73 Facts About Elihu Yale

Elihu Yale was a British-American colonial administrator.

Elihu Yale became a clerk for the East India Company at Fort St George, later Madras, and eventually rose to the Presidency of the settlement.

Elihu Yale was later removed from the post under charges of corruption for self-dealing, and required to pay a fine.

Elihu Yale was the primary benefactor of Yale College, now Yale University, which was named in his honor, following a donation of books, portraits, and textiles at the request of Rev Cotton Mather, a Harvard University graduate.

Elihu Yale had no male heir, and no descendants of his have survived past his grandchildren.

Elihu Yale moved to Boston in 1641 and met and married Elihu Yale's mother, Ursula, in 1643.

In 1652, at the age of three, Elihu Yale left New England, as David Yale took his family back to London.

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.

Elihu Yale likely lived through the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London.

In 1670, Elihu Yale joined the British East India Company, starting as a clerk at East India House in London.

Streynsham Master was replaced by William Gyfford, and Elihu Yale was sent as a diplomat to meet the VOC Governor of Pulicat.

Elihu Yale made assessments of harbor facilities and fortifications, and was welcomed with coconuts as gifts of diplomacy.

Elihu Yale then negotiated with Sikandar Shah, the Sultan of Bijapur, and obtained permission for the gold trade in his territory.

The Councilmen rose in rank, with Elihu Yale becoming Warehouse Keeper.

Gyfford was sent to inspect factories in the Bay of Bengal, Elihu Yale became acting governor for a few months, and procured three elephants from King Narai of Siam, to be sent to the Sultan of Gingee as war elephants.

Elihu Yale then obtained a house and garden at St Thomas Mount for the sickly and their convalesce.

Elihu Yale then organized the official ceremony at Fort St George, with Gov.

Elihu Yale had previously been popular with both the Europeans and native Indians, and reverted to the former practice of living and dining in the Fort House with merchants, writers and factors.

One of these policies was the creation of a new tax upon Madras inhabitants that Elihu Yale had now to carry out, which caused a local rebellion.

The company's chairman sent a letter to Elihu Yale, writing that "your elaborate arguments to persuade us not to impose a moderate duty upon the Portuguese and other inhabitants of our city of Madras, whom we do protect and exceedingly encourage in their several vocations, have no weight at all with us".

Elihu Yale had received similar letters during the Great Famine under Gov.

Yale's brother, Thomas Yale, became ambassador to King Narai of Siam, and during this time, Elihu would entertain at his house the French ambassador and musketeer, Count Claude de Forbin, drinking to the health of the royal families of England and France.

Some English merchants at Siam sided with the enemy, and became involved in acts of piracy, which had Elihu Yale send warships in retaliation against Englishmen who changed sides.

Elihu Yale was now under the overlordship of the Islamic Mughal Empire.

Elihu Yale sent diplomats to pay Emperor Aurangzeb, one of which was his friend Daniel Chardin, diamond merchant and brother of Sir Jean Chardin, Yale's partner in England.

Elihu Yale sent letters to Mughal general Mahabat Khan, and complied with the ceremonies of prince Muhammad Bakhs and prime minister Asad Khan.

The process took on average 3 years before getting a return on investment, and Elihu Yale had 50 trained men to protect the goods from robbers during transportation.

Elihu Yale tried to build routes at Mindanao, the second largest island of the Philippines, getting from them Clove and Ironwood.

Elihu Yale arrived from a failed mission that consisted of blocking and seizing the ships of Mughal Aurangzeb, who had attacked the company's ships in the Bay of Bengal, and taken control of Chittagong during the Anglo-Mughal War.

Elihu Yale then negotiated the release of Englishmen, dealing with Moghul general Shaista Khan, along with Daniel Chardin, who was sent to the King of Kandy.

In 1690, Elihu Yale's brother negotiated with Rama Raja, the Chhatrapati of the Marathas, for the acquisition of a fort at Devanampatnam on behalf of the company, which was sold for 40,000 pagodas.

Elihu Yale's story of having hanged his groom for taking his favorite horse on a day is a false story that was propagated by privateer Alexander Hamilton.

The later years of Elihu Yale's governance was marked by serious conflicts between his Presidency and the council, coming from Thomas Gray, Sir Josiah Child's servant, and lawyer William Fraser, a man known for his violent temper.

Elihu Yale wrote in his letter that "he would have been unfaithful to his trust had he permitted an innocent man to starve to death in prison".

Elihu Yale had built the walls with the company's fund to protect the town against invasions of the Mughal Emperor, but having not followed the directors's order to tax the natives for it, he was fined 3484 pagodas with interest by the Company.

Elihu Yale's fines were based for the most part on technicalities, where he had not followed orders or made errors of judgment.

Elihu Yale's case was given to Sir Thomas Rawlinson, and was attended by the King of England, William of Orange, Prince George of Denmark, Archbishop Thomas Tenison and the principal ministers.

Fraser then suggested to Sir Josiah Child that Elihu Yale had poisoned four members of the Council over the years.

