Mountstuart Elphinstone
Mountstuart Elphinstone Governor of Bombay | |
---|---|
In office 1 November 1819 – 1 November 1827 | |
Governors‑General | The Marquess of Hastings The Earl Amhurst |
Preceded by | Sir Evan Nepean |
Succeeded by | Sir John Malcolm |
Personal details | |
Born | 6 October 1779 Dumbarton, Dumbartonshire, Scotland |
Died | 20 November 1859 Hookwood, Surrey, England | (aged 80)
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | Royal High School |
Occupation | Statesman, historian |
Signature | |
Mountstuart Elphinstone
Early life
Born in
Envoy
In the Peshwa court he obtained his first opportunity of distinction, being attached in the capacity of diplomatist to the mission of
In 1808 he was appointed the first British
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. 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 also called Third Anglo-Maratha War and managed to secure a victory[3] despite his non-military background. As reparations, Peshwa territories were annexed by the British. Elphinstone became the Commissioner of the Deccan in 1818.
Governor
In 1819, Elphinstone was appointed
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 fashionable locality, and remains so to the present.[4]
His connection with the
The township of Elphinstone, Victoria, Australia, was named after him. The suburb of Mount Stuart, Tasmania, Australia, and its main road, Elphinstone Road, were also named after him.[6]
There is a statue of him in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral in London.[7]
Return to Great Britain
Returning to Britain in 1829, after an interval of two years' travel, Elphinstone continued to influence public affairs,[3] 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.[8]
He was one of the seven founders of the Royal Geographical Society which formed on 16 July 1830.[9]
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.[10] He is buried in Limpsfield churchyard.[8] There is also a memorial to him in St Paul's Cathedral.[11]
James Sutherland Cotton later wrote his biography as part of the Rulers of India series in 1892.[12]
The historian James Grant Duff named his son after Elphinstone.
Published works
- Elphinstone, Mountstuart (1815). An Account of the Kingdom of Cabul, and its Dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.
- Elphinstone, Mountstuart (1841). The History of India. Vol. I (1 ed.). London: John Murray.
- Elphinstone, Mountstuart (1841). The History of India. Vol. II (1 ed.). London: John Murray.
- Elphinstone, Mountstuart (1905). History of India (9 ed.). London: John Murray. OL 14012858M.
- Elphinstone, Mountstuart (1905). History of India (9 ed.). London: John Murray.
- Elphinstone, Mountstuart (1887). Colebrooke, Edward (ed.). The Rise of the British Power in the East. London: John Murray.
See also
- Asiatic Society of Bombay
- Horniman Circle Gardens
References
- ISBN 978-81-7930-688-8.
- ^ a b Cotton 1892, p. 17.
- ^ a b c d e f public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Elphinstone, Mountstuart". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 298–299. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Nair, Manoj R. (26 July 2011). "Malabar Hill: How a jungle turned into a posh address". DNA India. DNA India. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
- ^ Baillie, Alexander Francis (1890). Kurrachee: (Karachi) Past, Present and Future. Thacker, Spink.
- ^ "Mount Stuart Website – A collaboration of Mount Stuart Residents Inc & Mount Stuart Hall Inc".
- ^ St Paul's – The New Church
- ^ ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
- ^ Markham, Sir Clements Robert (1881). The Fifty Years' Work of the Royal Geographical Society. J. Murray. p. 23.
- ^ Cotton 1892, pp. 216–217.
- ^ Sinclair, William Macdonald (1909). Memorials of St. Paul's Cathedral. London: Chapman and Hall. p. 462.
- JSTOR 547455.
Bibliography
- ISBN 9788130700281.
Further reading
- "Elphinstone, Mountstuart". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8752. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Chandra, Gautam; Mishra, Veerendra Kumar (2018). "From inactivity to encouragement: the contribution of Lord Elphinstone to the educational development of the Madras Presidency (1837–1842)". History of Education. 47: 763–778. S2CID 149918876.
- Colebrooke, Thomas Edward (1884). Life of Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone. Vol. I. London: John Murray.
- ————————————— (1884). Life of Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone. Vol. II. London: John Murray.
- Colebrooke, Edward (1861). "Memoir of the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 18: 221–344. S2CID 161743974.
- ——————————— (1911). Mountstuart Elphinstone and the Making of Southwestern India. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 9788130700281.
- Forrest, George W., ed. (1884). Selections from the Minutes and Other Official Writings of the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay. London: Richard Bentley and Son.
- Kaye, John William (1859). "Mountstuart Elphinstone: In Memoriam". Once a Week. Vol. I. pp. 502–504.
External links
- Macintyre, Ben (13 November 2008). "The harsh lesson of Afghanistan: little has changed in 200 years". The Times.
- "Archival material relating to Mountstuart Elphinstone". UK National Archives.