Life
Colvin's was an Anglo-Indian family of Scottish descent. He was the second son and fourth child of James Colvin (b. 1768), a merchant with Colvin, Bazett & Co. of London and Calcutta. He was educated at the East India Company College in Haileybury, then entered the service of the British East India Company in 1826.
In 1836 he became private secretary to Lord Auckland at the time of the First Anglo-Afghan War of 1837, and named his son after him. From 1846-49, Colvin served as Commissioner of Tenasserim, in British (Lower) Burma.
In 1853 Lord Dalhousie appointed him lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of India. In 1857, at the start of the mutiny, Colvin was at Agra with only a weak British regiment and a native battery, not enough force to prevail against the mutineers. Colvin issued a proclamation to the natives that was censured at the time for its clemency, but it was similar to the approach of Sir Henry Lawrence, later followed by Lord Canning.
Colvin died shortly before the fall of Delhi. His diaries are held in the European Manuscripts Section at the India Records Office in London.
Read more about this topic: John Russell Colvin
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