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ELGIN,
a surname derived from the parish or town of that name in the county of
Moray or Elgin, which is generally supposed to have been so called from
Helgy, one of the chiefs of the army of Sigurd the Norwegian earl of
Orkney, who about 897 conquered Caithness, Ross, Sutherland, and Moray,
and probably made a settlement at Elgin. As the word Helgyn is
still used in the inscription on the incorporation seal of the town, it is
probable that this etymology is correct.
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ELGIN, Earl of,
a title in the peerage of Scotland, possessed by a branch of the
illustrious and royal house of Bruce, first conferred on 21st
June 1633, by Charles the First on Thomas, third Lord Bruce of Kinloss,
second son of the celebrated lawyer Sir Edward Bruce, created in 1602 Lord
Bruce of Kinloss. The earl’s elder brother, Edward, second Lord Bruce of
Kinloss, one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber to King James the First of
England, was killed in a duel near Bergen-op-Zoom, in August 1613, by Sir
Edward Sackville, afterwards earl of Dorset. The earl was, on 1st
August 1641, created a peer of England by the title of Baron Bruce of
Whorlton, in the county of York, and died in 21st December
1663, in the 65th year of his age.
His only son,
Robert, second earl, was, with Thomas Wentworth, earl of Cleveland,
appointed in 1660, lord lieutenant of the county of Bedford, and having
given proofs of his loyalty to Charles the First, and been active in the
restoration of Charles the Second, he was, 18th March 1663-4,
created, in the English peerage, Baron Bruce of Skelton, in the county of
York, Viscount Bruce of Ampthill, in the county of Bedford, and earl of
Ailesbury, in the county of Buckingham. He was afterwards constituted sole
lord lieutenant of the county of Bedford, and in 1678 appointed one of the
six peers who, with twelve members of the House of Commons, were nominated
commissioners for taking the account of such monies as had been raised and
assigned to his majesty during his war with the Dutch. He was sworn of the
privy council, 18th October 1673, and was one of the gentleman
of the bedchamber. He was also a commissioner for executing the office of
earl-marshal of England, as deputy of Henry, duke of Norfolk, and at the
coronation of James the Second was one of the lords who carried St.
Edward’s staff. On 20th July 1685, he was appointed lord
chamberlain of the household. He died at Ampthill, 20th October
1685. Wood, in his Fasti Oxoniensis, says that he was well versed
in English history and antiquities, a lover of all such as were professors
of those studies, and a curious collector of manuscripts, especially of
those which related to England and English antiquities. He married Diana,
daughter of Henry Grey, first earl of Stamford, by whom he had eight sons
and nine daughters. Of the sons, five died young.
The sixth son,
Thomas, third earl of Elgin and second of Ailesbury, by which title he is
known in history, was amongst the first in 1688, to invite the prince of
Orange to come to England, as a mediator between the king and the people,
but on learning the prince’s designs, he refused to sanction his
dethronement of his father-in-law, and offered his services to King James,
on the prince of Orange’s embarking his troops for England. He accompanied
the king in his barge on his departure for Rochester. He never took the
oaths to King William and Queen Mary, and on Jul7 5, 1690, a proclamation
was issued by the latter, during the absence of the king, in Ireland, for
his apprehension and that of several other persons who, like him, had
incurred the suspicion of the government. His lordship, however, was not
imprisoned on that occasion, and in 1691, King William gave the royal
assent to an act to enable Thomas, earl of Ailesbury, and his countess, to
make provision for payment of debts and to make leases of their estates.
In 1695 the earl was accused of having been at a meeting held in May, at
the Old King’s Head Tavern, in Aldersgate Street London, with other
friends of the exiled family, for the purpose of consulting how to restore
King James, whereupon he was committed to the Tower in February 1695-6.
His countess, (Elizabeth Seymour, sister and heiress of William, duke of
Somerset, with whom he got large estates in England,) was so afflicted at
his confinement that she died in childbed soon after. The earl was
admitted to bail, on 12th February following, and obtained King
William’s permission to reside at Brussels. He there married, secondly,
charlotte, countess of Sannu, of the ancient and noble house of Argenteau,
in the duchy of Brabant. He died at Brussels in November 1741, in the 86th
year of his age. By his first wife he had four sons and two daughters, and
by the second he had an only daughter, charlotte maria, married in 1722 to
the prince of Horne, one of the princes of the empire. One of this lady’s
daughters, Elizabeth Philippina, married Prince Gustavus Adolphus of
Stolberg Guedern, and was the mother of Louisa Maximillana, the wife of
the pretender, Prince Charles Edward Stuart.
