View source for Edward Law 1st Earl of Ellenborough

{{Short description|British politician and colonial administrator (1790–1871)}}
{{about|the governor-general of India|his father, the [[Lord Chief Justice]]|Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Earl of Ellenborough
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|GCB|PC}}
| image            = 1stEarlOfEllenborough.jpg
| caption          = Portrait by [[Frederick Richard Say]], c. 1845
| order1           = [[Governor-General of India]]
| term_start1      = 28 February 1842
| term_end1        = June 1844
| monarch1         = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]]
| prime_minister1  = [[Robert Peel|Sir Robert Peel]]
| predecessor1     = [[George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland|The Earl of Auckland]]
| successor1       = [[William Wilberforce Bird (governor)|William Wilberforce Bird]]<br /> (acting Governor-General)
| office2          = Member of the [[House of Lords]]
| status2          = Lord Temporal
| term_start2      = 13 December 1818
| term_end2        = 22 December 1871
| predecessor2     = [[Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough|The 1st Baron Ellenborough]]
| successor2       = [[Charles Towry-Law, 3rd Baron Ellenborough|The 3rd Baron Ellenborough]]
| office3          = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br />for [[Mitchell (UK Parliament constituency)|Mitchell]]
| term_start3      = 1813
| term_end3        = 1818
| predecessor3     = [[George Hobart-Hampden, 5th Earl of Buckinghamshire|George Hobart]]
| successor3       = [[Sir George Staunton, 2nd Baronet|Sir George Staunton]]
| office4          = [[President of the Board of Control]]
| term_start4      = 6 March 1858
| term_end4        = 5 June 1858
| predecessor4     = [[Robert Vernon, 1st Baron Lyveden|The Lord Lyvedon]]
| successor4       = [[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|Lord Stanley]]
| office5          =
| term_start5      = 4 September 1841
| term_end5        = 23 October 1841
| predecessor5     = [[John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton|Sir John Jobhouse]]
| successor5       = [[William Vesey-FitzGerald, 2nd Baron FitzGerald and Vesey|The Lord FitzGerald and Vesey]]
| office6          = 
| term_start6      = 18 September 1834
| term_end6        = 23 April 1835
| predecessor6     = [[Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg|The Lord Glenelg]]
| successor6       = [[John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton|Sir John Jobhouse]]
| office7          = 
| term_start7      = 17 September 1828
| term_end7        = 1 December 1830
| predecessor7     = [[Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville|The Viscount Melville]]
| successor7       = [[Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg|The Lord Glenelg]]
| office8          = [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]
| term_start8      = 1846
| term_end8        = 1846
| predecessor8     = [[Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington|The Earl of Haddington]]
| successor8       = [[George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland|The Earl of Auckland]]
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1790|9|8|df=y}}
| birth_place      = London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1871|12|22|1790|9|8|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Southam House]], Gloucestershire, England
| party            = [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]]<br>[[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| spouse           = {{Plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Lady Octavia Stewart|1813|1819|end=d}}
* {{Marriage|[[Jane Digby]]|1824|1830|end=div}}}}
| parents          = {{plainlist|
* [[Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough]]
* Anne Towry}}
| alma_mater       = [[St John's College, Cambridge]] 
}}
'''Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough''' (8 September 1790 – 22 December 1871), was a British [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] politician. He was four times [[President of the Board of Control]] and also served as [[Governor-General of India]] between 1842 and 1844.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=289}}

==Background and education==
Ellenborough was the eldest son of [[Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough]], and Anne Towry, daughter of George Towry.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} He was educated at [[Eton College]] and [[St John's College, Cambridge]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=289}}<ref>{{acad|id=LW807E|name=Law, the Hon. Edward}}</ref> In 1812, he became Chief Clerk of the [[Court of King's Bench (England)|Court of King's Bench]] (his father's court), a sinecure which was worth nearly £8,000 a year. Owing to the political embarrassment it caused, it was commuted for a life pension in 1838.

