Elihu Yale: Difference between revisions
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'''Elihu Yale''' (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a [[British Americans|British-American]] [[Colonialism|colonial]] administrator and philanthropist. Although born in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in [[England]], [[Wales]] and [[India]]. Starting as a clerk, he eventually rose up to the rank of [[Madras Presidency|President]] of the [[East India Company|British East India Company]] settlement in [[Fort St. George|Fort St George]], [[Chennai|Madras]]. He later lost that position under charges of corruption for self-dealing and had to pay a fine.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elihu-Yale|title="Elihu Yale, English merchant and philanthropist". By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Last Updated: Jul 4, 2022}}</ref> In 1699, he returned to Britain with a considerable fortune, around £200,000, mostly made by selling diamonds, and spent his time and wealth toward philanthropy and art collecting.<ref name="academia1">{{Cite journal |last=Romita |first=Ray |date=2012 |title=Going Global, Staying Local: Elihu Yale the Art Collector |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23344756 |journal=Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin |pages=35 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> He is best remembered as the primary benefactor of [[Yale College]] (now [[Yale University]]), which was named in his honor, following a sizable donation of books, portrait and textiles under the request of Rev. [[Cotton Mather]], a [[Harvard]] graduate. No direct descendants of his has survived to this day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bingham |first=Hiram |title=Elihu Yale : governor, collector and benefactor. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society |date=1937}} p.144</ref> |
'''Elihu Yale''' (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a [[British Americans|British-American]] [[Colonialism|colonial]] administrator and philanthropist. Although born in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in [[England]], [[Wales]] and [[India]]. Starting as a clerk, he eventually rose up to the rank of [[Madras Presidency|President]] of the [[East India Company|British East India Company]] settlement in [[Fort St. George|Fort St George]], [[Chennai|Madras]]. He later lost that position under charges of corruption for self-dealing and had to pay a fine.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elihu-Yale|title="Elihu Yale, English merchant and philanthropist". By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Last Updated: Jul 4, 2022}}</ref> In 1699, he returned to Britain with a considerable fortune, around £200,000, mostly made by selling diamonds, and spent his time and wealth toward philanthropy and art collecting.<ref name="academia1">{{Cite journal |last=Romita |first=Ray |date=2012 |title=Going Global, Staying Local: Elihu Yale the Art Collector |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23344756 |journal=Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin |pages=35 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> He is best remembered as the primary benefactor of [[Yale College]] (now [[Yale University]]), which was named in his honor, following a sizable donation of books, portrait and textiles under the request of Rev. [[Cotton Mather]], a [[Harvard]] graduate. No direct descendants of his has survived to this day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bingham |first=Hiram |title=Elihu Yale : governor, collector and benefactor. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society |date=1937}} p.144</ref> |
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==Early Life == |
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[[File:Yale family chrest.jpg|thumb|Coat of arms of the Yales, from Osborn Fitzgerald of the [[House of Fitzgerald]], granted by the Prince of North Wales, [[Llywelyn the Great]], during the 13th century |
[[File:Yale family chrest.jpg|thumb|Coat of arms of the Yales, from Osborn Fitzgerald of the [[House of Fitzgerald]], granted by the Prince of North Wales, [[Llywelyn the Great]], during the 13th century |
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<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk/page/354/mode/2up | title=The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time | year=1884 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y11BAAAAYAAJ&q=yale&pg=PA10-IA3 | title=Encyclopædia of Heraldry: Or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms | last1=Burke | first1=John | last2=Burke | first2=Bernard | year=1844 }}</ref>]] |
<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/generalarmoryofe00burk/page/354/mode/2up | title=The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time | year=1884 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y11BAAAAYAAJ&q=yale&pg=PA10-IA3 | title=Encyclopædia of Heraldry: Or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms | last1=Burke | first1=John | last2=Burke | first2=Bernard | year=1844 }}</ref>]] |
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[[File:Plas yn Yale, seat of the Yale's, c.1795.jpg|thumb|Plas yn Iâl, seat of the Yales, c.1795]] |
[[File:Plas yn Yale, seat of the Yale's, c.1795.jpg|thumb|Plas yn Iâl, seat of the Yales, c.1795]] |
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Elihu Yale was born on April 5, 1649 in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]] to David and Ursula Yale. David Yale was a Boston merchant and attorney to [[Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick]]. David Yale had come from London to [[New Haven Colony]] with his stepfather, [[Theophilus Eaton]], in 1639. David Yale moved to Boston in 1641 and met & married Elihu Yale's mother, Ursula, in 1643.<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|For Elihu Yale's birthday, see Bingham (1939), p. 7.|For David Yale's move to New Haven Colony, see Bingham (1939), p. 3.|For David Yale's move to Boston, see Bingham (1939), p. 5.|For David Yale's marriage to Ursula around 1643, see Bingham (1939), p. 5.}}</ref> |
