Elphinstone, MOUNTSTUART, fourth son of the eleventh Lord Elphinstone, was born in 1779, entered the Bengal civil service in 1795, and was posted to Benares, where he laid the foundation of that love of literature which distinguished him through life. During the operations of 1803 he was attached to Wellesley's staff, and his conspicuous services earned from his general the compliment that he had 'mistaken his profession, and ought to have been a soldier,' from his superiors the appointment to the post of resident at Nagpur. In 1808 he was selected as envoy to Shah Shuja (see
AFGHANISTAN), of which the only fruit that remains is his Account of Caubul (2d ed. 1841); and in 1810 he became resident at Poona, where, in the Mahratra war of 1817, his military qualifications gained for him the honour of bringing the campaign to an end, and organising the newly-acquired territory. During his governorship of Bombay (1819-27) he founded the present system of administration, and greatly advanced public education. He returned to England in 1829, and declining the governor-generalship of India, lived in comparative retirement until his death, 20th November 1859. Elphinstone ranks next to Wellesley among those most instrumental in raising the fabric of British rule in India after the downfall of the Mahratra power. His well-known History of India appeared in 1841 (6th ed. 1874). See his Life (1884) by Sir E. Colebrooke, who also edited his Rise of British Power in the East (1887); and his Official Writings, with Memoir by Forrest (1884).