==Political career, 1813–1842==
Ellenborough represented the subsequently disfranchised [[rotten borough]] of [[Mitchell (UK Parliament constituency)|St Michael's]], Cornwall, in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]], until the death of his father in 1818 gave him a seat in the [[House of Lords]]. In the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]'s government of 1828, Ellenborough was made [[Lord Privy Seal]]; he also took part in the business of the foreign office, as an unofficial assistant to Wellington, who recognised his talents. He hoped to be Foreign Secretary, but had to be content with the [[President of the Board of Control|presidency of the Board of Control]], which he retained until the fall of the ministry in 1830. Ellenborough was an active administrator, and took a lively interest in questions of Indian policy. The revision of the [[Honourable East India Company|East India Company]]'s charter was approaching, and he held that the government of India should be transferred directly to the crown. He was impressed with the growing importance of a knowledge of central Asia, in the event of a Russian advance towards the Indian frontier, and despatched [[Alexander Burnes]] to explore the district.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=289–290}}

Ellenborough subsequently returned to the Board of Control in [[Robert Peel]]'s first and second administrations. He had only held office for a month on the third occasion when he was appointed by the court of directors to succeed Lord Auckland as [[Governor-General of India]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=289}}

==Governor-General of India, 1842–1844==
His Indian administration of two and a half years, or half the usual term of service, was from first to last a subject of hostile criticism. His own letters sent monthly to the Queen, and his correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, published in 1874, afford material for an intelligent and impartial judgment of his meteoric career. The events chiefly in dispute are his policy towards [[Afghanistan]] and the army and captives there, his conquest of [[Sind Division|Sind]], and his [[Gwalior campaign|campaign]] in [[Gwalior]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=289}}

Ellenborough went to India to "restore peace to Asia" but the whole term of his office was occupied by war. On his arrival there the news that greeted him was that of the [[Battle of Kabul (1842)|massacre of Kabul]], and the sieges of [[Ghazni]] and [[Jalalabad, Afghanistan|Jalalabad]], while the [[sepoy]]s of [[Madras Presidency|Madras]] were on the verge of open rebellion. In his proclamation of 15 March 1842, as in his memorandum for [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|the queen]], dated the 18th, he stated with characteristic clearness and eloquence the duty of first inflicting some signal and decisive blow on the Afghans, and then leaving them to govern themselves under the sovereign of their own choice. Unhappily, when he left for upper India and learned of the failure of [[Richard England (British Army officer, born 1793)|General England]], he instructed [[George Pollock]] and [[William Nott (British general)|William Nott]], who were advancing triumphantly with their avenging columns to rescue the British captives, to fall back. The army proved true to the governor-general's earlier proclamation rather than to his later fears; the hostages were rescued and the scene of Sir Alexander Burnes's murder in the heart of [[Kabul]] was burned down.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=289}}

[[Dost Mahommed Khan]] was quietly released from a prison in [[Calcutta]] to the throne in the [[Bala Hissar, Kabul|Bala Hissar]], and Ellenborough presided over the painting of the elephants for an unprecedented military spectacle at [[Ferozepur]], on the south bank of the [[Satluj]]. When [[Mahmud of Ghazni]], in 1024, sacked the Hindu temple of [[Somnath]] on the north-west coast of India, he carried off the richly-studded sandalwood gates of the fanes and set them up in his capital of Ghazni. The Muslim puppet of the English, [[Shuja Shah Durrani|Shah Shuja]], had been asked, when ruler of Afghanistan, to restore them to India; and what he had failed to do the Christian ruler of opposing [[Muslim]] and [[Hindus]] resolved to effect in the most solemn and public manner. In vain had [[Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet|Major (afterwards Sir Henry) Rawlinson]] proved that they were only reproductions of the original gates, to which the Ghazni moulvies{{typo help inline|reason=similar to moolvies|date=January 2020}} clung merely as a source of offerings from the faithful who visited the old conqueror's tomb. In vain did the Hindu sepoys show the most chilling indifference to the belauded restoration. Ellenborough could not resist the temptation to copy Napoleon's magniloquent proclamation under the pyramids. The fraudulent folding doors were conveyed on a [[triumphal car]] to the fort of [[Agra]], where they were found to be made not of sandalwood but of deal. That Somnath proclamation (immortalized in a speech by [[Thomas Macaulay|Macaulay]]) was the first step towards its author's recall.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=289–290}}