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Born in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], to David Yale (1613–1690), a wealthy Boston merchant and attorney to [[Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick]], and Ursula Knight; he was the grandson of Ann Yale (born Lloyd), daughter of [[George Lloyd (bishop of Chester)|George Lloyd]], [[Bishop of Chester]], who, after the death of her first husband, Thomas Yale, Sr, (1587–1619), in [[England]], married [[Theophilus Eaton|Governor Theophilus Eaton]] (1590–1658). Governor Eaton was the co-founder of two of the [[Thirteen British Colonies]], who are represented on the [[Flag of the United States]], mainly through the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] and the [[New Haven Colony]], and was the brother of [[Nathaniel Eaton]], [[Harvard University|Harvard]]'s first [[Headmaster]] and [[Chairperson|President designate]], at the founding of Harvard in 1636. His son, Samuel Eaton, was implied in the foundation of Harvard as well, being one of the seven founders of the [[Harvard Corporation]], the governing board and charter that [[Incorporation (business)|incorporated]] Harvard in 1650. It was they, along with Elihu's uncle and aunt, Thomas Yale, Jr, and Anne Yale, Jr, who brought the reconstituted Yale/Eaton family to America, while other members of the family stayed in England. Of those who stayed in England was Elihu's grandfather, Thomas Yale, Sr, a wealthy [[London]] merchant and son of Dr. David Yale of [[Erddig|Erddig Park]], [[Diocese of Chester|Chancellor of Chester]] and owner of Plas Grono, a family estate in [[Wales]]. His uncle, [[Thomas Yale|Chancellor Thomas Yale]], board member of the [[University of Cambridge]], was the [[Lord Chancellor|Chancellor]] of the head of the [[Church of England]] for Queen [[Elizabeth I]],<ref>{{cite web |title=YALE family, of Plâs yn Iâl and Plas Grono Wrexham {{!}} Dictionary of Welsh Biography |url=https://biography.wales/article/s-YALE-PLA-1500 |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=biography.wales}}</ref> while his grandfather, [[John Lloyd (judge)|John Lloyd]], Judge of the [[High Court of Admiralty]] and board member of the [[University of Oxford]], was one of the founders, along with Queen [[Elizabeth Tudor]], of the first |
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[[List of founding Fellows, Scholars and Commissioners of Jesus College, Oxford#People_named_in_the_1571_charter|Protestant College]] of the [[University of Oxford]]. |
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In 1652 at the age of three, Elihu Yale left New England, never to return, as David Yale took his family back to London. While scarce, a letter suggests that David Yale remained a successful merchant and settled his family in the Hanseatic merchant district "[[Steelyard]] Court". In 1662 at the age of thirteen, Elihu Yale entered the private school of [[William Dugard]], but Dugard died a few months after Elihu Yale enrolled.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle|For leaving Boston for England, see Bingham (1939) p. 7.|For David Yale's merchant business and address, see Bingham (1939) p. 8.|For entering the school of Willlian Dugard, see Bingham (1939) pp. 9-10.}}</ref> |
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==Ancestry == |
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The ancestry of the Yales can be traced back from [[Thomas Yale|Chancellor Thomas Yale]], born 1525, to many Royal and Noble houses of Britain as descendants of the [[House of Mathrafal|Royal House of Mathrafal]], the [[House of Aberffraw|Royal House of Aberffraw]], the [[House of Plantagenet|Royal House of Plantagenet]], the [[Powys Fadog|Princely House of Powys Fadog]], the [[Tudors of Penmynydd]] and many others.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWRHAAAAYAAJ&q=yale+plantagenet+Kings+of+England&pg=PA1662 | title=A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1852 | last1=Burke | first1=Bernard | year=1852 }}</ref> For the House of Mathrafal, and Powys Fadog, it was through [[Tudur ap Gruffudd]], Lord of [[Bryn Saith Marchog|Gwyddelwern]] and brother of the last native [[Prince of Wales]], [[Owen Glendower]], while for the House of Aberffraw, and the Tudors of Penmynydd (the parent house of the Royal [[House of Tudor]]), it was through [[Tudors of Penmynydd#Lineage|Elen Ferch Tomos]], the mother of Owen. From these families they inherited [[Lordship]]s and estates, such as Plas yn Iâl (Yale).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NEKAAAAYAAJ&dq=landed+gentry+yale+surname&pg=PA1663|title=Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry|year=1847}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hVgegx0mNoC&dq=Ellis+ap+Griffith+plas+yn+lal+margaret&pg=PA189|title = Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families, with Their Collateral Branches in Denbighshire, Merionethshire, and Other Parts|isbn = 9780950828558|last1 = Griffith|first1 = John Edwards|year = 1914}}</ref><ref name="worldcat.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/yale-genealogy-and-history-of-wales-the-british-kings-and-princes-life-of-owen-glyndwr-biographies-of-governor-elihu-yale-for-whom-yale-university-was-named-linus-yale-sr-and-other-noted-persons/oclc/1102359364 |title=Yale genealogy and history of Wales : the British kings and princes, life of Owen Glyndwr, biographies of Governor Elihu Yale, for whom Yale University was named, Linus Yale, Sr. ... and other noted persons (eBook, 1908) |publisher=[WorldCat.org] |date=2019-01-04 |accessdate=2022-08-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Owain Glyndwr|url=https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/Owen-Glendower-Owain-Glyndwr|website=Historic UK}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R29WAAAAcAAJ&q=yale+Prince+of+Powys&pg=PA419 | title=Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales: Containing a Record of All Ranks of the Gentry, Their Lineage, Alliances, Appointments, Armorial Ensigns, and Residences, with Many Ancient Pedigrees and Memorialsof Old and Extinct Families | last1=Nicholas | first1=Thomas | year=1872 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DwLAAAAYAAJ&dq=baron+of+Gwyddelwern&pg=PA4 | title=The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog, and the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen, and Meirionydd | last1=Lloyd | first1=Jacob Youde William | year=1887 }}</ref> |
