High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! James Scurry (1766–1822) was a British soldier and memoirist. He was held captive by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan for 10 years (1780–1790) at Seringapatam. He had been kept as a guest at the fort. After his release from Seringapatam he reached an English camp. He prepared a narrative of his captivity in 1794, but it was not published until 1824, after his death.