The Hon. John Russell COLVIN 2
- Born: 29 May 1807, Calcutta, Bengal, India
- Marriage (1): Emma Sophia SNEYD on 10 May 1827 in Calcutta, Bengal, India 1
- Died: 9 Sep 1857, Agra Fort, India aged 50
- Buried: Agra Fort, India
General Notes:
Lieut. Governor of the North-Western Provinces, Private Secretary to Lord Auckland
See: The Times, Friday, Feb 08, 1895; pg. 3; Issue 34495; col C
John Russell Colvin (May 29 , 1807 - September 9 , 1857 ) was lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of British India during the mutiny of 1857, at the height of which he died.
Colvin's was an Anglo-Indian family of Scottish descent. He was educated at East India Company College in Haileybury, then entered the service of the British East India Company in 1826.
In 1836 he became private secretary to Lord Auckland at the time of the First Anglo-Afghan War of 1837. From 1846-49, Colvin served as Commissioner of Tenasserim , in British (Lower) Burma .
In 1853 Lord Dalhousie appointed him lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of India . In 1857, at the start of the mutiny, Colvin was at Agra with only a weak British regiment and a native battery, not enough force to prevail against the mutineers. Colvin issued a proclamation to the natives that was censured at the time for its clemency, but it was similar to the approach of Sir Henry Lawrence , later followed by Lord Canning .
Colvin died shortly before the fall of Delhi . His diaries are held in the European Manuscripts Section at the India Records Office in London .
John Colvin's son, Sir Auckland Colvin , K.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., C.I.E. (1838-1908), followed a distinguished career in the same service, from 1858-92. He was comptroller-general in Egypt (1880-2), and financial adviser to the khedive (1883-7). From 1883-92 he was back again in India , first as financial member of council, and then, from 1887, following in his father's footsteps as lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces and Oudh .
He published a biography of his father in 1895, and in 1905 gave a stained glass East window to the church of St. Mary at Soham , both as a thanksgiving for the termination of the Second Boer War , and as a permanent memorial to his father. Auckland Colvin died at Surbiton on the March 24 , 1908 .
John married Emma Sophia SNEYD, daughter of The Rev. Wetenhall SNEYD and Harriet CLEADER, on 10 May 1827 in Calcutta, Bengal, India.1 (Emma Sophia SNEYD was christened on 28 Sep 1806 in Newchurch, Hampshire, England 1 and died on 12 Jul 1882 in Brighton, Sussex, England.)
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