Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier and 1st Baron Ettrick, (15 September 1819 – 19 December 1898) was a Scottish

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...

and colonial

administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

. He served as the British Minister to the United States from 1857 to 1859,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

from 1859 to 1860,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

from 1861 to 1864,

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

from 1864 to 1866 and as the

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...

from 1866 to 1872. He also acted as the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

from February to May 1872. Francis Napier was born on 15 September 1819 to

William Napier, 9th Lord Napier William John Napier, 9th Lord Napier, Baron Napier () FRSE (13 October 1786 – 11 October 1834) was a British Royal Navy officer and trade envoy in China. Early life Napier was born in Kinsale, Ireland, on 13 October 1786.Laughton, J. K.. "N ...

and had his early education through private tutors. He joined the

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

in 1835 but did not complete his graduation. Instead, he mastered foreign languages and served as a diplomat in foreign missions. In 1866, he was appointed Governor of Madras and served from 1866 to 1872. On the assassination of the Earl of Mayo, the then Viceroy of India in February 1872, Napier was appointed to act temporarily as the Viceroy of India and served from February to May 1872. Napier returned to the United Kingdom in July 1872 and in his later life, chaired the

Napier Commission The Napier Commission, officially the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands was a royal commission and public inquiry into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and I ...

. Napier died at

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on 18 December 1898 at the age of 79. Napier was made a

Knight of the Thistle A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in 1864. In 1872, he was created Baron Ettrick in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in recognition of his services in India.

Early life and education

Francis Napier was born on 15 September 1819 to William John Napier, the 9th Lord Napier of Merchistoun and his wife, Elizabeth Cochrane-Johnstone at

Thirlestane Castle Thirlestane Castle is a castle set in extensive parklands near Lauder in the Borders of Scotland. The site is aptly named Castle Hill, as it stands upon raised ground. However, the raised land is within Lauderdale, the valley of the Leader Wate ...

Selkirkshire Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk ( gd, Siorrachd Shalcraig) is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south. ...

. He was the eldest son of the couple. Napier had his early education in private and was schooled at

Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernest ...

. He joined

in 1835 but did not complete his graduation. However, he acquired a knowledge of a few foreign languages under the tutorship of one Rev. Walter Patterson. Napier became the 10th Lord Merchistoun on the death of his father William John Napier on 11 October 1834.

Diplomatic career

Due to his fluency in multiple languages, Napier's lack of educational qualifications was overlooked and he entered the diplomatic service in 1840. He was appointed to the British embassy at Vienna and later, Constantinople, where he served as an

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

. In 1848, Napier was appointed Secretary of the British delegation at

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

. He served as the Acting Ambassador for a period of eighteen months in Naples, when Italy was embroiled in the Sicilian insurrection. After his experience in Naples, he found time to publish a book assessing contemporary painters in Naples. An aristocratic haughtiness regarding the local populace infuses his writing, dismissing the skills of more than one artist, and in reactionary fashion, the revolutionary instincts of the masses. In the preface, he writes: Napier's handling of affairs as acting ambassador in Naples impressed the then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Palmerston. He was posted to the British embassy at St Petersburg, where he became a close confidante of Tsar Alexander II. After serving short, satisfactory terms at the British embassies at

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and Constantinople, Napier was appointed envoy extraordinaire and minister plenipotentiary to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and served from 1857 to 1859. Napier's tenure in Washington was soon mired in controversy. The abolitionist

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...

and elements of the Northern press accused the British minister of being a pro-slavery partisan. More damaging still in the eyes of the British government was the claim that he had taken upon himself to declare in conversations that Britain recognized the

Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile act ...

, when all the British governments till then had repudiated it. Critics at the Foreign Office accused him of "giving up everything the United States can wish for, even before they ask it", which for them explained Napier's immense popularity with Washington's influential residents. He was recalled and given the less sensitive post of minister to the Netherlands. Napier served there from 1859 to 1861 and in Prussia from 1864 to 1866. He was then appointed Governor of Madras in 1866 and served from 27 March 1866 to 19 February 1872.

