John Russell Colvin, lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of India who died during the Uprising of 1857, was born on this day.
He was born in an Anglo-Indian family of Scottish descent in Calcutta. He joined the East India Company in 1826 and later became private secretary to Governor-General Lord Auckland.
Colvin was appointed lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces in 1853.
During the 1857 Uprising he had with him at Agra an inadequate force and he issued in May a proclamation which was not entirely approved for its clemency. The responsibilities of his office during the Uprising affected his health.
He was “worn out by the unceasing anxieties and labours of his charge,” Governor-General Lord Canning said after his death on September 9, 1857, shortly before the fall of Delhi. His tomb lies at Red Fort in Agra.