page_title: Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin
section_title: Viceroy of India
hierarchical_section_title: Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin / Political career / Viceroy of India
caption_attribution_description: English: Garter encircled arms of Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, KG, as displayed on his Order of the Garter stall plate in St. George's Chapel.
context_page_description: Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, 13th Earl of Kincardine, KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC, known as Lord Bruce until 1863, was a right-wing British Liberal politician who served as Viceroy of India from 1894 to 1899. He was appointed by Prime Minister Arthur Balfour to hold an investigative enquiry into the conduct of the Boer War in 1902 to 1903. The Elgin Commission was the first of its kind in the British Empire, and it travelled to South Africa and took oral evidence from men who had actually fought in the battles. It was the first to value the lives of the dead and to consider the feelings of mourning relatives left behind, and it was the first occasion in the history of the British Army that recognised the testimony of ordinary soldiery as well as that of the officers.
context_section_description: Following in his father's footsteps, Elgin was made Viceroy of India in 1894. His viceroyalty was not a particularly notable one. Elgin himself did not enjoy the pomp and ceremony associated with the viceroyalty, and his conservative instincts were not well suited to a time of economic and social unrest. He said, "India is the pivot of our Empire... If the Empire loses any other part of its Dominion we can survive, but if we lose India, the sun of our Empire will have set."
  During his time as Viceroy, famine broke out in India, in which Elgin reportedly admitted that up to 4.5 million people died.
  Other estimates have put the death toll at 11 million people. His administration in India was otherwise notable for the Afridi frontier risings of 1897–1898.
caption: Garter encircled arms of Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, KG, as displayed on his Order of the Garter stall plate in St. George's Chapel.
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