Elphinstone report (1823 pdf)

Mountstuart elphinstone pronunciation
Macaulay minute
Elphinstone code

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The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone FRGS (October 6, 1779 – November 20, 1859) was a Scottishhistorian, a co-founder and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a civil servant in India where he served as Governor of Bombay from 1819 until 1827. Previously, he served with distinction in the Maratha states as a British Resident. He was especially successful with intelligence gathering. From 1808 until 1811, he was envoy to the court of the king of Afghanistan where he accumulateed information on many aspects of Afghanistan's culture and politics, later writing an account of his travels and research. As Governor of Bombay, he took a particular interest in education, founding a College at Poona for the study of India's cultural and religious legacy. He believed that Western learning should be grafted onto India's heritage, not substituted for this. Elphinstone saw the British task in India as equipping Indians for self-government as soon as possible. This flew in the face of the dominant view, which was Indians would not be ready for self-governance for a very long

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ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART

ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779-1859), author of an important description of Afghanistan. He was a British Indian official who rose to become governor of Bombay. He was the fourth son of the eleventh Baron Elphinstone, a minor Scottish peer of modest circumstances.

Elphinstone obtained a writership in the Bengal Civil Service, arrived in Calcutta in 1796, and was sent to Benares, where he served until 1800. In 1801 he was appointed assistant to the secretary to the Resident with the Peshwa, the head of the Maratha confederacy at Poona. With his knowledge of Persian and Hindi, Elphinstone was well placed to take a prominent part in the diplomatic transactions accompanying the wars of Lord Wellesley in 1802-5, which established British predominance in northern and central India. Elphinstone was subsequently made Resident with another Maratha ruler, the Bhonsla, at Nagpur (1804-7). In 1808 the threat of a French invasion of India led to the dispatch of diplomatic missions to states beyond the northwest frontier. Elphinstone solicited and in July 1808 was

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Mountstuart Elphinstone

Scottish statesman and historian

For the later Governor of Madras, see Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff.

Mountstuart ElphinstoneFRSE (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. His works are pertinent examples of the colonial historiographical trend.^[1]

Early life

Born in Dumbarton, Dumbartonshire (now Dunbartonshire) on 6 October 1779, educated at the Royal High School. He was the fourth son of the 11th Baron Elphinstone, by Anna, daughter of Lord Ruthven, 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 1799, h