| The Right Honourable Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff GCSI, CIE, PC |
|
|---|---|
| Governor of Madras Presidency | |
| In office 5 November 1881 – 8 December 1886 |
|
| Governor General | The Marquess of Ripon, The Earl of Dufferin |
| Preceded by | William Huddleston (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Hon. Robert Bourke |
| Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
| In office 23 April 1880 – 26 June 1881 |
|
| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | The Earl Cadogan |
| Succeeded by | Leonard Courtney |
| Under-Secretary of State for India | |
| In office 8 December 1868 – 17 February 1874 |
|
| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | The Lord Clinton |
| Succeeded by | Lord George Hamilton |
| Member of Parliament for Elgin Burghs |
|
| In office 1857–1881 |
|
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | George Skene Duff |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Asher |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 February 1829 Eden, Aberdeenshire |
| Died | 12 January 1906 (aged 76) Chelsea, London |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Anna Julia Webster |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff GCSI, CIE, PC FRS (21 February 1829 – 12 January 1906), known as M. E. Grant Duff before 1887 and as Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff thereafter, was a Scottish politician, administrator and author. He served as the Under-Secretary of State for India from 1868 to 1874, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1880 to 1881 and the Governor of Madras from 1881 to 1886.
Grant Duff was born in Eden, Aberdeenshire on 21 February 1829 to distinguished British historian James Grant Duff. He had his education at Grange School and Balliol College, Oxford and graduated in law from the Inns of Court. He practised and taught law for a short time before starting a political life and entering the House of Commons as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Elgin Burghs.
Grant Duff abilities won him government positions and he served as Under-Secretary of State for India, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies and Governor of Madras. On his return from Madras, he retired from politics and served in various art and scientific societies.
Grant Duff travelled extensively and wrote voluminously. His performance as a political and administration have received mixed reviews. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire and a Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India. He died on 12 January 1906 at the age of 76.
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Grant Duff was born in Eden, Aberdeenshire on 21 February 1829, the elder son of James Grant Duff, a well known Indian official from Bombay Presidency and British Resident at the princely state of Satara and his wife Jane Catherine, daughter of Sir Whitelaw Ainslie.[1] He was named after Mountstuart Elphinstone whom James Grant Duff regarded as his mentor. Grant Duff had his schooling at Edinburgh Academy and Grange School and at Balliol College, Oxford from 1847 to 1850.[1] Grant Duff completed his master's degree in 1853.[1] During these years he experienced problems with his vision, and for the rest of his life he relied on the sight of others.
Grant Duff studied law at the Inns of Court and passed with honours, appearing next to James Fitzjames Stephen.[1] He was called to the bar at Inner Temple, London on 17 November 1854[2] and practised for sometime as a junior under William Ventris Field.[1] During this time, Grant Duff lectured at the Working Men's College and wrote for the Saturday Review.[1] Soon afterwards, Grant Duff entered politics and joined the Liberal Party.
Grant Duff participated in the 1857 elections as the Liberal Party's candidate from Elgin Burghs and was elected to the House of Commons.[1] He served as a member of the House of Commons from 1857 to 1881.[1] As a parliamentarian, he took up the cause of education in his constituency and gave regular annual speeches on foreign policy.[1] In order to make these speeches as informative and realistic, he, himself, took trips abroad to study the situation in foreign countries.
