ELGIN. Earl of Elgin & Kincardine, Viceroy of India 1862-63

£90.00

A very good carte de visite by H Hering, Photographer to the Queen, 137 regent Street, London showing the Viceroy half length, seated, wearing a heavy fur trimmed overcoat with his badges of the Orders of the Thistle and the Bath on his chest. This cdv appears to have been taken during the brief period during his return to London from China in January 1861 and his departure for India, where he had been appointed Viceroy that February. Worn out by a difficult period as Governor of Canada and his mission to China, interrupted by the Indian Mutiny, Elgin became the only Viceroy to die in office of natural causes [Lord Mayo was later assassinated in the Andaman Islands]. Extreme exertion crossing a rocky Himalayan valley on a swinging rope bridge caused him to suffer a massive heart attack and he was buried at Dharamsala on 20th November 1863. Like his son, later Viceroy preceding Lord Curzon, he disliked wearing uniform and formality and this is one of the few cdvs we have come across of him.      may12/3

James Bruce, Earl of Elgin & Kincardine [1811 – 1863] was a politician, previously serving as Governor of Jamaic and Governor of Canada.

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