Earl of Edward Law Ellenborough

Born in 1790, he was educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge, and entered politics while still young. After sitting in the House of Commons, he moved to the House of Lords in 1818 on his father's death, building a reputation as a prominent Conservative voice.

He is best remembered for serving as governor-general of India from 1842 to 1844, a period marked by the aftermath of the First Anglo-Afghan War and by highly theatrical imperial politics. Before and after that post, he also held major offices in Britain, including president of the Board of Control, which oversaw the East India Company's political affairs.

His public life was energetic and often contentious, and historians tend to remember him as a gifted but divisive figure in nineteenth-century British politics. He died in 1871, leaving behind a career closely tied to the expansion and administration of the British Empire.