Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a
British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist. Although born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. Starting as a clerk, he eventually rose up to the rank of
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
settlement in
Fort St George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
,
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
. He later lost that position under charges of corruption for self-dealing and had to pay a fine. In 1699, he returned to Britain with a considerable fortune, around £200,000, mostly made by selling diamonds, and spent his time and wealth toward philanthropy and art collecting.
He is best remembered as the primary benefactor of
Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
(now
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
), which was named in his honor, following a sizable donation of books, portrait and textiles under the request of Rev.
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting H ...
, a
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
graduate. No direct descendants of his has survived to this day.
Early life
Born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, to David Yale (1613–1690), a wealthy Boston merchant and attorney to
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, and Ursula Knight; he was the grandson of Ann Yale (born Lloyd), daughter of Bishop
George Lloyd, who, after the death of her first husband, Thomas Yale, Sr, (1587–1619), married Governor
Theophilus Eaton (1590–1658). Governor Eaton was the co-founder of two of the
Thirteen British Colonies, who are represented on the
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the c ...
, mainly through the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as th ...
and the
New Haven Colony, and was the brother of
Nathaniel Eaton
Nathaniel Eaton (17 September 1609 − 11 May 1674) was the first Headmaster of Harvard, President designate, and builder of Harvard's first College, Yard, and Library, in 1636.
Nathaniel was also the uncle of Samuel Eaton (one of the seven foun ...
,
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
's first
Headmaster and
President designate, at the founding of Harvard in 1636. His son, Samuel Eaton, the uncle of Elihu, was implied in the foundation of Harvard as well, being one of the seven founders of the
Harvard Corporation, the governing board and charter that
incorporated Harvard in 1650. It was they, along with Elihu's uncle and aunt, Thomas Yale, Jr, and Anne Yale, Jr, who brought the reconstituted Eaton/
Yale family to America, while other members of the family stayed in England.
Elihu 's father, David Yale, would later come from London to
New Haven Colony with his stepfather,
Theophilus Eaton, in 1639. He moved to Boston in 1641 and met & married Elihu Yale's mother, Ursula, in 1643. In 1652 at the age of three, Elihu Yale left
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, never to return, as David Yale took his family back to London. While scarce, a letter suggests that David Yale remained a successful merchant and settled his family in the Hanseatic merchant district "
Steelyard
The Steelyard, from the Middle Low German (sample yard), was the main trading base () of the Hanseatic League in London during the 15th and 16th centuries.
Location
The Steelyard was located on the north bank of the Thames by the outflow o ...
Court". In 1662 at the age of thirteen, Elihu Yale entered the private school of
William Dugard
William Dugard, or Du Gard (9 January 1606 – 3 December 1662), was an English schoolmaster and printer. During the English Interregnum, he printed many important documents and propaganda, first in support of Charles I and later of Oliver Cromwe ...
, but Dugard died a few months after Elihu Yale enrolled. Elihu Yale likely lived through the
Great Plague of London, though no one in his family died; and the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...
.
East India Company
In 1670, at the age of 21, Elihu Yale became a clerk for the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
and served an apprenticeship in London in the Leadenhall Street office. It is possible that Elihu Yale had business training in his father's merchant
counting house
A counting house, or counting room, was traditionally an office in which the financial books of a business were kept. It was also the place that the business received appointments and correspondence relating to demands for payment.
As the use of ...
, and his father's connections helped him get the job. The following year in 1671, Yale was one of twenty men chosen as "Writers" in India. Elihu Yale was
bonded for £500 with the help of his father and his brother David.
For 20 years Yale served the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
. In 1684, he became the first president of
Fort St George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
, the company's post at
Madras (now Chennai),
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. He succeeded a number of agents from
Andrew Cogan to
William Gyfford. Yale was instrumental in the development of the
Government General Hospital
Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital is a major state-owned hospital situated in Chennai, India. The hospital is funded and managed by the state government of Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1664 by the British East India Company, it is the first moder ...
, housed at
Fort St George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
.
Yale amassed a fortune while working for the company, largely through secret contracts with Madras merchants, against the East India Company's directive. By 1692, his repeated flouting of East India Company regulations and growing embarrassment at his illegal
profiteering resulted in his being relieved of the post of governor.
