yr13_ia_2007_howard_b

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Summary of Evidence
India in the 1850’s was mostly under the control of the British East India Company[1]. The Indian government had no real power and was essentially under the jurisdiction of the British. Initially a prominent political figure in support of the British East India Company, in the later years of Edward Law’s[2] career he focused his efforts on promoting the liberation of the Indian government.

His career in India began when he was made the President of the Board of control in 1828, a job that gained him access to the activities of the Indian government as the representative British government official responsible for overseeing the British East India Company. During his time in office there, he was involved with as many projects as he could physically manage: anything that he thought would ultimately benefit India. He instigated the abolishment of control of the Indian government by the British East India Trading Company, in favour of placing the responsibility in the hands of the British government itself. He also reformed Indian expenditure, recovering debts of over £1,000,000 by increased efficiency. When he wasn’t rebuilding the Indian economy, he was encouraging Indian citizens into the Civil Service, a radical and controversial policy that undoubtedly added to his renegade reputation. He was replaced and reinstated several times (1828-30, 1834-35, 1841) until 1842 when he was made Governor-General, or Viceroy, of India. His brief two and a half year term as Viceroy of India was the subject of hostile criticisms, namely because of his policy towards Afghanistan, his conquest of Sind and his campaign in Gwalior.

Eventually Edward Law became “out of control”. His various policies rarely met with the British government’s approval. It soon became clear to British officials that he had become somewhat renegade in his actions. Law had the courage to promote his own views and not the common interests of the government if he thought it was not in the best interests of India. For this, the British government exercised its power to recall him and he left India in 1844. Two years later, in a rather placatory manor, he was made First Lord of the Admiralty (president of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the board of control for the Royal Navy). His position was politically focused, as he had little experience with naval warfare. It was not long before he began to attract unsavoury attention to himself again and he finally resigned from his position in 1858.

As a person, Law was plagued by his oppositions’ jealousy, the tragedy of his first marriage to Lady Octavia Stewart and vicious slandering after is rather public divorce with Lady Jane Digby[3]. In the early years of his political career, Law was perhaps too zealous for his own good. In the instance of his very first bill, he was described by members of the House of Lords as demonstrating an “arrogant superiority” when addressing parliament. In fact, he referred to Bishops Stowell and Sidmouth, profusely in opposition to his bill which incidentally proposed reforms to the marriage laws of 1754[4], as “a set of dissolute minors”. After the death of his first wife Lady Octavia, Law withdrew from political activities for some years. Her health, having never been strong, began a rapid decline in 1815 after she contracted Tuberculosis. Law had done everything in his power to keep her alive; they had gone to Rome in the hope that the warmer climate would benefit her health and Law gave up his seat in the Commons in the elections of 1818 in order to devote his attention solely to his wife. He was devastated when she died in 1819 and, despite remarrying 5 years later, “her memory was the one he enshrined in his heart”[5]. His next marriage to Jane Digby was disastrous. Having made her debut at the tender age of 16 in 1823, Jane Digby was considered the sensation of society. Described as the “most divinely beautiful creature… ever beheld”[6], Ellenborough wasted no time in requesting her hand and in 1824 they were married. However, Digby soon began to complain that her husband, nearly twice her age, “showed too little indulgence” to her. She amused herself by attending parties with “the most notorious and profligate women in London”[7] and soon entangled herself in an affair with Prince Felix Schwarzenberg, an ambassador of the Austrian Embassy. She fled to Paris with him in August of 1929 and Law began divorce proceedings almost immediately. Although their divorce was granted, it greatly tarnished his reputation and revealed that he was one of the most unpopular mean in England.

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[1] Further information on the British East India Company can be found in this text : //The History of British India//, by James Mill, 1848. [2] Details of the life, besides career, of Edward Law are featured in this text : //Lord Ellenborough: A Biography of Edward Law, Earl of Ellenborough, Governor-General of India//, by Albert Henry Imlah, 1939. [3] Details of the life of Lady Jane Digby are featured in this text: //A Scandalous Life: The Biography of Jane Digby//, by Mary S. Lovell, 1998. [4] More information on the Marriage Act of 1754, as reformed by Lord Hardwicke, can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_Act_1753 and [|http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk] [5] //Lord Ellenborough: A Biography of Edward Law, Earl of Ellenborough, Governor-General of India//, by Albert Henry Imlah, 1939. [6] Said by Count Walewski, a Polish-French diplomat. [7] Said by Creevey, a notable gossip-monger of the period.