KAY, John (1742-1826), Scottish caricaturist, was born in April 1742, near Dalkeith, where his father was a mason. At thirteen he was apprenticed to a barber, whom he served for six years. He then went to Edinburgh, where in 1771 he obtained the freedom of the city by joining the corporation of barber-surgeons. For some years he practised his craft with success; but in 1785, induced by the favour which greeted certain attempts of his to etch in aquafortis, he took down his barber’s pole and opened a small print shop in Parliament Square. There he continued to flourish, painting miniatures, and publishing at short intervals his sketches and caricatures of local celebrities and oddities, who abounded at that period in Edinburgh society. He died on February 21, 1826. Kay’s portraits were collected b.y Hugh Paton and published under the title Λ Semes of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings by the late John Kay, with Biographical Sketches and Illustrative Anecdotes (Edin., 2 vols. 4to, 1838; 8vo ed., 4 vols., 1842; new 4to ed., with additional plates, 2 vols., 1877), forming a unique record of the social life and popular habits of Edinburgh at its most interesting epoch. The caricatures have little strictly artistic merit, beyond their graphic power; the drawing is always stiff and often false; but they are admitted to have been accurate likenesses, and they possess the evident recommendation of abundant and sly humour.

KAYE, Sικ John William (1814-1876), historian, was born in 1814, the son of a solicitor. Educated at Eton and Addiscombe Royal Military College, he served as an officer in the Bengal artillery till 1841, when he exchanged his sword for the pen. In 1856 he entered the service of the East India Company in England; and, when next year the crown assumed the government of India, Kaye sue-ceeded John Stuart Mill as secretary in the political and secret department of the India office. In 1871 he was created a knight of the Star of India. In 1874 his failing health warned him to resign his post; and he died in London, July 24, 1876. To his historical and biographical writings Sir John Kaye brought an historical sagacity, an honesty of purpose, and a military knowledge that make them at once valuable and interesting.

His best known works are his History of the Sepoy War, 3 vols. , 1864; History of the War in Afghanistan, 2 vols., 1851; and his Life of Lord Metcalfe, 2 vols., 1854. He was the author also of Peregrine Pultney (1844) and Long Engagements (1861), two Indian novels; History of the Administration of the East India Company, 1853; Life of Henry Tucker, 1854; Life of Sir John Malcolm, 2 vols., 1856; History of Christianity in India, 1859; Lives of Indian Officers, 2 vols., 1867; Essays of an Optimist, 1870; and numerous contributions to periodicals.