Tenure as President of Madras
Elihu Yale was re-appointed as president of the administration of
Fort St George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
on 26 July 1687. He then implemented an order dated 14 January 1685 which required the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
at Fort St George to make all attempts at procurement of the town of
Santhome on lease. To this effect, Chinna Venkatadri was sent to negotiate with the local governor on 4 August 1687. The mission was successful and Venkatadri assumed sovereignty over Santhome for a period of three years. Notwithstanding the vehement protests of the
Portuguese inhabitants of Santhome, the English gained absolute control over all lands up to
St Thomas Mount
Parangimalai (known in English as St. Thomas Mount) is a small hillock in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, near the neighbourhood of Guindy and very close to Chennai International Airport.
The ancient Syrian Christian community of India trace t ...
for a period of three years.
In September 1688, the
Mughal Emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...
Aurangazeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
took
Golconda
Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparu ...
after a prolonged battle. The Mughals took the Sultan of Golconda prisoner and annexed the state. The newly designated Mughal
Subedar
Subedar is a rank of junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army; a senior non-commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army, and formerly a Viceroy's commissioned officer in the British Indian Army.
History
''Subedar'' or ''subadar'' was t ...
of the province immediately sent a letter to the British authorities at Fort St George demanding that the English at
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
acknowledge the overlordship of the Mughal Emperor. The English complied willingly. Aurangazeb guaranteed the independence of Madras, but in return demanded that the English supply troops in the event of a war against the
Marathas. It was around this time that Yale's three-year-old son David Yale died and was interred in the Madras cemetery.
The records of this period mention a flourishing
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
in Madras. After English merchants began to kidnap young children and deport them to distant parts of the world, the administration of Fort St George stepped in and introduced laws to curb the practice. On 2 February 1688, Elihu Yale decreed that slaves should be examined by the judges of the
choultry before being transported. Transportation of young children, in particular, was made unlawful. Beyond this, the nature of Yale's involvement in the slave trade remains disputed. A blog post by a
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
history
Ph.D. candidate and manager of the Yale Slavery and Abolition Portal notes that he permitted a law that at least ten slaves should be carried on every ship bound for Europe and in his capacity as judge he also on several occasions sentenced so-called "black criminals" to
whipping and enslavement.
On the other hand, according to
Steven Pincus
Steven Pincus is the Thomas E. Donnelly Professor of British History at the University of Chicago, where he specializes in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British and European history.
Education and career
In 1990, Pincus received a PhD in ...
, a former Yale professor of history and current professor at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, Yale was never a slave trader and never owned slaves – and in fact opposed the slave trade during his time as
President of Madras.
During Yale's presidency, a plan for setting up a corporation in Madras was conceived by
Josiah Child, the Governor of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
, in a letter addressed to the
factors at Madras on 28 September 1687. Three months later, Child and his deputy had an audience with
King James II, and as per the ensuing discussions, a
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the re ...
was issued by the King on 30 December 1687 which established the
Corporation of Madras. The charter came into effect on 29 September 1688, and a Corporation was established comprising a
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
, 12
Aldermen
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members the ...
, 60-100
Burgesses and sergeants.
Nathaniel Higginson, who was then the second member of the Council of Fort St George, took office as the Mayor of Madras.
In August 1689, a French fleet appeared near the coast of
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
compelling the Governor of
Pulicat
Pulicat or Pazhaverkadu is a historic seashore town in Chennai Metropolitan Area at Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is about north of Chennai and from Elavur, on the southern periphery of the Pulicat Lake. Pulicat lake i ...
Lawrence Pitt who was on high seas to seek protection within the
bastions
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...
of Fort St George. Throughout the year 1690, French naval ships from
Pondicherry ravaged the coast in order to drive the English and the Dutch out of the East Indies but were unsuccessful. They eventually withdrew from their enterprise when faced with heavy losses. It was also during this time that the English purchased the town of Tegnapatnam from the Marathas.
Scandal
After
Jacques de Paiva's
death in 1687, Elihu Yale fell in love with his widow
Hieronima de Paiva and brought her to live with him, causing quite a scandal within Madras’s colonial society. Elihu Yale and Hieromima de Paiva had a son. The son died in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
.