Governor of Madras

As soon as Napier took office as the Governor of Madras, he was faced with a severe famine in Ganjam District. He took the services of

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...

whom he had known in Constantinople. Napier undertook many major irrigation schemes during his tenure. The Pennar Dam was completed during his tenure and two other irrigation works, the Rushikulya Dam in Ganjam and the

Mullaperiyar Dam Mullaperiyar Dam , is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala It is located above the sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala, India. It was constructed b ...

were conceived during his tenure. Despite being at odds with different viceroys over financial issues throughout his tenure, Napier was able to resolve disputes in an amicable manner due to the friendly relations he had with

Sir John Lawrence John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence, (4 March 1811 – 27 June 1879), known as Sir John Lawrence, Bt., between 1858 and 1869, was an English-born Ulsterman who became a prominent British Imperial statesman who served as Viceroy ...

and well as his successor, Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo. When the Earl of Mayo was assassinated in the Andamans on 8 February 1872, Napier was designated to act as the Viceroy of India and he served for a short time before being relieved by Lord Northbrook. For his creditable performance as Governor of Madras, Napier was created Baron Ettrick of Ettrick in the peerage of the United Kingdom. In 1869, Napier constructed the

Napier Bridge Napier Bridge is a bridge in Chennai, India, built over the Coovum River, connecting Fort St. George with the Marina beach. It is also one of the historic structures and landmark of the city. History One of the city's oldest bridges, it wa ...

across the

Coovum River The Cooum river, or simply Koovam, is one of the shortest classified rivers draining into the Bay of Bengal. This river is about in length, flowing in the city of Chennai (urban part) and the rest in rural part. The river is highly pollute ...

Chennai 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 ...

. The

Napier Park Napier Park is a suburb of Luton, in the south of the town, in the Luton district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is roughly bounded by Harrowden Road to the north, the Midland Main Line to the south, Luton Airport to the ea ...

in Chennai and the Napier Museum in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its List of renamed Indian cities and states, former name Trivandrum (), is the Capital city, capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as ...

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...

were set up in his memory. Between 1866 and 1872, he had partially restored the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal as well, which was earlier demolished considerably by Grandson of King Thirumalai Nayak. In addition there is a surgical ward in Stanley Medical College Hospital in Chennai, named in his honor. The ward was originally built with the help of donations by the Governor Napier.

Later life and death

At the end of his term as acting Viceroy of India, Napier returned to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and acted as the President of the Social Science Association during its meetings at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

in October 1874. During this time, Napier also served in the

London School Board The School Board for London, commonly known as the London School Board (LSB), was an institution of local government and the first directly elected body covering the whole of London. The Elementary Education Act 1870 was the first to provide for ...

. Lord Napier continued, both in England and in Scotland, to take great interest in social questions. He was the chairman of the

(the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands) which was appointed in 1883 and reported in 1884. Napier died in

on 19 December 1898 at the age of 79.

Honours

Napier was appointed to

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

in 1861 and made a

in 1864.

Family

Napier married Anne Jane Charlotte (1824–1911) on 2 September 1845. The couple had four sons. *

William Napier, 11th Lord Napier William John George Napier, 11th Lord Napier, 2nd Baron Ettrick (1846–1913) was a British peer. Family William John George Napier was the son of Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier and Anne Jane Charlotte Lockwood, daughter of Robert Manners Lockw ...

(1846–1913) * John Scott (1848–1928) * R. N. Basil (1850–1874) * Mark Francis (1852–1919)

Portrait

''The New York Times'' gives a short physical description of Napier on his appointment as Viceroy of India.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Francis Napier, 10th Lord 1819 births 1898 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...

Diplomatic peers Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Russia Knights of the Thistle Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Prussia Governors of Madras Members of the London School Board Lords Napier Eldest sons of British hereditary barons Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria