Mountstuart Elphinstone

Mountstuart Elphinstone
Governor of Bombay
In office
1 November 1819 – 1 November 1827
Governor-General The Marquess of Hastings
The Earl Amhurst
Preceded by Sir Evan Nepean, Bt
Succeeded by Sir John Malcolm
Personal details
Born 6 October 1779
Dumbarton, Dumbartonshire, Scotland
Died 20 November 1859(1859-11-20) (aged 80)
Hookwood, Surrey, England
Nationality British
Alma mater Royal High School
Occupation Statesman, historian
Mountstuart Elphinstone's memorial in St Pauls Cathedral

The Hon Mountstuart Elphinstone FRSE (6 October 1779 – 20 November 1859) was a Scottish statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay (now Mumbai) where he is credited with the opening of several educational institutions accessible to the Indian population. Besides being a noted administrator, he wrote books on India and Afghanistan.

Early life

Born in Dumbarton, Dumbartonshire (now Dunbartonshire) in 1779, and educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, he was the fourth son of the 11th Baron Elphinstone in the peerage of Scotland. Having been appointed to the civil service of the British East India Company, of which one of his uncles was a director, he arrived at Calcutta (now Kolkata) early in 1796 where he filled several subordinate posts. In 1801, he escaped massacre in Benares (now Varanasi) by the followers of the deposed Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah. Later that year he was transferred to the Diplomatic Service where he was posted as the assistant to the British resident at the court of the Peshwa ruler Baji Rao II.

Envoy

In the Peshwa court he obtained his first opportunity of distinction, being attached in the capacity of diplomatist to the mission of Sir Arthur Wellesley to the Marathas. When, on the failure of negotiations, war broke out, Elphinstone, though a civilian, acted as virtual aide-de-camp to Wellesley. At the Battle of Assaye, and throughout the campaign, he displayed rare courage and knowledge of tactics such that Wellesley told him he ought to have been a soldier. In 1804, when the war ended, Elphinstone was appointed British resident at Nagpur. This gave him plenty of leisure time, which he spent in reading and study. Later, in 1807, he completed a short stint at Gwalior.

In 1808 he was appointed the first British envoy to the court of Kabul, Afghanistan with the object of securing a friendly alliance with the Afghans against Napoleon's planned advance on India. However this proved of little value, because Shah Shuja was driven from the throne by his brother before it could be ratified. The most valuable permanent result of the embassy was in Elphinstone's work titled Account of the Kingdom of Cabul and its Dependencies in Persia and India (1839).

After spending about a year in Calcutta arranging the report of his mission, Elphinstone was appointed in 1811 to the important and difficult post of resident at Pune (formerly known as Poona). The difficulty arose from the general complication of Maratha politics, and especially from the weakness of the Peshwas, which Elphinstone rightly read from the first. The tenuous peace between the Peshwas was broken in 1817 with the Marathas declaring war on the British. Elphinstone assumed command of the military during an important crisis during the Battle of Khadki and managed to secure a victory despite his non-military background. As reparations, Peshwa territories were annexed by the British. Elphinstone became the Commissioner of the Deccan in 1818.

Governor

Elphinstone College, Mumbai, established in 1856

In 1819 Elphinstone was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bombay, a post he held until 1827. During his tenure, he greatly promoted education in India, at a time when opinion in Britain was against educating the "natives." He may fairly be regarded as the founder of the system of state education in India. One of his principal achievements was the compilation of the "Elphinstone code." He also returned many lands that had appropriated by the British to the Raja of Satara.

He built the first bungalow in Malabar Hill during this time, and following his example, many prominent people took up residence here. It soon became a posh locality, and remains so to the present date.[1]

His connection with the Bombay Presidency is commemorated in the endowment of Elphinstone College by local communities, and in the erection of a marble statue by the European inhabitants. However, the Elphinstone Road railway station and the Elphinstone Circle, both in Mumbai city, are not named after him but in honour of his nephew, Lord John Elphinstone, who later also became Governor of Bombay in the 1850s.

The township of Elphinstone, Victoria, Australia was named after him. There is a statue of him in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral in London.[2]

Return to England

Returning to Britain in 1829, after an interval of two years' travel, Elphinstone continued to influence public affairs, but based in England rather than Scotland. Nevertheless, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1830 with his proposer being Sir John Robison.[3]

He twice refused appointment as Governor-General of India, preferring to finish his two-volume work, History of India (1841). He died in Hookwood, Surrey, England on 20 November 1859. He is buried in Limpsfield churchyard.[4]

James Sutherland Cotton later wrote his biography as part of the Rulers of India series in 1892.[5]

The historian James Grant Duff named his son after Elphinstone.

Works

See also

References

  1. ↑ British Library
  2. ↑ St Paul's – The New Church
  3. ↑ BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF FORMER FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 1783 – 2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  4. ↑ BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF FORMER FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 1783 – 2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  5. ↑ "Rulers of India: Mountstuart Elphinstone by J. S. Cotton". The English Historical Review 7 (28): 813. October 1892. JSTOR 547455.

Further reading

External links

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Preceded by
Sir Evan Nepean		 Governor of Bombay
1819–1827 		Succeeded by
Maj Gen Sir John Malcolm
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