Accusations of corruption and removal
As president of Fort St George, Yale purchased territory for private purposes with East India Company funds, including a
fort at Devanampattinam (now
Cuddalore
Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is the city and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important port during the British Raj.
While the early history of Cudd ...
). Yale imposed high taxes for the maintenance of the colonial
garrison
A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mili ...
and town, resulting in an unpopular regime and several revolts by Indians, brutally quelled by garrison soldiers. Yale was also notorious for arresting and trying Indians on his own private authority, including the hanging of a stable boy who had absconded with a Company horse.
Charges of corruption were brought against Elihu Yale in the last years of his presidency. He was eventually removed in 1692 and replaced with
Nathaniel Higginson as the
President of Madras.
Return to Britain
Yale returned to Britain in 1699, with a fortune that amounted to £200,000, mostly made by selling
diamonds
Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...
from the
Golconda mines and the
Kollur mines, in Southern India.
Along with
Jean Chardin
Jean Chardin (16 November 1643 – 5 January 1713), born Jean-Baptiste Chardin, and also known as Sir John Chardin, was a French jeweller and traveller whose ten-volume book ''The Travels of Sir John Chardin'' is regarded as one of the finest ...
and
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, the traveling merchant of
Louis XIV
Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
, he was among the most important European diamond traders in the world, as nearly all diamonds came from India during that period. In relation to
GDP, his fortune amounted to 1/4 % of the United Kingdom's GDP at the time, which translates to nearly 6 billion British pounds in 2021 money. He kept doing business with his friends Governor
Thomas Pitt and Sir
Charles Cotterell, during the era where London became the international trading centre of diamonds, dislodging Portugal and the Netherlands.
He spent the rest of his life at Plas Grono on the
Erddig
Erddig Hall ( cy, Neuadd Erddig; or simply Erddig; ) is a Grade-I listed National Trust property in Wrexham, Wales. Standing south of Wrexham city centre, it comprises a country house built during the 17th and 18th centuries amidst a 1,900 ...
estate, a mansion in
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
bought by his father, and at his main London residence in
Queen's Square. He had four houses in London as well as several coach houses and stables to store his vast art collection of more than 10,000 items consisting of paintings, jewels, pictures, books, watches, swords, and other items. A famous object of his collection was one of the
Jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots as well as a painting from Dutch painter
Adriaen van der Werff
Adriaen van der Werff (21 January 1659 – 12 November 1722) was a Dutch painter of portraits and erotic, devotional and mythological scenes. His brother, Pieter van der Werff (1661–1722), was his principal pupil and assistant.
Life
At the a ...
. He also leased
Latimer House from his son-in-law, Lord
James Cavendish, son of the
1st Duke of Devonshire
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, (25 January 164018 August 1707) was an English soldier, nobleman, and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1684 when he inherited his father's peerage as Earl of Devonshire. ...
, to accommodate his daughter Ursula.
Elihu was later elected
High Sheriff of Denbighshire in Wales, and became a Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in 1717. Around 1719, he was a subject in the painting
Elihu Yale with Members of his Family and an Enslaved Child.
Marriage and children
Elihu Yale married Catherine Hynmers in 1680, widow of Joseph Hynmers, second-in-command of Fort St. George, India, Fort St George, India as Deputy Governor for the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
. The wedding took place at St. Mary's Church, Chennai, St Mary's Church, at Fort St George, where Yale was a vestryman and treasurer. The marriage was the first registered at the church.
They had 4 children together.
David Yale (died 1687) died young.
Katherine Yale (died 1715) married Dudley North (politician, born 1684), Dudley North of Glemham Hall, son of Dudley North (economist), Sir Dudley North of Camden Place, and Anne Cann, daughter of Sir Robert Cann, 1st Baronet of Compton Greenfield, Gloucestershire. He was a cousin of Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford of Wroxton Abbey and a grandson of Anne Montagu of Boughton House, member of the House of Montagu. Their daughter Anne North would marry Nicholas Herbert (politician, died 1775), Nicholas Herbert, member of the Herbert family, House of Herbert, son of the Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, 8th Earl of Pembroke, Thomas Herbert of Wilton House and his first wife, Margaret Sawyer of Highclere Castle while one of their sons, William Dudley North, would marry Lady Barbara Herbert, daughter of Thomas and his second wife, Barbara Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. Nicholas's only daughter, Barbara, would marry the Edward Stratford, 2nd Earl of Aldborough, 2nd Earl of Aldborough, Edward Stratford, member of the House of Stratford.
