James Rivett-Carnac

Sir James Rivett-Carnac, 1st Baronet (11 November 1784 – 28 January 1846) was an Indian-born British statesman and politician who served as Governor of the Bombay Presidency in British India from 1838 to 1841.

For the Royal Navy officer, see James Rivett-Carnac (Royal Navy officer).

James Rivett Carnac by Francis Leggatt Chantrey (1839)

Career

Born in Bombay in 1784,[1] Carnac began nearly three decades of service with the East India Company in India in 1801[2] and was a director of the Company for various periods between 1827 and 1838.[3][4][5] He succeeded Robert Grant as Governor of the Bombay Presidency in 1838, serving for three years in that role.[6]

He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Sandwich from 1837 to 1839 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 1838.[7]

Personal life

Born James Rivett, his surname was legally changed to Rivett-Carnac by royal licence in 1801 when his father James, a member of the Bombay Government Council and chairman of the East India Company, was made testamentary by his brother-in-law, General John Carnac, the husband of Elizabeth Rivett (1751–1780).[8]

In 1815 he married Anna-Maria Richardes, the eldest daughter of William Richardes of Penglais,[9] and had three sons: John (1818–1893), William (1822–1874) and Charles (1824–1902). His descendants include the sailor Charles Rivett-Carnac and the Canadian police commissioner Charles Rivett-Carnac, as well as the colonial administrator Sir Richard Temple and his son Sir Richard Carnac Temple and the fashion designer Lulu Guinness.

In 1836 Rivett-Carnac was made a baronet.[10] He died on 28 January 1846 at what was Rookcliff House, Milford-on-Sea.[7]

His younger brother, Admiral John Rivett-Carnac (1796–1869), was an early explorer of Western Australia.

References
  1. Terence R. Blackburn, Justice for the Raja of Sattara? (APH Publishing, 2007) p. 139
  2. The Wellesley Papers: The Life and Correspondence of Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley, 1760-1842 vol 2 (H. Jenkins, 1914) p. 316
  3. C.H. & D. Philips, 'Alphabetical List of Directors of the East India Company from 1758 to 1858', in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society October 1941
  4. Charles Campbell Prinsep, Record of Services of the Honourable East India Company's Civil Servants in the Madras Presidency, from 1741 to 1858 (1885) p. xxii
  5. Wintle, Claire (2013). Colonial Collecting and Display: Encounters with Material Culture from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Berghahn Books. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-85745-942-8.
  6. Kulkarni, Sumitra (1995). The Satara Raj, 1818-1848: A Study in History, Administration, and Culture. Mittal Publications. p. 27. ISBN 978-8-17099-581-4.
  7. "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  8. "Obituary: Sir Miles Rivett-Carnac, Bt". The Daily Telegraph. 6 October 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  9. Member of the, Middle Temple. The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer. p. 49.
  10. "No. 19359". The London Gazette. 23 February 1836. p. 358.
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