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Elihu Yale likely lived through the [[Great Plague of London]], though no one in his family died; and the [[Great Fire of London]].<ref>Bingham (1939) pp. 12-14.</ref> |
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The [[Coat of arms]] of the Yales came originally in the family from Osborn Fitzgerald (Osbwrn Wyddel), Lord of Ynys-m-Maengwyn and Corsygedol, of which they were the direct descendants.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TJMWR99J89kC&dq=osborn+fitzgerald+corsy+denbigh&pg=PA2060 | title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland | last1=Burke | first1=Bernard | year=1886 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5C0BAAAAQAAJ&q=osborn+fitzgerald+Lord+of+Ynys-m-Maengwyn&pg=PA28-IA47 | title=Heraldic illustrations, by J. And J. B. Burke | last1=Burke | first1=John Bernard | year=1844 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R29WAAAAcAAJ&q=descended+from+Osborn+Fitzgerald&pg=PA419 | title=Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales: Containing a Record of All Ranks of the Gentry, Their Lineage, Alliances, Appointments, Armorial Ensigns, and Residences, with Many Ancient Pedigrees and Memorialsof Old and Extinct Families | last1=Nicholas | first1=Thomas | year=1872 }}</ref> Osborn Fitzgerald was a member of the [[House of Fitzgerald]] through the [[Earl of Desmond|Earls of Desmond]] and descendant of the [[House of Dinefwr|Royal House of Dinefwr]], through [[Nest ferch Rhys|Princess Nest ferch Rhys]], daughter of [[Rhys ap Tewdwr]], last King of [[Deheubarth|South Wales]].<ref>{{cite web |title=RHYS ap TEWDWR (died 1093), king of Deheubarth {{!}} Dictionary of Welsh Biography |url=https://biography.wales/article/arc_s-RHYS-APT-1093 |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=biography.wales}}</ref> He made the trip from [[Ireland]] to Wales during the thirteenth century with Gruffydd ab Ednyved Vychan, son of [[Seneschal]] [[Ednyfed Fychan]], and was granted Lordships by the Prince of North Wales, [[Llywelyn the Great]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Llywelyn_ab_Iorwerth | title=Llywelyn ab Iorwerth | volume=34 }}</ref> He was the [[progenitor]] of many houses in Wales, including the House of Yale, paternally extinct, when Sarah Yale died in 1821 without heir.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TJMWR99J89kC&q=house+of+yale&pg=PA2060 | title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland | last1=Burke | first1=Bernard | year=1886 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWRHAAAAYAAJ&q=house+of+yale&pg=PA1662 | title=A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1852 | last1=Burke | first1=Bernard | year=1852 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NEKAAAAYAAJ&q=House+of+Plas-yn-yale&pg=PA1663 | title=Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry | year=1847 }}</ref> She granted the name and arms of Yale to the grand-nephew of her mother, Lieutenant Colonel [[High Sheriff of Denbighshire|William Parry Yale]] of Plas-yn-Yale. The House of Yale is, on the paternal side, a [[cadet branch]] of the Royal [[House of Mathrafal]], through the Princes of Powys Fadog, and on the maternal side, a [[cadet branch]] of the [[Fitzgerald dynasty|Fitzgerald Dynasty]], through the Merioneth House of Corsygedol.<ref name="worldcat.org" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXOaP8pHr8AC&dq=Osborn+fitzgerald+ancestor+of+the+yales&pg=PA415 | title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland | last1=Burke | first1=John | last2=Burke | first2=Sir Bernard | year=1850 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQxfAAAAcAAJ&q=Osborn+fitzgerald&pg=RA1-PA242 | title=The History of Wales | last1=Llancarvan | first1=Caradoc of | year=1832 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yr48fD1QbMEC&dq=yale+name+Burke%27s+Landed+Gentry&pg=PA1807|title = A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland|last1 = Burke|first1 = Bernard|year = 1882}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lc8vAAAAMAAJ&dq=fifteen+noble+tribes+of+wales+yale&pg=PA103-IA1|title = Bye-gones, Relating to Wales and the Border Counties|year = 1883}}</ref> |
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The family estate at Plas yn Iâl ("Iâl" is anglicised as "[[Ial|Yale]]"), [[North Wales]], of which the family took the name, was inherited from Ellis ap Griffith (Elissau ab Gruffydd), [[House of Mathrafal#Members|Baron of Gwyddelwern]] through his grandfather, [[Tudur ap Gruffudd|Lord Tudur ap Gruffudd]], son of the [[Powys Fadog|Prince of Powys Fadog]], and descendant of the Royal [[House of Plantagenet]], when he married Margaret, the heiress of Plas yn Yale, in the [[Lordship of Bromfield and Yale]].<ref name="worldcat.org"/><ref name="URE">{{Cite book |last=Love |first=Henry Davidson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yERBRASUKkoC&dq=Elihu+Yale&pg=PA490 |title=Indian Records Series Vestiges of Old Madras 1640-1800 |publisher=Mittal Publications |language=en}}</ref> Her ancestor, [[Baron Mostyn|Lord Mostyn]], was granted the estate by the Prince of Wales, [[Owain Gwynedd]], for his services at the [[Battle of Crogen]] in 1165.