Talk:James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin

message: I added the burning of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing to Lord Elgin's 'accomplishments'. I find it rather incredible that an article like this would seek to downplay such vandalism (it took 3,500 troops to do the deed) as though it were a trivial and casual footnote to the man's life, emphasising instead his 'respectable' achievements. The article seems to be written from a European/North American POV.
However, my edit was reverted by user:John Kenney, who describes himself as a history graduate student studying modern European history. I appreciate that the destruction of the Old Summer Palace may not be gripping stuff from the point of view of European history, but it is still an emotional issue for the Chinese and continues to play a role in Chinese perceptions of/relations with the West. I submit that the place of people like Lord Elgin in history should not be judged from a purely Eurocentric point of view.
Bathrobe
In what sense did the article previously downplay this deed?  The introductory paragraph is describing who Lord Elgin was, not what he did.  He did a lot of things, and there's no reason to over-emphasize this one particular action, which was already described in the text.   If you want to add more detail in the appropriate place, I won't object, but I see no reason to add pretty much the exact same text in two different parts of the article. And the ad hominem is completely unnecessary.  Bathrobe has no idea whether I think the destruction of the Old Summer Palace is gripping or not, and I don't like to have my motives imputed. john k 14:47, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Bruce Trail (or peninsula), Ontario, I believe was named in his honour correct? Canking 19:20, 4 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Of course the Bruce Peninsula was named for James Bruce, and the peninsula is in Bruce County, Ontario, too. See these two articles.47.215.183.159 (talk) 06:26, 23 September 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: I miss some informations about his childhood and his family - father, mother, silblings, wife, children of his own and so on. Why are this informations not in the article ? --AndreaMimi (talk) 13:52, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Childhood and Family 

message: Does anyone know why there is a school in nearly every town or city in Ontario named after Lord Elgin, and why it seems to always be the techical school of the community ?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.48.29.12 (talk) 15:00, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Schools named after him in Ontario

message: I'm deleting the KCSI postnominal and removing Elgin from :Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India. As he died before the expansion of the Order in 1866 he couldn't have been a Knight Commander anyway, and though he was ex officio Grand Master as Viceroy I don't think that would automatically make him a Knight Companion - compare the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who was ex officio GM of the Order of St Patrick but frequently not himself a Knight Companion. Opera hat (talk) 11:11, 20 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  KCSI 

message: James Bruce was never the Lieutenant Governor anywhere, Quebec or Ontario. A different Mr. Bruce WAS the Lt. Governor of Quebec, in a different century, the 20th.47.215.183.159 (talk) 06:33, 23 September 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lieutenant Governor 

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:
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Participate in the deletion discussion at the . —Community Tech bot (talk) 08:44, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion 

message: I think he was only a Viceroy of India, Canning being the last Governor General and then Viceroy himself. alaymehta (talk) 19:36, 15 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: The position of Governor General was continued by the Government of India Act 1858.  Technically, there were two positions, held by one person.  The GovGen was appointed under statute and governed those parts of India under direct British control ("British India").  The Viceroy was appointed under the royal prerogative, and exercised the Crown's suzerainty over the Indian princes and their territories. See:  Governor-General of India;  Government of India Act 1858. Mr Serjeant Buzfuz (talk) 21:52, 15 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Governer General?