Walter Elliot (Scottish Naturalist) - Return To India

Return To India

Elliot worked with Elphistone until the latters retirement in September 1842. Elphinstone's successor, Lord Tweeddale, found that Elliot was working in a whole range of capacities well beyond his position as a private secretary. After Elphinstone's retirement, Elliot was employed in the board of revenue. In 1845 he was appointed to examine Guntur district which had been hit by the great famine of 1833 and had not shown signs of recovery. Elliot found deep-seated corruption and collusion between village elites, local revenue officials, and five zamindar families that held most of the land in the district. The East India Company's court of directors were impressed by his work and appointed him commissioner of the Norther Circars, a position of great responsibility that he managed until 1854 when he became a member in the council of the governor of Madras.

He stayed in the Presidency of Madras until the retirement of Lord Elphinstone in 1842. He held also a position as a Translator (of Canarese) to the Government. He was a Member of the Council of the Governor of Madras. In 1842 he became a member of the Board of Revenue and in 1845 he was sent to the Northern Circars on special duty. Towards the end of his life he began to lose his sight and in his later years was completely blind. He retired from service in 1859.