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lucGAAAAYAAJ&dq=allt+llwyn+dragon+plas+yn+yale&pg=PA104|title = Bye-gones, Relating to Wales and the Border Counties|year = 1883}}</ref> Ellis ap Griffith was the grandfather of [[Thomas Yale|Chancellor Thomas Yale]], who was the first to adopt definitively the Yale surname. The estate was originally called Allt Llwyn Dragon, which means Dragon's Grove Hill.<ref name="worldcat.org" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FlI4AQAAMAAJ&dq=owen+glendower+Gwyddelwern&pg=PA1663 | title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland: M to Z | last1=Burke | first1=John | last2=Burke | first2=Bernard | year=1846 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThsfAAAAMAAJ&dq=Allt+Llwyn+Dragon%2C+plas+yn+yale&pg=PA51 | title=The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog: And the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen, and Meirionydd | last1=Lloyd | first1=Jacob Youde William | year=1887 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hVgegx0mNoC&q=allt+llywn+dragon&pg=PA189 | title=Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families, with Their Collateral Branches in Denbighshire, Merionethshire, and Other Parts | isbn=9780950828558 | last1=Griffith | first1=John Edwards | year=1914 }}</ref> |
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In 1670, at the age of 21, Elihu Yale became a clerk for the [[East India Company]] and served an apprenticeship in London in the Leadenhall Street office. It is possible that Elihu Yale had business training in his father's countinghouse, and his father's connections helped him get the job. The following year in 1971, Yale was one of twenty men chosen as "Writers" in India. Elihu Yale was bonded for £500 with the help of his father and his brother David.<ref>Bingham (1939) pp. 14-15.</ref> |
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⚫ | In 1684, he became the first president of [[Fort St. George|Fort St George]], the company's post at [[Chennai|Madras (now Chennai)]], [[India]]. He succeeded a number of agents from [[Andrew Cogan]] to [[William Gyfford]]. Yale was instrumental in the development of the [[Government General Hospital]], housed at [[Fort St. George|Fort St George]].<ref>[http://www.madrasmedicalcollege.edu/history.htm Madras Medical College History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224132159/http://www.madrasmedicalcollege.edu/history.htm |date=24 February 2007 }}</ref> |
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Having a prestigious ancestry, as well as having connected family members in England and the [[Thirteen Colonies]], would later be influential for Elihu's career in the [[East India Company]], and for the establishment of [[Yale College]] and its coat of arms.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/1081919/elihu-yale-governor-collector-and-benefactor-by-hiram-bingham | title=Hiram Bingham (1832-1908) - Elihu Yale, governor, collector and benefactor / By Hiram Bingham }}</ref> The Yale family left [[Boston]] and returned to England when Elihu was three years old, and he grew up and went to school in London. He never set foot in America again.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |
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| title = Elihu Yale (English merchant and philanthropist) |
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| url = https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elihu-Yale |
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| encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |
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| access-date = 2021-07-31 |
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| quote = Although born in Massachusetts, Yale was taken to England by his family at the age of three, and he never returned to America.}}</ref> |
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Yale amassed a fortune while working for the company, largely through secret contracts with Madras merchants, against the East India Company's directive. By 1692, his repeated flouting of East India Company regulations and growing embarrassment at his illegal [[Profiteering (business)|profiteering]] resulted in his being relieved of the post of governor.<ref name="hindu20050504">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/04/stories/2005050400441000.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050507171849/http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/04/stories/2005050400441000.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2005|title=Yale, India, and the failure of the 'global university'|date=4 May 2005|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=2008-04-19}}</ref> |
Yale amassed a fortune while working for the company, largely through secret contracts with Madras merchants, against the East India Company's directive. By 1692, his repeated flouting of East India Company regulations and growing embarrassment at his illegal [[Profiteering (business)|profiteering]] resulted in his being relieved of the post of governor.<ref name="hindu20050504">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/04/stories/2005050400441000.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050507171849/http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/04/stories/2005050400441000.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2005|title=Yale, India, and the failure of the 'global university'|date=4 May 2005|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=2008-04-19}}</ref> |
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Around 1719, Yale was a subject in the painting [[Elihu Yale with Members of his Family and an Enslaved Child]]. |
Around 1719, Yale was a subject in the painting [[Elihu Yale with Members of his Family and an Enslaved Child]]. |
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== Marriage and children == |
== Family, Marriage and children == |
