Douglas Hamilton General Douglas Hamilton ( 8 April 1818 – 20 January 1892 ) was a British Indian Army officer , gazetted to the 21st Regiment of the Madras Native Infantry from 1837 to 1871 . He was a well known surveyor of the early British hill station s in South India and a famous sportsman , shikari , big - game hunter and trophy collector . He was an acute observer of nature and a gentleman . He legitimately shot more game in the Nilgiri Hills than any other sportsman . Family . Hamilton was born on 8 April 1818 , and educated at Harrow School . He was the youngest of eight sons of Charles Hamilton esq . of Sudbury Grove , Middlesex , and of Kensworth House , Hertfordshire . His father was employed at the War Office and died on 28 June 1834 aged 56 . Hamilton ' s brother Edward was the editor of his 1892 autobiography , " " Records of sport in southern India chiefly on the Annamullay , Nielgherry and Pulney mountains , also including notes on Singapore , Java and Labuan , . . . " " This is about " years long gone by when the muzzle loader , with all its drawbacks , was the chief weapon in use . " His brother Richard , a Captain in the 1st Regiment M . N . I . , was well known to all Southern Indian sportsmen as the author of " Game " under the soubriquet of " Hawkeye . " His uncle was Captain George Peevor of His Majesty ' s Royal Leicestershire Regiment , who served in the Nepal Campaign of 1815 - 16 and in the Mahratta and Pindari wars , 1817 – 18 , including the capture of Jubbulpore in 1839 - 40 . Military career . In 1834 Douglas Hamilton went to the East India Company ' s Addiscombe Military Seminary , and received his commission in the East India Company ' s Army in 1837 , being gazetted to the 21st Regiment of the Madras Native Infantry . He embarked at Portsmouth in the " Duke of Argyle " on 1 September of the same year , arriving in the Madras Roads on 14 December . His regiment was sent to Kulladghee in the Bombay Presidency to replace one which had gone to the front in the first Afghan Campaign . In 1846 , he went with his regiment to Singapore , and was fortunate to obtain three months ' leave in 1848 to visit the Island of Java for hunting . In 1849 , he visited England on furlough and returned to India in 1852 . Douglas was very interested in forest conservation in South India , and often visited his old friend General James Michael who was organizing an experimental forest conservancy in the Annaimalai Hills . He was appointed to temporarily manage the conservancy when Michael returned to England on sick leave in 1854 . He showed great aptitude for these new forestry duties . In 1857 Michael was again ill and had to relinquish the work altogether . Douglas succeeded permanently to the appointment and for the three years was in charge of the Annaimalai forests , supplying teak lumber for shipbuilding at the Bombay Dockyard . During this period he also became Assistant Conservator of Forests under Dr . Hugh Francis Cleghorn who established the Madras Forest Department and whose work led to the establishment of the Forest Department of India . In 1860 he went with his regiment to Hong Kong and returned to Madras in February , 1861 . Hills surveys . In 1862 he was relieved of routine regimental duties and given a roving commission by Sir Charles Trevelyan , the Finance Minister of India and former Governor of Madras Presidency , to conduct surveys and make drawings for the Government of all the hill plateaus in Southern India which were likely to suit as Sanitaria , or quarters for European troops . Thereafter , Douglas Hamilton was on " special duty " with the 44th Regiment , Madras Native Infantry . A series of careful drawings by Douglas Hamilton of the Annaimalai Hills , Palani Hills and Shevaroy Hills was the result . While at work on this commission he had great opportunities to follow his favorite pursuit , and also to observe the habits of the various animals inhabiting the different districts . These well - known drawings showed him as an accurate observer and a careful draughtsman . Each series of drawings was accompanied by a Survey article describing all aspects of the district . Some of his publications about these surveys include : Berijam Swamp was first described in 1864 by Hamilton . In 1864 , Hamilton submitted a report that stated that the Berijam Lake area was the best site in the Palani Hills for a military cantonment or Sanatorium . Hamilton described the place as being located near a lake . As the report progressed , however , it became clear that what Hamilton initially had termed a lake was no such thing : it was a valley where he thought he detected evidence of an ancient lake bed . The distinction seemed scarcely worthy of note to Hamilton , so persuaded was he that this location offered the most picturesque environment for a settlement . " Let but the lake be reconstructed and a road made to it , and this magnificent sheet of water . . . will of itself attract residents to its vicinity . " The Fort Hamilton military outpost , later built there , was named for him . In March 1866 he went to the Budan Hills for the purpose of making drawings and a report . In August , 1870 , he obtained three months ' leave due to poor health and went to Australia . He visited King George Sound , Melbourne , Sydney , and Adelaide , and returned to Madras in November much better health . The dates of Gen . Douglas Hamilton ' s military commissions indicate ten promotions in his 54 year career : Big - game hunting . Douglas Hamilton ' s earliest introduction to big game shooting was at Kulladghee in 1839 . In those days Blackbuck antelope s were very numerous , but very wild and difficult to approach . In 1854 , Hamilton bought Mallock ' s Bungalow at Pykara for 200 rupees . This is the well known hut , where for many years he entertained and showed sport to many of his friends , amongst whom were Prince Frederick of Schleswig Holstein , Sir Victor Brooke , Bob Jago father of the Ootacamund Hunt , and the oldest and most intimate of all , General James Michael . The hut was still in his possession when he died 38 years later . He closely observed over 50 wild tigers during his career and In 1854 he killed his first tiger at the Avalanche in the Nilgiri Hills . One tiger he killed in 1857 was long and tall at the shoulder . A friend of Hamilton , Colonel Nightingale , once killed eight tigers in six days , including a man eater that attacked him and the trained elephant he was riding . That tiger was tall at the shoulder and long with length of skin , . In 1855 in the Annaimalai Hills , he killed his first elephant , a large tusker which measured nine feet two inches at the shoulder , with tusks in diameter and and long , respectively . In 1863 , at Hassanoor together with Sir Victor Brooke , Hamilton shot the largest elephant ever killed in Southern India . This trophy had one perfect tusk long and a broken tusk measuring long . It was tall at the shoulder . Between 1855 and 1869 , Hamilton shot and killed two hundred and ninety - five sambar . The largest ever killed in the Nilgiri Hills , Shot by Hamilton , stood fourteen hands ( ) high at the shoulder and antlers measuring and , respectively . In 1856 he was attacked and run over by a large injured bison bull he shot in the Annaimalai Hills , but suffered only minor injuries . The larger horn was long and in diameter at the base . He killed his last bison at Permund in 1866 . He did not kill many leopards , but did kill one fine specimen of a black Leopard near his hut in 1857 . He shot his last leopard in 1870 , an old male long with a beautiful skin . In 1861 , Hamilton recorded 114 species of birds near Kodaikanal . Return to England . On 20 June 1871 He finally left India after thirty - five years ' service , and arrived at Southampton on 19 July . The " Oriental Sporting Magazine , " in noticing his departure , has the following passage : From 1872 to 1887 he annually rented a moor and deer forest in Scotland , for the purpose of following his favorite pursuit of deer stalking , and many a grand stag fell to his rifle . The invigorating air of the Highlands restored his health and strength . He never appeared to suffer from severe exertion and fatigue till the autumn of 1887 , when , from constant exposure in bad weather he got a violent chill , and from that date , although at times appearing to get fairly well he never recovered his health . After a sharp attack of influenza , he suddenly died on the night of the 20 January 1892 .