James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin
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James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine (20 July 1811 – 20 November 1863) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat, best known as Governor General of the Province of Canada and Viceroy of India. He was the son of the 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine. His second wife was Lady Mary Lambton, daughter of the 1st Earl of Durham, the author of the groundbreaking Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839), and niece of the Colonial Secretary the 3rd Earl Grey.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Jamaica
He became Governor of Jamaica in 1842, and in 1847 was appointed Governor General of Canada.
[edit] Canada
Under Lord Elgin, the first real attempts began at establishing responsible government in Canada. In 1848, the moderate reformers of both Canada East and Canada West, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin, won their elections, and Lord Elgin asked them to form a government together. Lord Elgin became the first Governor General to remove himself from the affairs of the legislature, leading to the essentially symbolic role that the Governor-General now has.
In 1849 the Baldwin-Lafontaine government passed the Rebellion Losses Bill, compensating French Canadians for losses suffered during the Rebellions of 1837. Lord Elgin signed the bill despite heated Tory opposition and his own personal misgivings, sparking riots in Quebec, during which Elgin himself was assaulted by an English-speaking mob and the Parliament buildings were burned down. The French-speaking minority in the Canadian legislature also unsuccessfully tried to have him removed from his post.
In 1849, the Stony Monday Riot took place in Bytown on Monday September 17. Tories and Reformists clashed over the planned visit of Lord Elgin, one man was killed and many sustained injuries. Two days later, the two political factions, armed with cannons, muskets and pistols faced off on the Sappers Bridge. Although the conflict was diffused in time by the military, a general support for the Crown's representative, triumphed in Bytown (renamed Ottawa by Queen Victoria in 1854).
In 1854, Lord Elgin negotiated the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States in an attempt to stimulate the Canadian economy. Later that year, he signed the law that abolished the seigneurial system in Quebec, and then resigned as Governor-General.
[edit] China and Japan
In 1857, he became High Commissioner to China, and he visited China and Japan in 1858-59, where he oversaw the end of the Second Opium War and ordered the destruction of the Yuanming Yuan, the Old Summer Palace outside Beijing.
Elgin also signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with Japan in August 1858, soon after the Harris Treaty.
[edit] India
He became Viceroy of India in 1861, and died in Dharamasala in 1863.
[edit] See also
- List of Lieutenant Governors of Ontario
- List of Lieutenant Governors of Quebec
- Anglo-Japanese relations
- Anglo-Chinese relations
[edit] References
- Wrong, George M. The Earl of Elgin. Toronto : G.N. Morang, 1906. Also digitized by Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions 2003.
- Morison, John Lyle. The eighth Earl of Elgin : a chapter in nineteenth-century imperial history. London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1928.
- Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's mission to China and Japan, 1857-8-9 (2 volumes), Laurence Oliphant, 1859 (reprinted by Oxford University Press, 1970) {No ISBN}
- Checkland, S.G. The Elgins 1766-1917 : a tale of aristocrats, proconsuls and their wives. Aberdeen : Aberdeen University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-08-036395-4.
- John Newsinger, 'Elgin in China,' The New Left Review, 15 May/June, 2002. pp. 119-40.
- James L. Hevia, English Lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century China (Durham: Duke University Press, 2003)
[edit] External links
- Works by James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin at Project Gutenberg
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Erik Ringmar, Fury of the Europeans: Liberal Barbarism and the Destruction of the Emperor's Summer Palace
- This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Abel Rous Dottin and Adam Haldane-Duncan |
Member of Parliament for Southampton 2-seat constituency (with Charles Cecil Martyn) 1841–1842 |
Succeeded by Humphrey St John Mildmay and George William Hope |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Lord Colchester |
Postmaster General 1859–1860 |
Succeeded by The Lord Stanley of Alderley |
| Preceded by The Earl Cathcart |
Governor General of the Province of Canada 1847–1854 |
Succeeded by Edmund Walker Head |
| Preceded by The Earl Canning |
Viceroy of India 1862–1863 |
Succeeded by Sir John Lawrence |
| Peerage of Scotland | ||
| Preceded by Thomas Bruce |
Earl of Elgin 1841–1863 |
Succeeded by Victor Bruce |
| Academic Offices | ||
| Preceded by The Earl Cathcart |
Chancellor of King's College 1847–1849 |
Succeeded by Peter Boyle de Blaquière as Chancellor of the University of Toronto |
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Lieutenant-Governors of Ontario |  |
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| Post-Confederation (1867-present)
Stisted | Howland | Crawford | D.A. Macdonald | J.B. Robinson | Campbell | Kirkpatrick | Gzowski | Mowat | Clark | Gibson | Hendrie | Clarke | Cockshutt | Ross | Mulock | H.A. Bruce | Matthews | Lawson | Breithaupt | MacKay | Rowe | W.R. Macdonald | McGibbon | Aird | Alexander | Jackman | Weston | Bartleman Province of Canada (1841-1866) Clitherow | Jackson | Bagot | Metcalfe | Cathcart | J. Bruce | E.W. Head | Monck Upper Canada (1791-1841) Simcoe | Russell | Hunter | Grant | Gore | Brock | Sheaffe | de Rottenburg | Drummond | Murray | F.P. Robinson | Smith | Maitland | Colborne | F.B. Head | Arthur | Sydenham |
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Categories: 1811 births | 1863 deaths | Governors General of the Province of Canada | Governors of Jamaica | Earls in the Peerage of Scotland | Viceroys of India | Scottish people in Japan | British people in Japan | British people in China | Expatriates in China | Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford | United Kingdom Postmasters General | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | UK MPs 1837-1841