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{{Needs more references|section|date=August 2022}}[[File:Chatsworth South Front.jpg|thumb|Chatsworth House, of the [[Cavendish family]]]] |
{{Needs more references|section|date=August 2022}} |
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{{Main|Genealogy of Elihu Yale}} |
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[[File:Chatsworth South Front.jpg|thumb|Chatsworth House, of the [[Cavendish family]]]] |
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Elihu Yale married Catherine Hynmers in 1680, widow of Joseph Hynmers, [[second-in-command]] of [[Fort St. George, India|Fort St George, India]] as [[Deputy Governor]] for the [[East India Company]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0HRAAAAMAAJ&dq=joseph+hynmers+govenor+east+india&pg=PA544|title = Vestiges of Old Madras, 1640-1800: Traced from the East India Company's Records Preserved at Fort St. George and the India Office, and from Other Sources|last1 = Love|first1 = Henry Davison|year = 1913}}</ref> The wedding took place at [[St. Mary's Church, Chennai|St Mary's Church]], at Fort St George, where Yale was a [[vestryman]] and [[treasurer]]. The marriage was the first registered at the church.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3803310.ece?homepage=true|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204045355/http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3803310.ece?homepage=true|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-02-04|title=''The Hindu'', paragraph 10|website = [[The Hindu]]}}</ref> |
Elihu Yale married Catherine Hynmers in 1680, widow of Joseph Hynmers, [[second-in-command]] of [[Fort St. George, India|Fort St George, India]] as [[Deputy Governor]] for the [[East India Company]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0HRAAAAMAAJ&dq=joseph+hynmers+govenor+east+india&pg=PA544|title = Vestiges of Old Madras, 1640-1800: Traced from the East India Company's Records Preserved at Fort St. George and the India Office, and from Other Sources|last1 = Love|first1 = Henry Davison|year = 1913}}</ref> The wedding took place at [[St. Mary's Church, Chennai|St Mary's Church]], at Fort St George, where Yale was a [[vestryman]] and [[treasurer]]. The marriage was the first registered at the church.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3803310.ece?homepage=true|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204045355/http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3803310.ece?homepage=true|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-02-04|title=''The Hindu'', paragraph 10|website = [[The Hindu]]}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 03:23, 28 August 2022
Elihu Yale | |
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President of Fort St. George | |
In office 25 July 1687 – 3 October 1692 | |
Preceded by | William Gyfford |
Succeeded by | Nathaniel Higginson |
In office 8 August 1684 – 26 January 1685 | |
Preceded by | William Gyfford (Agent) |
Succeeded by | William Gyfford |
Personal details | |
Born | Boston, Colony of Massachusetts, British America | 5 April 1649
Died | 8 July 1721 London, England | (aged 72)
Signature | |
Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist. Although born in Boston, Massachusetts, he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in England, Wales and India. Starting as a clerk, he eventually rose up to the rank of President of the British East India Company settlement in Fort St George, Madras. He later lost that position under charges of corruption for self-dealing and had to pay a fine.[1] In 1699, he returned to Britain with a considerable fortune, around £200,000, mostly made by selling diamonds, and spent his time and wealth toward philanthropy and art collecting.[2] He is best remembered as the primary benefactor of Yale College (now Yale University), which was named in his honor, following a sizable donation of books, portrait and textiles under the request of Rev. Cotton Mather, a Harvard graduate. No direct descendants of his has survived to this day.[3]
Early Life
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Plas_yn_Yale%2C_seat_of_the_Yale%27s%2C_c.1795.jpg/220px-Plas_yn_Yale%2C_seat_of_the_Yale%27s%2C_c.1795.jpg)
Elihu Yale was born on April 5, 1649 in Boston, Massachusetts to David and Ursula Yale. David Yale was a Boston merchant and attorney to Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick. David Yale had come from London to New Haven Colony with his stepfather, Theophilus Eaton, in 1639. David Yale moved to Boston in 1641 and met & married Elihu Yale's mother, Ursula, in 1643.[6]
In 1652 at the age of three, Elihu Yale left New England, never to return, as David Yale took his family back to London. While scarce, a letter suggests that David Yale remained a successful merchant and settled his family in the Hanseatic merchant district "Steelyard Court". In 1662 at the age of thirteen, Elihu Yale entered the private school of William Dugard, but Dugard died a few months after Elihu Yale enrolled.[7]
Elihu Yale likely lived through the Great Plague of London, though no one in his family died; and the Great Fire of London.[8]
East India Company
In 1670, at the age of 21, Elihu Yale became a clerk for the East India Company and served an apprenticeship in London in the Leadenhall Street office. It is possible that Elihu Yale had business training in his father's countinghouse, and his father's connections helped him get the job. The following year in 1971, Yale was one of twenty men chosen as "Writers" in India. Elihu Yale was bonded for £500 with the help of his father and his brother David.[9]
In 1684, he became the first president of Fort St George, the company's post at Madras (now Chennai), India. He succeeded a number of agents from Andrew Cogan to William Gyfford. Yale was instrumental in the development of the Government General Hospital, housed at Fort St George.[10]