['Memoirs of the North and Long families, ''Gentleman’s Magazine'' Vol 145 p207]
/ref>
Anne Yale (died 1734), married Lord James Cavendish (MP for Derby), Lord James Cavendish of Staveley Hall, member of the House of Cavendish, son of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire of Chatsworth House and Lady Mary Butler, member of the Butler dynasty, House of Butler and daughter of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde of Kilkenny Castle. James was also a grandson of Elizabeth Cavendish, Countess of Devonshire, Countess Elizabeth Cecil of Hatfield House, member of the Marquess of Salisbury, Salisbury's House of Cecil, a great-grandson of Catherine Cecil, Countess of Salisbury, Countess Catherine Howard of Audley End House, member of the House of Howard, and a nephew of John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter of Burghley House, member of the Marquess of Exeter, Exeter's House of Cecil.
Ursula Yale (died 1721), died childless at Latimer House, the house was rented by Elihu Yale from his son-in-law Lord James Cavendish (MP for Derby), Lord James Cavendish, husband of Anne Yale, and is buried in the small church on the estate, St Mary Magdalene.
Death
Yale died on 8 July 1721 in London. His body was buried in the churchyard of the parish church of St Giles' Church, Wrexham, Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. His tomb is inscribed with these lines:
In Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, a tablet to Yale was erected in 1927 at Scollay Square, near the site of Yale's birth. Yale president Arthur Twining Hadley penned the inscription, which reads: "On Pemberton Hill, 255 Feet North of This Spot, Was Born on April Fifth 1649 Elihu Yale, Governor of Madras, Whose Permanent Memorial in His Native Land is the College That Bears His Name."
Yale University
In 1718, Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting H ...
contacted Yale and asked for his help. Mather represented a small institution of learning that had been founded in 1701 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, as the Collegiate School of Connecticut, which needed money for a new building. Yale sent Mather 417 books, a portrait of George I of Great Britain, King George I, and nine bales of goods. These last were sold by the school for £800. In gratitude, officials named the new building Yale; eventually the entire institution became Yale University, Yale College.
Yale was also a vestryman and treasurer of St Mary's Church at Fort St. George, India, Fort St George. On 6 October 1968, the 250th anniversary of the naming of Yale College for Elihu Yale, the classmates of Chester Bowles, then the American ambassador to India and a graduate of Yale (1924), donated money for lasting improvements to the church and erected a plaque to commemorate the occasion. In 1970, a portrait of him, ''Elihu Yale seated at table with the Second Duke of Devonshire and Lord James Cavendish'' was donated to the Yale Center for British Art from Chatsworth House.
On 5 April 1999, Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
recognised the 350th anniversary of Yale's birthday.[ An article that year in ''American Heritage (magazine), American Heritage'' magazine rated Elihu Yale the "most overrated Philanthropy, philanthropist" in American history, arguing that the college that became Yale University was successful largely because of the generosity of a man named Jeremiah Dummer, but that the trustees of the school did not want it known by the name "Dummer College".
In her article for ''The Atlantic'' about Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale University, Alexandra Robbins alleges that Yale's headstone was stolen years ago from its proper setting in ]Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
. She further alleges that the tombstone is now displayed in a glass case in a room with purple walls.
Slave Trade
One of Elihu Yale's responsibilities as president of Fort St George was overseeing its slave trade, though he was never a slave trader, never owned slaves, opposed the slave trade, and imposed several restrictions on it during his tenure. Dave Collins argues that there is no evidence for Yale ever having enslaved anyone himself but adds that relatives in New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven likely did.
Nonetheless, critics argue that he benefited from the trade by having it as one of his responsibilities as President, despite not owning any of the enslaved people or profiting from their sales. Elizabeth Kuebler-Wolf in the ''Journal of Global History'' argues that Yale enslaved at least one person (maybe two) as a household slave, as indicated by Hiram Bingham's book ''Elihu Yale''. In a 2020 piece for the ''New Haven Independent'', Sean O'Brien notes that some Fort St George archival material indicates that Yale punished Indians with enslavement.
