Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet

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For other persons named Charles Trevelyan, see Charles Trevelyan (disambiguation).

Trevelyan in the 1840s

Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, KCB (2 April 1807 – 19 June 1886) was a British civil servant. He is infamously referred to in the modern Irish folk song The Fields of Athenry about the Irish Potato Famine.

He was born in Taunton, where his father George Trevelyan was Archdeacon and his wife Harriet Neave, daughter of Sir Richard Neave, Bt. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Haileybury.

In the 1830s he was in Calcutta, India, where he was active in the field of education.

He was assistant secretary to HM Treasury from 1840 - 1859, during both the Irish famine and the Highland Potato Famine of 1846-1857. In Ireland he was responsible for administering famine relief, whilst in Scotland he was closely associated with the work of the Central Board for Highland Relief. His inaction and attitude towards the Irish are widely seen to have worsened the Famine, costing thousands of lives.^{[citation needed]}

Trevelyan was Governor of Madras from 1859-60, and Indian Finance minister from 1862 - 1865.

Trevelyan was also a civil service reformer and is widely regarded as the founder of the modern civil service.

He married Hannah More Macaulay, the daughter of Zachary Macaulay and sister of Thomas Babington Macaulay. Their only son was George Otto Trevelyan, the statesman. Sir Charles was created a Baronet in 1874

He described the Irish famine as a judgment of the Irish