ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779-1859)

This article appears in Volume V09, Page 299 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ECG-EMS

ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779-1859) , Indian states-man and historian, fourth son of the 11th Baron

Elphinstone

in the peerage of Scotland, was born in 1779. Having received an appointment in the civil service of the East India Company, of which one of his uncles was a director, he reached Calcutta in the beginning of 1796. After filling several sub-ordinate posts, he was appointed in 1801 assistant to the British

resident

RESIDENT

at Poona, at the court of the peshwa, the most powerful of the Mahratta princes. Here he obtained his first opportunity of distinction, being attached in the capacity of diplomatist to the mission of Sir Arthur Wellesley to the Mahrattas. When, on the failure of negotiations, war broke out,

Elphinstone

, though a civilian, acted as virtual aide-de-camp to General Wellesley. He was present at the battle of Assaye, and displayed such courage and knowledge of tactics throughout the whole campaign that Wellesley told him he had mistaken his profession, and that he ought to have been a soldier. In 1804, when the war closed, he was appointed British

resident

RESIDENT

at Nagpur. Here, the times being uneventful and his duties light, he occupied much of his leisure in reading classical and general literature, and acquired those studious habits which clung to him throughout life. In 1808 he was'appointed the first British

envoy

ENVOY (Fr. envoye, " sent ")

to the court of Kabul, with the object of securing a friendly alliance with the Afghans; but 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 the literary fruit it bore several years afterwards in Elphinstone's great

work

WORK

on Kabul. 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 Poona. The difficulty arose from the general complication of Mahratta politics, and especially from the weak and treacherous character of the peshwa, which Elphinstone rightly read from the first. While the mask of friendship was kept up Elphinstone carried out the only suitable policy, that of vigilant quiescence, with admirable tact and patience; when in 1817 the mask was thrown aside and the peshwa ventured to declare war, the English resident proved for the second time the truth of Wellesley's assertion that he was born a soldier. Though his own account of his share in the campaign is characteristically modest, one can gather from it that the success of the British troops was
chiefly owing to his assuming the command at an important crisis during the battle of Kirkee.
The peshwa being driven from his throne, his territories were annexed co the British dominions, and Elphinstone was uomir ated

commissioner

COMMISSIONER

to administer them. He discharged the responsible task with rare judgment and ability. In 1819 he was appointed lieutenant-

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of Bombay and held this post till 1827, his principal achievement being the compilation of the " Elphinstone code." He may fairly be regarded as the founder of the system of state education in India, and he probably did more than any other Indian administrator to further every likely

scheme

SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

for the promotion of native education. His connexion with the Bombay presidency was appropriately commemorated in the endowment of the Elphinstone College by the native communities, and in the erection of a marble statue by the European inhabitants.
Returning to England in 1829, after an interval of two years' travel, Elphinstone retained in his retirement and enfeebled health an important influence on public affairs. He twice refused the offer of the

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

-generalship of India. Long before his return he had made his reputation as an author by his Account of the Kingdom of Cabul and its Dependencies in Persia and India (1815). Soon after his arrival in England he commenced the preparation of a

work

WORK

of wider scope, a history.of India, which was published in 1841. It embraces the Hindu and Mahommedan periods, and is still a work of high authority. He died on the loth of November 1859.
See J. S.

Cotton

, Mountstuart Elphinstone ("Rulers of India"

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

), (1892); T. E. Colebrooke, Life of Mountstuart Elphinstone (1884); and G. W. Forrest, Official Writings of Mountstuart Elphinstone(1884).

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