Hardly had Ellenborough issued his medal with the legend "Pax Asiae Restituta" when he was at war with the amirs of [[History of Sindh|Sind]]. The tributary amirs had on the whole been faithful, for Major [[Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet|James Outram]] controlled them. He reported some opposition, and Ellenborough ordered an inquiry, but entrusted the duty to Sir [[Charles James Napier|Charles Napier]], with full political as well as military powers. Mir Au Morad was intrigued with both sides so effectually that he betrayed the amirs on the one hand, while he deluded Napier on the other. Ellenborough was led on till events were beyond his control, and his own instructions were forgotten. Sir Charles Napier made more than one confession like this: "We have no right to seize Sind, yet we shall do so, and a very advantageous, useful and humane piece of rascality it will be." The battles of [[Battle of Miani|Meeanee]] and [[battle of Hyderabad|Hyderabad]] followed; and the [[Indus]] became a British river from [[Karachi]] to [[Multan]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=290}}

Sind had hardly been disposed of when the Britain started eyeing other parts of the Indian subcontinent. On the north, the Sikh confederacy was going through rapid changes and internal power shifts after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh  . In Gwalior to the south, the feudatory [[Maharashtra|Mahratta]] state, there was dissent from the army, and factions in the council of ministers. These conditions brought Gwalior to the verge of civil war. Ellenborough reviewed the danger in the minute of 1 November 1845, and told Sir [[Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough|Hugh Gough]] to advance. Further treachery and military licence rendered the battles of Maharajpur and Punniar (fought on the same day), inevitable though they were, a surprise to the combatants. The treaty that followed was as merciful as it was wise.  But by this time the patience of the directors was exhausted. They had no control over Ellenborough's policy; his despatches to them were haughty and disrespectful; and in June 1844 they exercised their power of recalling him.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=290}}

==Political career, 1844–1858==
[[File:Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough.png|thumb|alt=A photograph of Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough, taken in London in 1861 by Camille Silvy|Lord Ellenborough in 1861 by [[Camille Silvy]]]]
On his return to England, Ellenborough was created '''Earl of Ellenborough''', in the county of Cumberland,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20394|page=3518|date=15 October 1844}}</ref> Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Bath]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20399|page=3717|date=1 November 1844}}</ref> and received the thanks of Parliament; but his administration soon became the theme of hostile debates, though it was successfully vindicated by Peel and Wellington. When Peel's cabinet was reconstituted in 1846 Ellenborough became [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]. In 1858 he took office under Lord Derby as president of the board of control, for the fourth time. It was then his congenial task to draft the new scheme for the government of India which the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] had rendered necessary. But his old fault of impetuosity again proved his stumbling block. He wrote a caustic despatch censuring Lord Canning for the Oudh proclamation, and allowed it to be published in ''[[The Times]]'' without consulting his colleagues, who disavowed his action in this respect. General disapprobation was excited; votes of censure were announced in both Houses; and, to save the cabinet, Ellenborough resigned.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=290}}

But for this act of rashness, he might have enjoyed the task of carrying into effect the home constitution for the government of India which he sketched in his evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons on Indian territories on 8 June 1852. Paying off his old score against the [[British East India Company|East India Company]], he then advocated the abolition of the court of directors as a governing body, the opening of the civil service to the army, the transference of the government to the crown, and the appointment of a council to advise the minister who should take the place of the President of the Board of Control. These suggestions of 1852 were carried out by his successor [[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|Lord Stanley]], in 1858, so closely even in details, that Lord Ellenborough must be pronounced the author, for good or evil, of the system of direct rule of India that was introduced at that time. Though acknowledged to be one of the foremost orators in the House of Lords, and taking a frequent part in debate, Ellenborough never held office again.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=290}}

See ''History of the Indian Administration'' (Bentley, 1874), edited by Lord Colchester; ''Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on Indian Territories'' (June 1852); volume i. of the ''Calcutta Review''; the ''Friend of India'', during the years 1842–1845; and John Hope, ''The House of Scindea: A Sketch'' (Longmans, 1863). The numerous books by and against Sir Charles Napier, on the conquest of Sind, should be consulted.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=290}}

==Family==
[[File:Jane Elizabeth Digby, Countess of Ellenborough (1807-1881), by James Holmes.jpg|thumb|Jane Digby, Countess of Ellenborough, in 1828]]
Lord Ellenborough was married twice. He married firstly Lady Octavia Catherine Stewart, daughter of [[Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry]], in 1813. They had no children. She died of tuberculosis in March 1819.

