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Sir Cecil Hermann Kisch, KCIE, CB (31 March 1884 – 20 October 1961) was a British civil servant in the India Office who rose to be Deputy Under-Secretary of State for India from 1943 to 1946. In later life, he became an author and historian, and had a long literary career.
He belonged to the Jewish Kisch family of Prague.[1] He was born on 31 March 1884 in Kolkata, India.[2] He was the son of Herman Michael Kisch and Alice Charlotte Kisch.[2]
His father Michael Kisch joined the Imperial Civil Service in 1873 and later became the deputy secretary to government of India, postmaster-general of Bengal as well as director-general of the post office in India.[1]
His brother Frederick Hermann Kisch became a British delegate to the Versailles peace conference after having fought in First World War.[1]
Cecil Kisch has been married twice, once to Myra Hannah Kisch and the other time to Rebecca Grace Kisch.[2]
He joined the General Post Office in 1907, then was appointed to the India Office in 1908. In 1917, he became a private secretary to Edwin Montagu, the then Secretary of State for India.[1]
In 1921, he was appointed as the finance department of the India Office and was the key driver behind numerous monetary reforms including the establishment of the Reserve Bank of India.[1]
He has represented India at the international monetary conference at Geneva in 1933 and later served on the supervisory finance committee of the League of Nations.[1]
He contributed to works on colonial India and its monetary policies:[3][4][5]
- Central Banks; a Study of the Constitutions of Banks of Issue, with an Analysis of Representative Charters (co-authored with W. A. Elkin, 1928)
- The Portuguese Bank Note Case; the Story and Solution of a Financial Perplexity (1932)
- The Principles and Problems of Federal Finance by B. P. Adarkar (foreword by C. H. Kisch, 1933)
He translated a number of works from the Russian language to the English language:[5]
- The Waggon of Life, and Other Lyrics by Russian Poets of the Nineteenth Century (with foreword by C. M. Bowra, 1947)
- Alexander Blok: Prophet of Revolution (1960) a study of his life and work, illustrated by translations from his poems and other writings
At the 1919 New Year Honours, he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.[6]
He received his knighthood at the 1932 Birthday Honours and was awarded the Order of the Indian Empire.[1]
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