James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine KT, GCB, PC (20 July 1811 – 20 November 1863) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat, he was the Governor General of the Province of Canada, a High Commissioner in charge of opening trades with China and Japan, and Viceroy of India.
Most notably he had helped prevent Canada from becoming unified with United States and ordered the complete destruction of the Old Summer Palace in...
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James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine KT, GCB, PC (20 July 1811 – 20 November 1863) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat, he was the Governor General of the Province of Canada, a High Commissioner in charge of opening trades with China and Japan, and Viceroy of India.
Most notably he had helped prevent Canada from becoming unified with United States and ordered the complete destruction of the Old Summer Palace in China.
Lord Elgin was the son of the 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine and his second wife. Elgin's wife, Lady Mary Lambton, was a daughter of the 1st Earl of Durham, a prominent author of the Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839), and niece of the Colonial Secretary the 3rd Earl Grey. He had seven brothers and sisters and four half-sisters and one half-brother from his father's first marriage.
Lord Elgin's father was much improverished by the purchase of the Elgin Marbles. Thomas James acquired the Marbles at...
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