Grant Duff's proficiency and expertise on foreign issues won him positions in the foreign ministry. When offered to be made Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Charles W. Dilke declined the offer and suggested to Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone that Grant Duff be appointed in his stead.[3] Gladstone refused but instead, appointed Grant Duff as the Under-Secretary of State for India on 8 December 1868.[1][3] Grant-Duff served as Under-Secretary of State from 1868 till 1874 when the Liberal Party government of Gladstone resigned. He worked well with the Secretary of State Argyll; their relationship was described by Duthie thus: ‘rather deliberately obedient to Argyll; and always in agreement with him on policy’. During Grant Duff's tenure, the Kuka insurrection broke out in India.[4] The massacre of 50 rebelling Kukas sparked outrage in the British Parliament and Grant Duff was compelled to accept responsibility.[4]
When Gladstone was voted back to power in 1880, Grant Duff was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies.[1][3] Grant Duff served till 26 June 1881, when he was appointed Governor of Madras.[1][5] During this time, Grant Duff also served in Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council.[1]
Grant Duff was captivated by the beach at Madras on an earlier visit to the city.[6][7] As a result when he became Governor in 1881, he immediately commenced the construction of a promenade along the beach.[6] The beach was extensively modified and layered with soft sand and was named "The Marina".[6] The new promenade was opened to the public in 1884.[6]
On the naming of the beach, Grant Duff explains in a letter:
We have greatly benefitted Madras by turning the rather dismal beach of five years ago into one of the most beautiful promenades in the world. From old Sicilian recollections, I gave in 1884 to our new creation the name of Marina; and I was not a little amused when walking there last winter with the Italian General Saletta, he suddenly said to me 'On se dirai a Palerme'.[7]
Grant Duff's tenure was filled with a number of controversies and allegations of partisan behaviour and injustice. Grant Duff was sharply criticized for the way he handled the Chingleput Ryots' Case and the arrests and trials following the Salem Riots of 1882. The Hindu accused Grant Duff of indulging in vindictive and vengeful behaviour. In one of the articles, he was criticized thus:
Oh! Lucifer! How art thou fallen? Oh! Mr Grant-Duff, how you stand like an extinct volcano in the midst of the ruins of your abortive reputation as an administrator! Erudite you may be, but a statesman you are not.[8]
Grant Duff was also accused of deliberately nurturing a movement against Brahmins.[9]
However, Louis Mallet, the then Under-Secretary of State for India, was all praise for Grant Duff. On receipt of Grant Duff's last minute as Governor, Mallett said
I doubt whether any governor has left behind so able and so complete a record[1]
W. S. Blunt, the British publicist, who visited Madras in November 1884, says of Grant Duff:
"And Mr. Grant Duff?", I asked a friend. "We consider him, he said "a failure. He came out as Governor of Madras with great expectations, and we find him feeble, sickly, unable to do his work himself, and wholly in the hands of the permanent officials. The Duke of Buckingham, of whom we expected less, did much more, and much better. "...I found this opinion of Grant Duff a general one among the natives. Though a clever man, he had spent all his life in the confined atmosphere of the House of Commons, and was quite unable to deal with a state of society so strange to him as that which he found in India[7]
The Madras Mahajana Sabha was established in 1884 with P. Rangaiah Naidu as its President and R. Balaji Rao as its Vice-President.[10] To this day, this is considered to be one of the oldest Indian political organisations in the Madras Presidency, notwithstanding the Madras Native Association which was a failure. Members of the Madras Mahajana Sabha played a pivotal role in corresponding with Indian associations in other provinces and forming the Indian National Congress in 1885. The Indian National Congress held its first session at Bombay in December 1885, attended by 72 delegates including 22 from the Madras Presidency. Grant Duff was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1881 and a Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India in March 1887. In July 1886, Gladstone tried to get a peerage for Grant Duff but failed.
On an official visit to Rome, a few years after the conclusion of his tenure, Grant Duff records that the Speaker of the Italian Parliament Biancheri inquired about the size of the province which Grant Duff had governed.[11] On receiving the reply from Grant Duff that the province was 'larger than Italy, including all the Italian islands', Biancheri astonishedly asked "What an empire is that , in which such a country is only a province".[11]
On his return to England in 1887, Grant Duff devoted himself to the arts and sciences. He was Lord Rector of University of Aberdeen from 1866–72. He was member of the Athenaem, the Cosmopolitan Club, Literary Society, Grillion's Club, Breakfast Club and served as the president of the Royal Geographical Society from 1889 to 1892 and president of the Royal Historical Society from 1892 to 1899.[1] He was treasurer of the exclusive dining club known simply as The Club from 1893.[1] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1881, and was appointed a trustee of the British Museum in 1903.[1]
Grant Duff also served as Chairman of the Liberty and Property Defence League established to curb socialist tendencies in the Liberal Party.
In April 1859 Grant-Duff married Anna Julia Webster; they had four sons and four daughters. Their eldest daughter was Clare Annabel Caroline, wife of the financier Frederick Huth Jackson, whilst their third son, Adrian Grant-Duff[12] colonel of the Black Watch was killed at the First Battle of the Aisne in September 1914. Adrian's daughter was Shiela Grant Duff while his son, Neill, was himself shot down over France, in 1940, whilst with the RAF.[13]
Grant Duff died in his home in Chelsea, London on January 1906, aged 76,[14] and was buried in Elgin Cathedral, Scotland.
your sources are biased
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Skene Duff |
Member of Parliament for Elgin Burghs 1857–1881 |
Succeeded by Alexander Asher |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Lord Clinton |
Under-Secretary of State for India 1868–1874 |
Succeeded by Lord George Hamilton |
| Preceded by The Earl Cadogan |
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1880–1881 |
Succeeded by Leonard Courtney |
| Preceded by William Huddleston |
Governor of Madras 1881–1886 |
Succeeded by Hon. Robert Bourke |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by The Earl Russell |
Rector of the University of Aberdeen 1866–1872 |
Succeeded by Thomas Henry Huxley |