| Josias Du Pré | |
| Office: | Governor of Madras |
| Term Start: | 31 January 1770 |
| Term End: | 2 February 1773 |
| Predecessor: | Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet |
| Successor: | Alexander Wynch |
| Birth Date: | 1721 |
| Birth Place: | South Carolina, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Spouse: | Rebecca Alexander |
Josias Du Pré (1721–1780) was a London merchant, a director of the East India Company and Governor of Madras.[1]
Du Pré was born in South Carolina, the son of Cornelius Dupré. He joined the civil service of the East India Company in 1752, as a factor, and rose through a succession of positions. He spent a period in England in the 1760s, and married there.[1] He purchased the Wilton Park Estate near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire from the Basil family in 1760, or around 1770.[2]
Du Pré was Governor of Madras from 1770 to 1773. He was mostly preoccupied with the construction of fortifications there. His authority was circumscribed: Eyre Coote, the military commander, and Sir John Lindsay who had overall command in the East Indies, left him little room in which to operate.[1]
Once back in England he commissioned Richard Jupp to build a mansion at Wilton Park. Known as the "White House", it was completed in 1779.[3]
Du Pré at the end of his life became a Fellow of the Royal Society,[4] owing the honour to his appointment two decades earlier of Alexander Dalrymple as his deputy.[5]
He died at Wilton Park in 1780.[2]
He married Rebecca Alexander, daughter of Nathaniel Alexander and sister of James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon, another nabob: Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon, son of the first Earl, was named after Josias.
Of the children of Josias and Rebecca:
Josias Du Pré's sister Esther married Paul Porcher, and was mother of the MP Josias Du Pré Porcher.[8]