Yale amassed a fortune while working for the company, largely through secret contracts with Madras merchants, against the East India Company's directive. By 1692, his repeated flouting of East India Company regulations and growing embarrassment at his illegal profiteering resulted in his being relieved of the post of governor.[11]
Tenure as President of Madras
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Elihu Yale was re-appointed as president of the administration of Fort St George on 26 July 1687. He then implemented an order dated 14 January 1685 which required the English at Fort St George to make all attempts at procurement of the town of Santhome on lease. To this effect, Chinna Venkatadri was sent to negotiate with the local governor on 4 August 1687. The mission was successful and Venkatadri assumed sovereignty over Santhome for a period of three years. Notwithstanding the vehement protests of the Portuguese inhabitants of Santhome, the English gained absolute control over all lands up to St Thomas Mount for a period of three years.[citation needed]
In September 1688, the Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb took Golconda after a prolonged battle. The Mughals took the Sultan of Golconda prisoner and annexed the state. The newly designated Mughal Subedar of the province immediately sent a letter to the British authorities at Fort St George demanding that the English at Madras acknowledge the overlordship of the Mughal Emperor. The English complied willingly. Aurangazeb guaranteed the independence of Madras, but in return demanded that the English supply troops in the event of a war against the Marathas. It was around this time that Yale's three-year-old son David Yale died and was interred in the Madras cemetery.[citation needed]
The records of this period mention a flourishing slave trade in Madras. After English merchants began to kidnap young children and deport them to distant parts of the world, the administration of Fort St George stepped in and introduced laws to curb the practice. On 2 February 1688, Elihu Yale decreed that slaves should be examined by the judges of the choultry before being transported. Transportation of young children, in particular, was made unlawful.[12] Beyond this, the nature of Yale's involvement in the slave trade remains disputed. A blog post by a Yale history Ph.D. candidate and manager of the Yale Slavery and Abolition Portal notes that he permitted a law that at least ten slaves should be carried on every ship bound for Europe and in his capacity as judge he also on several occasions sentenced so-called "black criminals" to whipping and enslavement.[13] On the other hand, according to Steven Pincus, a former Yale professor of history and current professor at the University of Chicago, Yale was never a slave trader and never owned slaves – and in fact opposed the slave trade during his time as President of Madras.[14]
During Yale's presidency, a plan for setting up a corporation in Madras was conceived by Josiah Child, the Governor of the East India Company, in a letter addressed to the factors at Madras on 28 September 1687. Three months later, Child and his deputy had an audience with King James II, and as per the ensuing discussions, a charter was issued by the King on 30 December 1687 which established the Corporation of Madras. The charter came into effect on 29 September 1688, and a Corporation was established comprising a Mayor, 12 Aldermen, 60-100 Burgesses and sergeants. Nathaniel Higginson, who was then the second member of the Council of Fort St George, took office as the Mayor of Madras.[citation needed]
In August 1689, a French fleet appeared near the coast of Ceylon compelling the Governor of Pulicat Lawrence Pitt who was on high seas to seek protection within the bastions of Fort St George. Throughout the year 1690, French naval ships from Pondicherry ravaged the coast in order to drive the English and the Dutch out of the East Indies but were unsuccessful. They eventually withdrew from their enterprise when faced with heavy losses. It was also during this time that the English purchased the town of Tegnapatnam from the Marathas.[citation needed]
Scandal
After Jacques de Paiva's[15] death in 1687, Elihu Yale fell in love with his widow Hieronima de Paiva and brought her to live with him, causing quite a scandal within Madras’s colonial society. Elihu Yale and Hieromima de Paiva had a son. The son died in South Africa.[15]
Accusations of corruption and removal
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Fort_St._George%2C_Chennai.jpg/220px-Fort_St._George%2C_Chennai.jpg)
As president of Fort St George, Yale purchased territory for private purposes with East India Company funds, including a fort at Devanampattinam (now Cuddalore). Yale imposed high taxes for the maintenance of the colonial garrison and town, resulting in an unpopular regime and several revolts by Indians, brutally quelled by garrison soldiers. Yale was also notorious for arresting and trying Indians on his own private authority, including the hanging of a stable boy who had absconded with a Company horse.[11]
Charges of corruption were brought against Elihu Yale in the last years of his presidency. He was eventually removed in 1692 and replaced with Nathaniel Higginson as the President of Madras.
Return to Britain
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Yale returned to Britain in 1699. He spent the rest of his life at Plas Grono, a mansion in Wales bought by his father, or at his house in London, spending liberally the considerable wealth he had accumulated. His fortune, as of 1699, amounted to £200,000,[2] which is very close to the sum it cost Queen Anne, in 1711, to build the magnificent Blenheim Palace as a reward to the Duke of Marlborough for his victory at the Battle of Blenheim against King Louis XIV. Bleinheim palace is evaluated at US$236 millions as of 2020, which stand at the same evaluation for Windsor Castle.[16][17]
Around 1719, Yale was a subject in the painting Elihu Yale with Members of his Family and an Enslaved Child.