He married secondly [[Jane Digby]], daughter of Admiral [[Henry Digby (Royal Navy officer)|Sir Henry Digby]]. They had one child, the Hon. Arthur Dudley Law (15 February 1828 – 1 February 1830). Arthur's biological father was Jane's cousin; after her cousin ended their affair, she had at least two more affairs.<ref name="echo">{{cite news |title=The sex scandal of Southam: the hidden history of Ellenborough Park |url=http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Secret-Sex-Scandal-Ellenborough-Park-s-hidden/story-26510387-detail/story.html |newspaper=Gloucestershire Echo |date=16 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518102441/http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Secret-Sex-Scandal-Ellenborough-Park-s-hidden/story-26510387-detail/story.html |archive-date=18 May 2015 |access-date=10 August 2016}}</ref> After the news of her affair with [[Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg]] became public, Lord and Lady Ellenborough were divorced by [[Act of Parliament]] in 1830.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=289}}

He did not remarry, although he had illegitimate children with his mistress.<ref name="echo" /> The stage actor [[St. Clair Bayfield]] (born John St. Clair Roberts) was his grandson through his illegitimate daughter, Ida Roberts.

==Death==
Ellenborough died at his seat, [[Southam House]], near [[Cheltenham]], in December 1871,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=290}} aged 81. On his death, the viscountcy and earldom became extinct while he was succeeded in the barony by his nephew, [[Charles Towry-Law, 3rd Baron Ellenborough]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} He was buried in the family mausoleum at Oxenton Church.<ref name="echo" />

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1=1. '''Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough'''
|2=2. [[Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough]]
|3=3. Ann Towry (died 1843)
|4=4. Rt Rev. [[Edmund Law]]
|5=5. Mary Christian (1721/1722 – 1762)
|6=6. Capt. George Towry
|8=8. Rev. Edmund Law (1673–1741)
|9=9. Patience Langbaine (died 1733)
|10=10. John Christian (1688–1745)
|11=11. Bridget Senhouse (c. 1693 – 1749)
}}

==Arms==
{{Emblem table
| name = Edward Law, Earl of Ellenborough<ref>{{cite book |year=1884 |title=Burke's General Armory |page=588 |url=https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk/page/588}}</ref>
| image = Coat of arms of Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough.svg
| imagesize = 250px
| crest = A cock gules charged on the breast with a mitre pendant from a chain round the neck or.
| escutcheon = Ermine on a bend engrailed between two cocks gules three mullets pierced or.
| supporters = Two eagles, wings elevated, sable, each gorged with a chain or, and pendant therefrom on the brest of the dexter supporter a mitre, and on the sinister a covered cup gold.
| motto = ''Compositum Jus Fasque Animi'' (Law and equity combined)
| orders = Order of the Bath (Knight Grand Cross, civil division - GCB)
}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Ellenborough, Edward Law, Earl of|volume=9|pages=289–290}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=3642| name=Edward Law}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edward Law}}
* {{Cite DNB |wstitle=Law, Edward, Earl of Ellenborough |last=Hamilton |first=John Andrew |author-link=John Hamilton, 1st Viscount Sumner |volume=32}}
* {{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16143 |title=Law, Edward, first earl of Ellenborough (1790–1871) |last=Steele |first=David |date=October 2008 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/16143 |access-date=12 March 2010}}
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-edward-law | Edward Law }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
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{{s-ttl|title= Member of Parliament for [[Mitchell (UK Parliament constituency)|Mitchell]]|years=1813–[[1818 United Kingdom general election|1818]]|with=[[John Bruce (1745–1826)|John Bruce]] 1813 – August 1814|with2=[[Charles Trelawny-Brereton]] August–December 1814|with3=[[Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington|Lord Binning]] December 1814 – 1818}}
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{{s-gov}}
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{{s-reg|uk}}
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{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Earl of Ellenborough]]|years=1844–1871}}
{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{s-end}}

{{First Peel Ministry}}
{{First Lords of the Admiralty}}
{{Viceroys of India}}
{{Governors-general of India}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellenborough, Edward Law, 1st Earl Of}}
[[Category:1790 births]]
[[Category:1871 deaths]]
[[Category:Lords Privy Seal]]
[[Category:Governors-general of India]]
[[Category:Lords of the Admiralty]]
[[Category:British people of the First Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Mitchell|Law, Edward]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1812–1818|Law, Edward]]
[[Category:UK MPs who inherited peerages|Law, Edward]]
[[Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages|Law, Edward]]
[[Category:Barons Ellenborough|2]]
[[Category:Earls of Ellenborough|Edward]]
[[Category:Law family|Edward]]
[[Category:Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Board of Control]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Tory MPs (pre-1834)|Law, Edward]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers]]