James Outram (1803–63) was a British East India Company Army officer who became a national hero after his successful campaign at Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Outram, who was called the 'Bayard of India' for his military exploits, had spent most of his career in India and Afghanistan, where he was involved in numerous armed conflicts. He also worked as a political agent and had much success negotiating on behalf of the British with the Princely States. This two-volume biography of Outram, published in 1880, was written by Frederic John Goldsmid (1818–1908), a British Army officer and civil servant who also spent much of his career in India, and was involved in overseeing the construction of an Indo-European telegraph line before writing about Outram. Volume 1 covers Outram's childhood and his early years in the army in India, up to 1845.