Family, Marriage and children
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Chatsworth_South_Front.jpg/220px-Chatsworth_South_Front.jpg)
Elihu Yale married Catherine Hynmers in 1680, widow of Joseph Hynmers, second-in-command of Fort St George, India as Deputy Governor for the East India Company.[18] The wedding took place at St Mary's Church, at Fort St George, where Yale was a vestryman and treasurer. The marriage was the first registered at the church.[19]
They had 4 children together.[20]
David Yale (died 1687) died young.[21]
Katherine Yale (died 1715) married Dudley North of Glemham Hall, son of Sir Dudley North of Camden Place, and Anne Cann, daughter of Sir Robert Cann, 1st Baronet of Compton Greenfield, Gloucestershire. He was a cousin of Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford of Wroxton Abbey and a grandson of Anne Montagu of Boughton House, member of the House of Montagu. Their daughter Anne North would marry Nicholas Herbert, member of the House of Herbert, son of the 8th Earl of Pembroke, Thomas Herbert of Wilton House and his first wife, Margaret Sawyer of Highclere Castle while one of their sons, William Dudley North, would marry Lady Barbara Herbert, daughter of Thomas and his second wife, Barbara Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. Nicholas's only daughter, Barbara, would marry the 2nd Earl of Aldborough, Edward Stratford, member of the House of Stratford.[22]
Anne Yale (died 1734), married Lord James Cavendish of Staveley Hall, member of the House of Cavendish, son of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire of Chatsworth House and Lady Mary Butler, member of the House of Butler and daughter of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde of Kilkenny Castle. James was also a grandson of Countess Elizabeth Cecil of Hatfield House, member of the Salisbury's House of Cecil, a great-grandson of Countess Catherine Howard of Audley End House, member of the House of Howard, and a nephew of John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter of Burghley House, member of the Exeter's House of Cecil.
Ursula Yale (died 1721), died childless at Latimer House , the house was rented by Elihu Yale from his son-in-law Lord James Cavendish, husband of Anne Yale, and is buried in the small church on the estate, St Mary Magdalene.[21]
Death
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Yale died on 8 July 1721 in London, but was buried in the churchyard of the parish church of St Giles' Church, Wrexham, Wales.[citation needed] His tomb is inscribed with these lines:
Born in America, in Europe bred
In Africa travell'd and in Asia wed
Where long he liv'd and thriv'd; In London dead
Much good, some ill, he did; so hope all's even
And that his soul thro' mercy's gone to Heaven
You that survive and read this tale, take care
For this most certain exit to prepare
Where blest in peace, the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the silent dust.
In Boston, Massachusetts, a tablet to Yale was erected in 1927 at Scollay Square, near the site of Yale's birth. Yale president Arthur Twining Hadley penned the inscription, which reads: "On Pemberton Hill, 255 Feet North of This Spot, Was Born on April Fifth 1649 Elihu Yale, Governor of Madras, Whose Permanent Memorial in His Native Land is the College That Bears His Name."[23]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Elihu_Yale_Plaque_St_Marys_Church_Fort_St_George_Chennai.jpg/220px-Elihu_Yale_Plaque_St_Marys_Church_Fort_St_George_Chennai.jpg)
Yale University
In 1718, Cotton Mather contacted Yale and asked for his help. Mather represented a small institution of learning that had been founded in 1701 in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, as the Collegiate School of Connecticut, which needed money for a new building. Yale sent Mather 417 books, a portrait of King George I, and nine bales of goods. These last were sold by the school for £800.[24] In gratitude, officials named the new building Yale; eventually the entire institution became Yale College.[25]
Yale was also a vestryman and treasurer of St Mary's Church at Fort St George. On 6 October 1968, the 250th anniversary of the naming of Yale College for Elihu Yale, the classmates of Chester Bowles, then the American ambassador to India and a graduate of Yale (1924), donated money for lasting improvements to the church and erected a plaque to commemorate the occasion. In 1970, a portrait of him, Elihu Yale seated at table with the Second Duke of Devonshire and Lord James Cavendish was donated to the Yale Center for British Art from Chatsworth House.[citation needed]
On 5 April 1999, Yale University recognised the 350th anniversary of Yale's birthday.[25] An article that year in American Heritage magazine rated Elihu Yale the "most overrated philanthropist" in American history, arguing that the college that became Yale University was successful largely because of the generosity of a man named Jeremiah Dummer, but that the trustees of the school did not want it known by the name "Dummer College".[26]
In her article for The Atlantic about Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale University, Alexandra Robbins alleges that Yale's headstone was stolen years ago from its proper setting in Wrexham. She further alleges that the tombstone is now displayed in a glass case in a room with purple walls.[27]
Slave Trade
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Elihu_Yale_by_an_unknown_artist.jpeg/220px-Elihu_Yale_by_an_unknown_artist.jpeg)
One of Elihu Yale's responsibilities as president of Fort St George was overseeing its slave trade, though he was never a slave trader, never owned slaves, opposed the slave trade, and imposed several restrictions on it during his tenure.[28] Dave Collins argues that there is no evidence for Yale ever having enslaved anyone himself but adds that relatives in New Haven likely did.[29]
Nonetheless, critics argue that he benefited from the trade by having it as one of his responsibilities as President, despite not owning any of the enslaved people or profiting from their sales.[30][31] Elizabeth Kuebler-Wolf in the Journal of Global History argues that Yale enslaved at least one person (maybe two) as a household slave, as indicated by Hiram Bingham's book Elihu Yale.[32] In a 2020 piece for the New Haven Independent, Sean O'Brien notes that some Fort St George archival material indicts that Yale punished Indians with enslavement.[33]
Cultural references
- Elihu later became the name of a "senior society" founded in 1903 at Yale.
