed by Monstuart Elphinstone as a statistical reporter to the Bombay government. He then collected statistical and natural history researches, and completed a census of the population of the Deccan producing two voluminous statistical reports, and a complete natural history report illustrated with drawings. He was promoted to the rank of a Major on 8 September 1826 and to Lieutenant-Colonel on 9 April 1831. In December 1829 the post of statistical reporter was abolished but he took leave from military duty and continued to work on his statistical surveys. He completed this in January 1831 and left for Europe on furlough. He retired from active service with the rank of colonel on 18 June 1833 and in September 1835 he became a Royal Commissioner in Lunacy, a post he held till 1845. On account of his knowledge of Indian matters, he was made a director of the East India Company in 1840.
In 1847 he tried to contest for the Member of Parliament seat for Aberdeen but failed. In 1857 he contested again, representing the liberal interest against John Farley Leith, and was elected. He continued to hold the seat for several terms. He was elected President of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1858.
Sykes also held a position as Rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen in 1824. He was a founder member, in 1835, and President of the Royal Statistical Society, 1863–5; he was the eleventh holder of that post but the first not to be a peer or baronet. He also became an Honorary Metropolitan Commissioner in September 1835. He died in Kensington, London aged 82.
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