Fraser's case relied on statements made by two Indian natives that were not sworn, where they said that they had heard someone, who is dead, say that somebody else, who has now left Madras, that two of Elihu Yale's enemies were still alive, and that they would be dead soon.

In 1699, after a 30 years career in India, Elihu Yale decided to sail home, and was granted the usual privilege of past governors to bring back five tons of goods, which he filled with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, Chinawares, Persian carpets, nutmegs, and other items.

Elihu Yale decided to have Gov Pitt's ship as his vessel, and brought back with him the children of Mrs Nicks.

Elihu Yale acquired rough stones from the Mughal Emperors of Golconda in exchange for a royalty, and were sent to Fort St George, India, under the protection of 50 trained men.

Thereafter, Elihu Yale would send the diamonds to Amsterdam to be faceted and polished, until ready to be shipped to London.

Elihu Yale lived most of his remaining years at the Plas Grono estate in Wales, next to Erddig Hall, inherited from the line of his great-grandfather, Chancellor David Yale, and at his London house in Queen Square.

Elihu Yale's neighbors included the Duke of Powis at Powis House, Lord Chancellor Bathurst, Queen Anne and her son Prince William, and artists Charles Burney and Jonathan Richardson.

In London society, Elihu Yale was associated with Sir Charles Cotterell, Master of the Ceremonies.

Elihu Yale's candidature was introduced by Sir Hans Sloan, founder of the British Museum and compeer of Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin.

Thereafter, his American godson David Elihu Yale entered Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge.

Elihu Yale leased Latimer House from his son-in-law, Lord James Cavendish, son of the 1st Duke of Devonshire, to accommodate his daughter Ursula.

Elihu Yale was elected High Sheriff of Denbighshire in Wales, gave money to Wrexham Church, and built a family gallery.

Elihu Yale then became a member of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and met there the Bishop of London, John Robinson, and the Lt.

Elihu Yale sent a newly painted portrait of King George I by artist Sir Godfrey Kneller, principal painter of the king at the time, and the institution changed its name to Yale College.

Elihu Yale's will included donations to the poor of Wrexham in Wales, to Christ's Hospital in London, St Bartholomew's Hospital, St Thomas' Hospital, various workhouse and poorhouses, and to Connecticut College, later known as Elihu Yale.

In 1680 Elihu Yale married Catherine Elford, widow of Joseph Hynmers, second-in-command of Fort St George, India as Deputy Governor for the East India Company.

Elihu Yale's father was wealthy Levant merchant Walter Elford, son of Turkey merchant Walter Sr.

Katherine Elihu Yale, married to Dudley North of Glenham Hall, a cousin of Lord North, the prime minister who later lost the American War of Independence.

Anne Elihu Yale married to Lord James Cavendish of Chatsworth House, son of the 1st Duke of Devonshire of Hardwick Hall, and Lady Mary Butler, the Duke of Ormond's daughter at Kilkenny Castle.

In 1687, after the death of Jacques de Paiva, a Portuguese Jewish diamond merchant and mines owner, Elihu Yale formed a relationship with his widow Hieronima de Paiva and brought her to live with him, causing a scandal within Madras's colonial society.

Elihu Yale's body was buried in the churchyard of the parish church of St Giles' Church, Wrexham, Wales.

In Boston, Massachusetts, a tablet to Elihu Yale was erected in 1927 at Scollay Square, near the site of Elihu Yale's birth.

In 1718, Cotton Mather contacted Elihu Yale and asked for his help.

In 1717, Isaac Newton gave the college a copy of his book Principia, on Newton's laws of motion and Newton's law of universal gravitation, and in 1718, Elihu Yale sent Mather 417 books, a portrait of King George I of Britain, and nine bales of goods.

Elihu Yale was a vestryman and treasurer of St Mary's Church at Fort St George.

On 5 April 1999, Elihu Yale University recognised the 350th anniversary of Elihu Yale's birthday.

Elihu Yale further alleges that the tombstone is displayed in a glass case in a room with purple walls.

Elihu Yale arrived in England with Indian artworks, and used his new wealth to build a large European art collection of 10,000 items, including 7,000 paintings, which would become, after his death, the first art auction in Britain.

Elihu Yale followed their lead and became a famous collector in London, with artists visiting him at his Queen Square home to secure patronage, one of which would be Vanderbank, who worked at Kensington Palace and Castle Howard.

Many of Elihu Yale's paintings came from Dutch Golden Age's artists, the most famous being Rembrandt, Bruegel, Van Dyck, Rubens, Durer, Van de Velde, Teniers, Lely, Kneller and Rosa.

Elihu Yale's collection was stored in four London houses, in addition to several coach houses and stables.

Elihu Yale acquired one of the Jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots, along with works of Medici painter Adriaen van der Werff.

Elihu Yale's granddaughter married the latter's son, Nicholas Herbert, who lived at Wilton House and Highclere Castle.

Elihu's ancestry, as a member of the Yale family, originated from the Lordship of Yale in North Wales.

The Elihu Yale name was adopted from the maternal line, while the coat of arms, later adopted by Elihu Yale College, came from the paternal line.