The Colvin family, for the purposes of this article, are that group of people descended from James Colvin (born 1768), a merchant trading between London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Calcutta during the East India Company

East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

. This Anglo-Indian

Anglo-Indian

Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...

 family was intimately involved with the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

, first as traders and then as administrators and soldiers. Their descendants continued in service to the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

 and later in some of its constituent countries, e.g. one was an Australian admiral.

Bazett David Colvin

Bazett David Colvin (1805–1871) was the eldest son of James. In 1847 he inherited his father's estate at The Grove, Little Bealing, near Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

, which thus became the childhood home of his son Sidney Colvin

Sidney Colvin

Sidney Colvin was an English curator and literary and art critic, part of the illustrious Anglo-Indian Colvin family. He is primarily remembered for his friendship with Robert Louis Stevenson.-Biography:...

 (1845–1927), who grew up to be a critic, curator, and great friend of Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

.

John Russell Colvin

John Russell Colvin

John Russell Colvin

John Russell Colvin, Esq. was a British civil servant in India, part of the illustrious Anglo-Indian Colvin family. He was lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of British India during the mutiny of 1857, at the height of which he died.-Life:Colvin's was an Anglo-Indian family of...

 (1807 – 1857), the second son, rose to be lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces of British India

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

 during the mutiny of 1857, at the height of which he died.

JRC's children

He married Emma Sophia, daughter of Wetenhall Sneyd, a vicar in England; they had ten children, many of whom continued the family connection with India.
Bazett Wetenhall, Elliott Graham, and Walter Mytton

Walter Mytton Colvin

Sir Walter Mytton Colvin was a British lawyer and colonial administrator, part of the illustrious Anglo-Indian Colvin family....

 all passed distinguished careers in India, and a fourth, Clement Sneyd, C.S.I., was secretary of the public works department of the India Office

India Office

The India Office was a British government department created in 1858 to oversee the colonial administration of India, i.e. the modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan, as well as territories in South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the east coast of Africa...

 in London. The third son, Auckland (1838–1908), was lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces and Oudh, and also served in Egypt. He co-founded the Colvin Taluqdars' College

Colvin Taluqdars' College

Colvin Taluqdars' College in Lucknow is one of the oldest public schools in India.-History:Sir Auckland Colvin, Lieutenant Governor of the North West Provinces, while functioning as Lieutenant Governor of Avadh and Agra in 1889, conceived the idea of a school with the object of imparting education...

 in Lucknow

Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

; he also published a biography of his father in 1895.

Further generations

Elliott Graham's daughter Brenda

Brenda Colvin

Brenda Colvin CBE was an important British landscape architect, author of standard works in the field and a force behind its professionalisation. She was part of the Colvin family, which had long ties to the British Raj. She was born in India where her father, Sir Elliot Graham Colvin, was a...

 (1897–1981) was an important landscape architect, author of standard works in the field and a force behind its professionalisation.

Clement Sneyd's son ended up as Admiral Sir Ragnar Colvin

Ragnar Colvin

Admiral Sir Ragnar Musgrave Colvin KBE, CB was a long-serving British naval officer who commanded the Royal Australian Navy at the outbreak of the Second World War.-Early life and background:...

, KBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, and fathered John Horace Ragnar Colvin

John Horace Ragnar Colvin

John Horace Ragnar Colvin, CMG, was a British sailor, intelligence officer, banker and military historian.-Family:...

 , the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 diplomat. The most recent generation is the Australian journalist Mark Colvin

Mark Colvin

Mark Colvin is an Australian journalist and broadcaster. Based in Sydney, he is the presenter of PM since 1997. PM is one of the flagship Australian radio current affairs programs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation network.-Family:...

.

Further reading

• Colvin, Sir Auckland. John Russell Colvin. The Last Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Under The Company. Rulers of India Series. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1895.Cloth. 214pp. Has been digitised by Google Books.