Gilbert John
Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto KG, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC (London
9 July 1845
– 1 March 1914 Minto, Roxburghshire
), styled Viscount Melgund between
1859 and 1891, was a British
politician, Governor General of Canada, and
Viceroy of India.
Early life and career
Minto was
born in London, the son of
William
Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 3rd Earl of Minto, and Emma, daughter
of General Sir Thomas Hislop, 1st Baronet. After completing his
education at Eton
College
and Trinity College, Cambridge
, he was commissioned Lieutenant in the Scots
Guards in 1867, but left in 1870. He joined the 1st
Roxburghshire Mounted Rifle Volunteer Corps as a
Captain in 1872.
In 1874, in the
capacity of a newspaper correspondent, he witnessed the operations
of the Carlists in Spain
; he took
service with the Turkish
army in the
war with Russia
in 1877 and
served under Lord Roberts in the second Afghan War (1878 – 1879),
having narrowly escaped accompanying Sir Louis Cavagnari on his fatal mission to
Kabul.
He acted
as private secretary to Lord Roberts during his
mission to the Cape
in 1881, and
was with the army occupying Egypt
in 1882,
thus furthering his military career and his experience of colonial
administration. He was promoted
Major
in 1882.
He was military secretary to
Lord Lansdowne during Lansdowne's governor-generalship of
Canada
from 1883 to 1885, and lived in Canada with his
wife, Mary Caroline Grey, sister of Lord Grey, Governor General from
1904 to 1911, whom he had married in Britain on 28 July 1883.
On this
first Canadian visit, he was very active in raising a Canadian
volunteer force to serve with the British Army in the Sudan
Campaign of
1884. He served as Chief of Staff to General Middleton in
the
Riel Rebellion of 1885.
When he
was offered command of the North-West Mounted Police
, he decided instead to pursue a political career in
Britain. On his departure home to Britain, Canadian Prime
Minister
Sir John A. Macdonald apparently said to him, "I shall
not live to see it, but some day Canada will welcome you back as
Governor General".
His political aspirations were checked with his defeat in the 1886
general election. He then applied himself with great enthusiasm to
promoting a volunteer army in Britain. In 1888 he was promoted
Colonel on assuming command of the South of
Scotland Brigade. He resigned his commission in 1889.
Governor General of Canada
Having succeeded to the
earldom in 1891,
Macdonald's prediction came true when Lord Minto was named Governor
General of Canada in the summer of 1898.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier wrote that Lord Minto
"took his duties to heart" and a review of his life reveals an
energetic man who welcomed many challenges and
responsibilities.
Lord Minto's term of office was marked by a period of strong
nationalism which saw economic growth coupled with massive
immigration to Canada.
Relations with the United States
were strained as border and fishing disputes
continued to create problems between the two
countries.
In
September 1901, after Queen Victoria's death in
January, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later to become
King George V and
Queen Mary) visited Canada, and
travelled with Lady Minto to western Canada and the Klondike
. On 6 December 1901, Lord Minto held a
skating party on the
Ottawa River, when
Andrew George Blair's daughter
Bessie, and potential rescuer
Henry
Albert Harper both drowned.
Lord
Minto, like his predecessors, travelled throughout the young
country — he crossed Quebec
, Ontario
and western Canada,
visiting former battlegrounds where he had served during the
North-West Rebellion.
He rode
throughout western Canada with the North-West
Mounted Police, and enjoyed the Quebec countryside on
horseback.
Lord
Minto's convictions about the importance of preserving Canadian
heritage led to the creation of the National
Archives of Canada
.
The Earl of Minto as Governor General
of Canada.
Lord and Lady Minto were sports enthusiasts and the
Minto Skating Club, which they founded in
1903, has produced many famous
ice
skaters.
They both excelled at the sport and hosted
many lively skating parties during their time at Rideau Hall
. In the summer, the Minto family loved to
bicycle and play
lacrosse. In 1901, Lord Minto donated the
Minto Cup and appointed trustees to oversee its
annual awarding to the champion senior men's
lacrosse team of Canada (since 1937 the Cup has
been awarded to the junior men's champions). He loved the outdoors,
championed the conservation of natural resources and promoted the
creation of national parks.
In education and health, Lord Minto encouraged a forward-looking
approach. He believed that Canada's progress depended on the
cultivation of patriotism and unity, and this conviction was
reflected in his desire to see a wider history curriculum developed
in Canadian schools. In response to the health crisis posed by
tuberculosis, he helped establish the
first anti-tuberculosis foundation in Canada.
Lord Minto also took great interest in the development of the
Canadian military and emphasized the need for training and
professional development. He was appointed honorary
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Governor General's Foot Guards Regiment
on 1 December 1898 and was subsequently appointed Honorary Colonel,
a tradition that has continued with the post of Governors General
to this day.
On his trip back to Britain in 1904, having finished his term as
Canada's Governor General, Lord Minto wrote in his journal "... so
our life in Canada is over and it has been a great wrench parting
from so many friends and leaving a country which I love, and which
has been very full of interest to me".
Viceroy of India
In 1905,
on the resignation of Lord
Curzon of Kedleston, Lord Minto was appointed Viceroy and
Governor-General of India
, retiring in
1910. In this, he followed in the footsteps of his
great-grandfather, the first
Lord Minto.
When
John
Morley as
Secretary of
State for India wrote to Minto arguing that "Reforms may not
save the
Raj, but if they don't, nothing else will", Minto
replied:
...when you say that "if reforms do not save the
Raj nothing else will" I am afraid I must utterly
disagree.
The Raj will not disappear in India as long as
the British race remains what it is, because we shall fight for the
Raj as hard as we have ever fought, if it comes to
fighting, and we shall win as we have always won.
For his lifetime of service, was made a
Knight of the Garter.
Legacy
Lord Melgund in 1885, as Middleton's
chief of staff
The Earl of Minto's popularity in Canada outlived him.
In addition to a
Minto Place in Rockcliffe, Ottawa and Minto Street in Vancouver and
the SS Minto, a famous steamer on
the Arrow
Lakes
, the gold-mining company town of Minto
City
in the Bridge River
Country, est. 1936, was named in honour of the Earl.
Also
named for the Earl was Mount Minto
in the Atlin District
of far northern British
Columbia
as well as the town of Minto, North
Dakota
in the United States. In addition, Minto, New
Brunswick
was renamed in memory of him. Minto Park in
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India, commemorates him. The school
from which
Aligarh Muslim
University evolved was named behind him as
Minto Circle after his generous funding for the
construction of the new school buildings.
Lady Minto Hospital, opened in 1916 in
Cochrane,
Ontario
, was named after his wife Mary Caroline
Grey.
Other places named for Lord or Lady Minto include:
- Minto Midtown Towers - condos at Eglinton and Yonge in
Toronto
- Minto Metropole luxury condominium tower in Ottawa
Lady Minto Hospital Fund help establish 43 Minto cottage hospitals
in remote parts of Canada:
- Lady Minto Hosptial in Cochrane, Ontario (1911)
- Lady Minto Hospital in Chapleau, Ontario (1914)
- Lady Minto Hospital in Salt Spring Island, BC
(1914)
Minto
Road, an area where most of the ministers of Bangladesh
government have their official residence, is named
after Lord Minto.
Notes
References
See also
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