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Sir James Emerson Tennent, 1st Baronet (
7 April 1804–
6 March 1869), born
James Emerson, was an
Irish politician and traveller.
The third son of
William Emerson, a merchant of
Belfast, he was born there in
1804. He was educated at the
Belfast Academy and
Trinity College,
Dublin, of which he afterwards became
LL.D. He took up the cause of Greek independence, and travelled in
Greece, publishing a
Picture of Greece (
1826),
Letters from the Aegean (1829), and a
History of Modern Greece (
1830); and he was called to the English bar at
Lincoln's Inn in
1831. In this year he married the daughter and co-heiress (with her cousin,
Robert James Tennent, M.P. for Belfast, 1848-52) of
William Tennent, a wealthy merchant at Belfast, who died of cholera in 1832, and he adopted by royal licence the name of his wife in addition to his own.
He entered parliament in
1832 as member for Belfast. In
1841 he became
Secretary to the Board of Control, and in
1843 he was presented with a service of plate by the
calico printers of Great Britain as an acknowledgment of his getting a bill passed in Parliament for the
copyright of calico designs.
In
1845 he was knighted and appointed
colonial secretary of
Ceylon, where he remained till
1850. While he was there, an economic depression in the United Kingdom severely affected the local
coffee and
cinnamon industry. Planters and merchants clamoured for a reduction of export duties. Tennent therefore recommended to
Earl Grey, Secretary of State for Colonies in London that taxation should be radically shifted from
indirect taxation to
direct taxation, which proposal was accepted. It was decided to abolish the
export duties on
coffee and reduce the export duty on
cinnamon leaving a deficit of £40,000 Sterling which was to be met by direct taxes on the people. This was one of the causes of the
Matale Rebellion of
1848.
The result of his residence in Ceylon appeared in
Christianity in Ceylon (
1850) and
Ceylon, Physical, Historical and Topographical (2 vols.,
1859). The latter was illustrated by his protege, fellow Ulsterman
Andrew Nicholl. The
Oxford English Dictionary attributes to it the first use in English of '
Rogue Elephant', a translation of the
Sinhala term
hora aliya.
On his return, he became member for
Lisburn, and under
Lord Derby was secretary to the
Poor Law Board in
1852. From
1852 till
1867 he was permanent secretary to the
Board of Trade, and on his retirement he received a baronetcy.
Tennant was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society on
June 5,
1862.
In his early years his political views had a Radical tinge, and, although he subsequently joined the Tories, his
Conservatism was of a mild type. He withdrew from the
Whigs along with
Lord Stanley and
Sir James Graham, and afterwards adhered to
Sir Robert Peel. However, he broke with Peel over the
Corn Laws and followed the Derbyites. He died in London on
March 6,
1869. His family consisted of two daughters and a son, Sir
William Emerson Tennent, who was an official in the Board of Trade, and at whose death the baronetcy became extinct.
Besides the books above mentioned, Emerson Tennent wrote
Belgium in 1840 (
1841), and
Wine: its Duties and Taxation (
1855),
The Wild Elephant and The Method Of Capturing It in Ceylon (
1867)
Sketches Of The Natural History Of Ceylon (
1868) and was a contributor to magazines and a frequent correspondent of
Notes and Queries.
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