James (8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine) Bruce

1811 - 1863  (52 years)

• Name	James (8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine) Bruce
  Birth	20 Jul 1811
  Gender	Male
  Death	20 Nov 1863
  Person ID	I193591	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	5 Jan 2024

  
  

  Father	Thomas (7th Earl of Elgin) Bruce,   b. 20 Jul 1766   d. 14 Nov 1841 (Age 75 years)
  Mother	Mary Hamilton Nisbet,   b. 18 Apr 1778, Direlton, East Lothian, Scotland d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F79091	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Mary Cumming-Bruce   d. 1843, Jamaica
  Marriage	22 Apr 1841
  Children	1. Victor Alexander (9th Earl of Elgin, 13th Earl of Kincardine) Bruce,   b. 16 May 1849, Montreal, Canada d. 18 Jan 1917 (Age 67 years)
  Family ID	F79741	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	5 Jan 2024

  
  

• Notes

  He was a British colonial administrator and diplomat. He served as Governor of Jamaica (1842? 1846), Governor General of the Province of Canada (1847? 1854), and Viceroy of India (1862? 1863). In 1857, he was appointed High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary in China and the Far East to assist in the process of opening up China and Japan to Western trade. In 1860, during the Second Opium War in China, he ordered the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, an architectural wonder with immeasurable collections of artworks and historic antiques, inflicting incalculable loss of cultural heritage. Subsequently, he compelled the Qing dynasty to sign the Convention of Peking, adding Kowloon Peninsula to the British crown colony of Hong Kong.