James Rivett-Carnac

{{Short description|Indian-born British statesman and politician}}

{{For|the Royal Navy officer|James Rivett-Carnac (Royal Navy officer)}}

Sir James Rivett-Carnac, 1st Baronet (11 November 1784 – 28 January 1846) was an Indian-born British statesman and politician who served as Governor of the Bombay Presidency in British India from 1838 to 1841.

Career

Born in Bombay in 1784,Terence R. Blackburn, Justice for the Raja of Sattara? (APH Publishing, 2007) p. 139 Carnac began nearly three decades of service with the East India Company in India in 1801The Wellesley Papers: The Life and Correspondence of Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley, 1760-1842 vol 2 (H. Jenkins, 1914) p. 316 and was a director of the Company for various periods between 1827 and 1838.C.H. & D. Philips, 'Alphabetical List of Directors of the East India Company from 1758 to 1858', in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society October 1941Charles Campbell Prinsep, Record of Services of the Honourable East India Company's Civil Servants in the Madras Presidency, from 1741 to 1858 (1885) p. xxii{{cite book |title=Colonial Collecting and Display: Encounters with Material Culture from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands |first=Claire |last=Wintle |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-85745-942-8 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWlFAAAAQBAJ}} He succeeded Robert Grant as Governor of the Bombay Presidency in 1838, serving for three years in that role.{{cite book |title=The Satara Raj, 1818-1848: A Study in History, Administration, and Culture |first=Sumitra |last=Kulkarni |publisher=Mittal Publications |year=1995 |isbn=978-8-17099-581-4 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYOSHaZnBy8C&pg=PA27}}

He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Sandwich from 1837 to 1839 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 1838.{{cite web | url= https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27carnac%27%29| title = Library and Archive Catalogue|publisher= Royal Society|accessdate= 9 December 2017}}

Personal life

Born James Rivett, his surname was legally changed to Rivett-Carnac by royal licence in 1801 when his father James, a member of the Bombay Government Council and chairman of the East India Company, was made testamentary by his brother-in-law, General John Carnac, the husband of Elizabeth Rivett (1751–1780).{{cite news |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/finance-obituaries/6266592/Sir-Miles-Rivett-Carnac-Bt.html |title=Obituary: Sir Miles Rivett-Carnac, Bt |date=6 October 2009 |accessdate=2021-04-05}}

In 1815 he married Anna-Maria Richardes, the eldest daughter of William Richardes of Penglais,{{cite book|title= The Assembled Commons or Parliamentary Biographer|last= Member of the |first=Middle Temple|page=49}} and had three sons: John (1818–1893), William (1822–1874) and Charles (1824–1902). His descendants include the sailor Charles Rivett-Carnac and the Canadian police commissioner Charles Rivett-Carnac, as well as the colonial administrator Sir Richard Temple and his son Sir Richard Carnac Temple and the fashion designer Lulu Guinness.

In 1836 Rivett-Carnac was made a baronet.{{London Gazette |issue=19359 |date=23 February 1836 |page=358}} He died on 28 January 1846 at what was Rookcliff House, Milford-on-Sea.

His younger brother, Admiral John Rivett-Carnac (1796–1869), was an early explorer of Western Australia.