Ancestry
The ancestry of the Yale family can be traced back from Thomas Yale, Chancellor Thomas Yale, born 1525, to many Royal and Noble houses of Britain as descendants of the House of Mathrafal, Royal House of Mathrafal, the House of Aberffraw, Royal House of Aberffraw, the House of Plantagenet, Royal House of Plantagenet, the Powys Fadog, Princely House of Powys Fadog, the Tudors of Penmynydd and many others. For the House of Mathrafal, and Powys Fadog, it was through Tudur ap Gruffudd, Lord of Bryn Saith Marchog, Gwyddelwern and brother of the last native Prince of Wales, Owain Glyndŵr, while for the House of Aberffraw, and the Tudors of Penmynydd, it was through Tudors of Penmynydd#Lineage, Elen Ferch Tomos, the mother of Owain. From these families they inherited Lordships and estates, such as Plas yn Iâl (Yale).
The Coat of arms of the Yales came originally in the family from Osborn Fitzgerald, Lord of Ynys-m-Maengwyn and Corsygedol, of which they were the direct descendants, and was used to create the coat of arms of Yale College
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
. Osborn Fitzgerald was a member of the House of Fitzgerald through the Earl of Desmond, Earls of Desmond. He made the trip from Ireland to Wales during the thirteenth century with Gruffydd ab Ednyved Vychan, son of Seneschal Ednyfed Fychan, and was granted Lordships by the Prince of North Wales, Llywelyn the Great. He was the progenitor of many houses in Wales, including the House of Yale, co-representative of the Sovereign Dynasties of Powys, North Wales, and South Wales. The House of Yale is, on the paternal side, a cadet branch of the Royal House of Mathrafal, through the Princes of Powys Fadog, and a cadet branch of the Fitzgerald dynasty, Fitzgerald Dynasty, through the Merioneth House of Corsygedol.
The family estate at Plas yn Iâl ("Iâl" is anglicised as "Ial, Yale"), North Wales, of which the family took the name, was inherited from Baron House of Mathrafal#Members, Elissau ab Gruffydd, a member of the Royal House of Mathrafal and descendant of the Royal House of Plantagenet, when he married Margaret, the heiress of Plas yn Yale, in the Lordship of Bromfield and Yale. Her ancestor, Baron Mostyn, Lord Mostyn, was granted the estate by the Prince of Wales, Owain Gwynedd, for his services at the Battle of Crogen in 1165. Elissau ab Gruffydd was the grandfather of Thomas Yale, Chancellor Thomas Yale, who was the first to adopt definitively the Yale (surname), Yale surname, and had, as his ancestor, Prince Gruffudd Fychan I, the Ial, Lord of Yale. The estate was originally called Allt Llwyn Dragon, which means Dragon's Grove Hill.
Cultural references
*''Elihu (secret society), Elihu'' later became the name of a "secret society, senior society" founded in 1903 at Yale.
*Tom Wolfe, who earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale, named the African-American Atlanta police chief in ''A Man in Full'' Elihu Yale.
*Yale College, Wrexham, Yale College, a former college in Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
, Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, which has since merged with Coleg Cambria, was also named after Elihu Yale.
*Theodore Roosevelt's son Quentin Roosevelt, Quentin kept a hyacinth macaw named Eli Yale.
Notes
References
* Bingham, Hiram (1939). ''Elihu Yale: The American Nabob of Queen Square''. New York, NY: Dodd, Mead & Company.
* Scarisbrick, Diana and Zucker, Benjamin (2014). ''Elihu Yale: Merchant, Collector & Patron''. London. Thames & Hudson Ltd. .
* Yale, Rodney Horace (1908). ''Yale Genealogy and History of Wales''. Beatrice, Nebraska, U.S.A. Milburn & Scott Company. Listed i
Worldcat
and archived at the iarchive:yalegenealogyhis00byuyale/page/n13/mode/2up, Internet Archive.
External links
*
*Elihu Yale collection (MS 566). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yale, Elihu
1649 births
1721 deaths
People from Wrexham
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