ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART In dian statesman and historian, fourth son of the 11th Baron Elphin stone in the peerage of Scotland, was born in 1779. Having re ceived an appointment in the civil service of the East India Company, of which one of his uncles was a director, he reached Calcutta in the beginning of 1796. He was appointed in 18o1 assistant to the British resident at Poona, at the court of the peshwa, the most powerful of the Mahratta princes. Here he obtained his first opportunity of distinction, being attached in the capacity of diplomatist to the mission of Sir Arthur Wellesley to the Mahrattas. When, on the failure of negotiations, war broke out, Elphinstone, though a civilian, acted as virtual aide-de-camp to General Wellesley and was present at the battle of Assaye. In 1804, when the war closed, he was appointed British resident at Nagpur. In 1808 he was appointed the first British envoy to the court of Kabul, with the object of securing a friendly alliance with the Afghans; but this proved of little value, because Shah Shuja was driven from the throne by his brother before it could be ratified. Elphinstone was appointed in 1810 to the difficult post of resident at Poona. The difficulty arose from the general complication of Mahratta politics, and especially from the weak and treacherous character of the peshwa. While the mask of friendship was kept up Elphinstone carried out a policy of vigilant quiescence with admirable tact and patience; in 1817 the mask was thrown aside and the peshwa ventured to declare war. The suc cess of the British troops was chiefly owing to his assuming the command at an important crisis during the battle of Kirkee.
The peshwa being driven from his throne, his territories were annexed to the British dominions, and Elphinstone was nomi nated commissioner to administer them. He discharged the re sponsible task with rare judgment and ability. In 1819 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Bombay and held this post till 1827, his principal achievement being the compilation of the "Elphinstone code." He may fairly be regarded as the founder of the system of State education in India, and he did much towards the promotion of native education. His connection with the Born bay presidency was commemorated in the endowment of the Elphinstone college by the native communities, and in the erec tion of a marble statue by the European inhabitants.
Returning to England in 1829, after an interval of two years' travel, Elphinstone retained in his retirement an important influ ence on public affairs. He twice refused the offer of the governor generalship of India. He wrote Account of the Kingdom of Cabul and its Dependencies in Persia and India (1815). His history of India (1841), embraces the Hindu and Mohammedan periods, and is still a work of high authority. He also published The Rise of British Power in the East (1858). He died on Nov. 20, 1859.
See J. S. Cotton, Mountstuart Elphinstone ("Rulers of India" series) (1892) ; T. E. Colebrooke, Life of Mountstuart Elphinstone (1884) ; and G. W. Forrest, Official Writings of Mountstuart Elphin stone (1884) .