James Bruce eighth Earl of Elgin and twelfth Earl of Kincardine, High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary in China, 1860

Photograph by Felice Beato (1825-1907), 2nd China War (1856-1860), 1860.

James Bruce, eighth Earl of Elgin, was the son of the Lord Elgin who famously purchased the Parthenon Marbles, an act that still causes controversy today. The eighth Earl served in many senior diplomatic and colonial government positions, notably as Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India. He also played a prominent role in the British incursions into East Asia. During the China expedition of 1860 it was upon his orders that the Chinese Emperor's Summer Palace was burned to the ground.