The second and
only surviving son, Charles, fourth earl of Elgin, and third of Ailesbury,
was, on December 31, 1711, in the lifetime of his father, summoned by writ
to the house of peers (being one of the twelve peers created and summoned
that day, to secure a majority in the House of Lords for the Tory
administration), by the title of Lord Bruce of Whorlton, and by letters
patent, in 1746, he was created Lord Bruce of Tottenham in Wiltshire, to
him and his heirs male, with limitation of that honour to his nephew, the
Hon. Thomas Bruce, youngest son of George, earl of Cardigan, and the lady
Elizabeth Bruce, his wife, the earl of Elgin’s sister. His lordship was
thrice married, and by his first wife, Lady Anne Saville, eldest daughter
and one of the coheiresses of William marquis of Halifax, he had two sons,
who both died young, and two daughters. By his second wife, a daughter of
the earl of Burlington, he had no issue; and by his third countess, a
daughter of the fourth duke of Argyle, he had a daughter, Lady Mary, who
married Charles third duke of Richmond and Lennox.
In the fourth
earl of Elgin ended the male line of Edward Lord Bruce of Kinloss, second
son of Sir Edward Bruce of Blairhall, and by his leaving no male issue the
title of earl of Ailesbury became extinct, and that of earl of Elgin
devolved on the heir male, Charles Bruce, ninth earl of Kincardine in the
Scottish peerage, [See KINCARDINE, earl of,] while the title of Lord Bruce
of Tottenham reverted to his nephew, the Hon. Thomas Bruce Brudenell,
already mentioned, created earl of Ailesbury 18th June 1776.
The son of the latter was created marquis of Ailesbury, Earl Bruce, and
Viscount Savernake in 1821.
Charles, fifth
earl of Elgin, and ninth earl of Kincardine, (descended from Sir George
Bruce of Carnock, third son of Edward Bruce of Blairhall, father of the
first Lord Bruce of Kinloss,) was born about 1732, succeeded his father in
the earldom of Kincardine in 1740, and his kinsman the earl of Elgin and
Ailesbury, in his Scottish titles, in 1747, and was thenceforth styled
earl of Elgin and Kincardine. He was a nobleman distinguished by the
goodness of his heart, his amiable manners, and many virtues. Residing
almost constantly at his seat of Broomhall, in Fife, he devoted himself to
the improvement of his lands, and was highly instrumental in promoting the
agriculture of both parts of the United Kingdom. Discovering a very
extensive limestone rock on his estate, he employed about four hundred men
in working it, built a town of a hundred houses for their accommodation,
erected a number of kilns for burning the stone, and at a very
considerable expense opened a fine harbour. He married Martha, only child
of Thomas White, Esq., an eminent merchant and banker, London, and had
issue three daughters and four sons. His lordship died 14th May
1771. From the judicious manner in which his countess had educated her own
children, she was selected to fill the important office of governess to
the Princess Charlotte of Wales.
The eldest son,
William Robert, sixth earl of Elgin and tenth of Kincardine, enjoyed the
title only two months, dying at Broomhall 15th July 1771, in
the eighth year of his age, and was succeeded by his next brother, Thomas,
seventh earl. The Hon. Charles-Andrew Bruce, the third son of the fifth
earl of Elgin, was placed on the Bengal civil establishment in 1783, and
after being a senior merchant, second judge of the provincial court of
appear and circuit for the division of Calcutta, was appointed governor of
Prince of Wales’ Island, and died 27th December 1810. The Hon.
James Bruce, the fourth son, M.P. for Marlborough, and subsequently precis
writer in the office of Lord Grenville, secretary of state, was drowned
while crossing the Don in Yorkshire 10th July 1798, aged 28.
The second son,
Thomas, seventh earl of Elgin, and eleventh earl of Kincardine, celebrated
as the collector of the Elgin marbles, was born 20th July 1766,
and received his education at Harrow and Westminster schools, and at the
university of St. Andrews. On leaving the university, he went to Paris,
and for nearly two years studied there under a professor of public law. He
then proceeded to Germany, where he continued a considerable time, in the
prosecution of military studies. In 1785 he entered the army as ensign in
the third regiment of foot guards, and in 1789 he purchased a company in
the 65th regiment of foot. In 1793, he had the brevet rank of
major in the army, and, in 1795, was appo0inted major to the 12th
regiment of foot. On raising a fencible regiment the same year, he
obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1802 he became colonel, and on
25th October 1809, major-general. He attained to the full rank
of general in 1837. He was also a lieutenant-general of the Royal Archers
in Scotland.
In 1790 lord
Elgin was sent on a special mission to Leopold the Second, emperor of
Germany, whom, in the following year, he accompanied on a tour to his
Italian dominions. When the British embassy quitted Paris in 1792, Lord
Elgin was appointed envoy extraordinary to the court of Brussels, and when
the French armies occupied the Netherlands in the end of that year, he was
employed first at the court of the elector of Hesse Cassel, and afterwards
with the Prussian army during their active operations in Germany, in the
beginning of 1793. He was attached to the Austrian forces until the final
evacuation of the Netherlands in 1794. In the following year he was
appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the king of
Prussia. In 1799 he was constituted ambassador to Turkey, and he continued
in the east till the French were finally driven out of Egypt. On that
occasion he was invested with the Turkish order of the crescent.
