James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin

British colonial administrator and diplomat

Date of Birth: 20-Jul-1811

Place of Birth: London

Date of Death: 20-Nov-1863

Profession: politician, diplomat

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, (20 July 1811 – 20 November 1863) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat.
He served as Governor of Jamaica (1842–1846), Governor General of the Province of Canada (1847–1854), and Viceroy of India (1862–1863).
In 1857, he was appointed High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary in China and the Far East to assist in the process of opening up China and Japan to Western trade.
In 1860, during the Second Opium War in China, in retaliation for the torture and execution of almost twenty European and Indian prisoners, he ordered the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, an architectural wonder with immeasurable collections of artworks and historic antiques, inflicting invaluable loss of cultural heritage.
Subsequently, he submitted the Qing dynasty to the unequal treaty of the Convention of Peking, adding Kowloon Peninsula to the British crown colony of Hong Kong.