Ellenborough, Lord

Ellenborough, Lord (1790-1871) Governor General of India from February 1842 to June 1844. Son of Edward Baron Ellenborough (Lord Chief Justice of England) and educated at Eton and St John's, Cambridge, Edward Law Ellenborough was a Tory politician and between 1828 and 1841 held the post of president of the board of control, equivalent in rank to a cabinet member, four times. In October 1941 Lord Ellenborough was nominated by the cabinet to be the Governor General of India. He served as Governor General from 28 February 1842 to 15 June 1844.

But Ellenborough's regime proved to be highly controversial. His aggressive policy made relations with the neighbours of British India more hostile than ever before. The civilians could not put up with him because of his wrong perception of Indian problems. Furthermore in his dealings with civilians he was too imperious and inaccessible to make himself acceptable to the members of the civil service. He failed to comprehend that in the colonial setting, it was the civilians who were to run the state with the consent of the Governor General. In a state of continuous non-cooperation of the civilians the Court of Directors recalled him in June 1844. [Sirajul Islam