His embassy to
the Sublime Porte was the cause of his being able to preserve those
magnificent relics of ancient Grecian sculpture to which his name has been
given, and the removal of which to this country has been of so much
service in promoting the study of the arts. On proceeding to
Constantinople he visited Greece, which then formed part of the Turkish
dominions, and anxious to rescue those beautiful remains of antiquity from
that destruction to which they were evidently destined, availing himself
of the opportunities of his station, he succeeded in forming, principally
from the ruins of the Parthenon at Athens, a splendid collection of
statues, basso-relievos, specimens of architecture, and other valuable
fragments of ancient art, besides medals, and a very curious series of
inscriptions, beginning with the famous Boustrophedon, which he was so
fortunate as to procure at Cape Sigaeum on the plain of Troy, containing
specimens of all the variations in the Greek alphabet. These were safely
brought over to England in 1814, and ultimately purchased by government
for thirty-five thousand pounds, not half the sum spent by his lordship in
collecting and transporting them to Great Britain, which, with the
interest of the money expended, amounted to seventy-four thousand pounds.
These invaluable specimens of art are now in the British Museum, under the
name of the Elgin Marbles. When first brought over from Greece, they were
placed in a stable-like apartment in the corner of Burlington House,
London, where the kindness of his lordship admitted artists of all classes
to view and draw from them.
Much unmerited
obloquy has been thrown on the earl of Elgin by Lord Byron and others, for
removing these antiquities from Athens. ‘The Curse of Minerva,’ one of
Lord Byron’s most stinging satires, was especially directed against his
lordship for this patriotic act. The noble poet also has an allusion to
Lord Elgin’s conduct in this respect, in his ‘English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers,’ and he inserted some indignant remarks, on what he considered
his plunder of the Parthenon, in a note to the second Canto of Childe
Harold. In an ode to ‘The Parthenon,’ in James and Horace Smith’s series
of poetical imitations, entitled ‘Horace in London,’ published in 1813,
Minerva is made to say, in reference to Lord Elgin’s removal of these
ancient monuments of Athens and Lord Byron’s satire:
“All who behold my mutilated pile,
Shall brand its ravager with classic rage;
And soon a titled bard from Britain’s isle
Thy country’s praise and suffrage shall engage,
And fire with Athens’ wrongs an angry age.”
But in despite of
poetic ire the verdict of the public and of posterity on the subject is
that Lord Elgin conferred a service on art, by bringing to England what
has furnished, and will long continue to furnish, models of study for
artists, of the very highest character. Destruction would have been their
fate had they not been removed by his lordship. Their removal was effected
with the express sanction of the rulers of the country, and no
dissatisfaction was evinced by the natives. The dispersion of these
invaluable remains, however, could only be prevented by their becoming the
property of a nation, and the possession of them is a glory and an honour
to Britain. In the Vatican at Rome, in Wirtemberg, Russia, and other
continental states, are casts in plaster of these superb relics of ancient
Grecian art.
Lord Elgin
established excellent schools at his lime and coal works in Fife, and
somewhat embarrassed his fortune by improvements on his estate. He was one
of the sixteen representatives of the Scottish peerage, having been first
chosen at the general election of 1790. He was also president of the
Society of Antiquaries in Scotland. He was twice married: first, 11th
March 1799, to Mary, only child of William Hamilton Nisbet, Esq. of
Dirleton, Haddingtonshire, by whom he had issue two sons and three
daughters. This marriage was dissolved in 1808, when Lady Elgin married
Robert Fergusson, Esq. of Raith. His lordship married, secondly, 21st
September 1810, Elizabeth, youngest daughter of James Townsend-Oswald,
Esq. of Dunikier, Fifeshire, and by her ha had issue four sons and three
daughters. He died 14th Nov. 1841, and his two elder sons
having predeceased him, he was succeeded by his eldest son by his second
marriage.
This nobleman,
James, eighth earl of Elgin and twelfth earl of Kincardine, born in Park
Lane, London, 20th July 1811, was educated at Christ Church,
Oxford, where he was first class in classics in 1832. He afterwards became
a fellow of Merton. In August 1841 he was elected M.P. for Southampton,
and succeeded his father as earl in November of the same year.
Governor-general of Canada 1846 to 1854. In March 1857 he was sent to
China as plenipotentiary, and concluded there the treaties of 1858;
Postmaster-general in June 1859. Married, first, in April 1841, Elizabeth
Mary, only child of Charles Lennox-Cumming-Bruce, Esq. of Kinnaird and
Roseisle; issue, a daughter, Lady Elma. The countess died 7th
July 1843. His lordship married, 2dly, 7th Nov. 1846, Lady Mary
Louisa, a daughter of the earl of Durham; issue, four sons and a daughter.
Narrative of the
Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan
In the years 1857, '58, '59, by Laurence Oliphant, Esq., Private
Secretary to Lord Elgin, Author of the "Russian Shores of the Black
Sea," etc. (1860) (pdf)
Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, Chancellor of
Aberdeen University (pdf)
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