- Tom Wolfe, who earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale, named the African-American Atlanta police chief in A Man in Full Elihu Yale.
- Yale College, a former college in Wrexham, Wales, which has since merged with Coleg Cambria, was also named after Elihu Yale.
- Theodore Roosevelt's son Quentin kept a hyacinth macaw named Eli Yale.
Notes
- ^ ""Elihu Yale, English merchant and philanthropist". By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Last Updated: Jul 4, 2022".
- ^ a b Romita, Ray (2012). "Going Global, Staying Local: Elihu Yale the Art Collector". Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin: 35 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Bingham, Hiram (1937). Elihu Yale : governor, collector and benefactor. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. p.144
- ^ "The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time". 1884.
- ^ Burke, John; Burke, Bernard (1844). "Encyclopædia of Heraldry: Or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms".
- ^
- For Elihu Yale's birthday, see Bingham (1939), p. 7.
- For David Yale's move to New Haven Colony, see Bingham (1939), p. 3.
- For David Yale's move to Boston, see Bingham (1939), p. 5.
- For David Yale's marriage to Ursula around 1643, see Bingham (1939), p. 5.
- ^
- For leaving Boston for England, see Bingham (1939) p. 7.
- For David Yale's merchant business and address, see Bingham (1939) p. 8.
- For entering the school of Willlian Dugard, see Bingham (1939) pp. 9-10.
- ^ Bingham (1939) pp. 12-14.
- ^ Bingham (1939) pp. 14-15.
- ^ Madras Medical College History Archived 24 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Yale, India, and the failure of the 'global university'". The Hindu. 4 May 2005. Archived from the original on 7 May 2005. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
- ^ Bingham, Hiram (1939). Elihu Yale, The American Nabob of Queen Square. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
- ^ "Elihu Yale Was a Slave Trader". Digital Histories at Yale. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
- ^ Pavilonis, Valerie (28 June 2020). ""Cancel Yale"? Not likely". yaledailynews.com. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
- ^ a b "The Portuguese Jewish Community of Madras, India, in the Seventeenth Century". 11 April 2010.
- ^ "Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill".
- ^ "How much the world's most valuable palaces are worth".
- ^ Love, Henry Davison (1913). "Vestiges of Old Madras, 1640-1800: Traced from the East India Company's Records Preserved at Fort St. George and the India Office, and from Other Sources".
- ^ "The Hindu, paragraph 10". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013.
- ^ "Yale Center for British Art".
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
requires|archive-url=
(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Elihu Yale: his family and enslaved child". Yale Center for British Art. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ 'Memoirs of the North and Long families, Gentleman’s Magazine Vol 145 p207
- ^ "Boston Erects Tablet in Honor of Elihu Yale". The Harvard Crimson. 25 January 1927. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- ^ www
.yale .edu /about /history .html - ^ a b "Elihu Yale (English merchant and philanthropist)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
English merchant, official of the British East India Company, and benefactor of Yale University.
- ^ Gordon, John Steele (1999). "Most Overrated Philanthropist". American Heritage. 50 (3): 68. ISSN 0002-8738.
- ^ Robbins, Alexandra (May 2000). "George W., Knight of Eulogia". The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
- ^ Valerie Pavilonis (28 June 2020). ""Cancel Yale"? Not likely". yaledailynews.com. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
- ^ Collins, Dave (27 October 2021). "Painting of Yale namesake and enslaved child back on display". AP NEWS. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ Yannielli, Joseph (1 November 2014). "Elihu Yale Was a Slave Trader". Digital Histories @ Yale. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ Doctor, Geeta. "The Indian history of the racist, slave-trading Yale University founder". Scroll.in. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ Keubler-Wolf, Elizabeth (11 October 2016). "'Born in America, in Europe bred, in Africa travell'd and in Asia wed': Elihu Yale, material culture, and actor networks from the seventeenth century to the twenty-first". Journal of Global History. 11 (3): 320–43. doi:10.1017/S1740022816000176 – via Cambridge Core.
- ^ Sean, O'Brien (26 June 2020). "Opinion: Yale Must Change Its Name". New Haven Independent. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
References
- Bingham, Hiram (1939). Elihu Yale: The American Nabob of Queen Square. New York, NY: Dodd, Mead & Company.
External links
Media related to Elihu Yale at Wikimedia Commons
- Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 63. 1900. .
- Elihu Yale collection (MS 566). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. [1]
- Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1889. .
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905. .
- 1649 births
- 1721 deaths
- People from Wrexham
- British North America
- British philanthropists
- British East India Company people
- History of Chennai
- Businesspeople from Boston
- Presidents of Madras
- Merchants from London
- Welsh educational theorists
- Yale University
- Benefactors of Yale University
- Fellows of the Royal Society