William Schlich was a German-born forester who worked under the British administration in India. Born in Flonheim, he grew up in Darmstadt. He attended the University of Giessen and the polytechnic at Karlsruhe before joining the state forestry service in Hesse. He went on to gain a doctorate from the University of Giessen in 1867, with a dissertation on the economics of forestry.

Having been made unemployed in his homeland as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War, Schlich entered the British Imperial Indian Forest Service in 1866 and was appointed Conservator of Forests in Bengal in 1871. After 12 years in this role he rose to Inspector-General of Forests. As well as developing forest management programmes and training other foresters, during his time in India Schlich helped to establish both the journal Indian Forester and the forestry school at Dehra Dun. He moved to England in 1885 as professor of forestry at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers Hill, and was given British citizenship the following year. Schlich's department moved to Oxford in 1905 and was thence transferred to India.

Schlich authored a five-volume Manual of Forestry (1889-1896) which went through three editions and became a standard text. His well-regarded work in British and Indian forestry was recognised with a Fellowship of the Royal Society (1901) and the award of Knight Commander of the Indian Empire (1909). He was also made an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford.

Sources:
E. Mammen, M.S. Tomar, and N. Parameswaran, 1965, "A salute to Dr William Schlich", Indian Forester, 91: 77-82
R.S. Troup, rev. Andrew Grout, 2004, "Schlich, Sir William Philipp Daniel (1840-1925)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn:
www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35970, accessed 5 December 2011.