Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Elsmie, George Robert
ELSMIE, GEORGE ROBERT (1838–1909), Anglo-Indian civilian and author, born at Aberdeen on 31 Oct. 1838, was only child of George Elsmie, ship-owner, of Aberdeen, and from 1843 on the Southampton staff of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. His mother was Anne, daughter of Robert Shepherd, parish minister of Daviot, Aberdeenshire, whose family had been parish ministers in that county for several generations. Educated at private schools at Southampton and from 1852 to 1855 at the Marischal College, Aberdeen, Elsmie was studying German at Canstatt near Stuttgart in August 1855, when he was nominated to a writership in India by his maternal uncle, John Shepherd (1796-1859), for many years director and thrice chairman of the East India Company, and on the transfer of India to the crown member of the Council of India. Elsmie was among the last batch of men to enter, at the close of 1855, the East India College at Haileybury, and to pass out on the eve of its abolition in Dec. 1857.
Arriving in India on 12 Feb. 1858, he was appointed assistant commissioner in the Punjab, and served in various districts until 1863, when he acted as a judge of the small causes courts at Lahore, Delhi, and Simla. Meanwhile he prepared a useful 'Epitome of Correspondence regarding our Relations with Afghanistan and Herat, 1854-63' (Lahore, 1863). In March 1865 he became deputy commissioner (magistrate and collector) of Jullundur, and in October 1868 under-secretary to the government of India in the home department. Taking furlough in the spring of 1869, he entered Lincoln's Inn as a student, and was called to the bar on 27 Jan. 1871.
Returning to India immediately afterwards, he was appointed additional commissioner of the Amritsar and Jullundur divisions, his duties being almost entirely judicial. In October 1872 he was transferred to Peshawur to perform like functions, the lieutenant-governor being anxious to improve the judicial administration and reduce crimes of violence in the district. Elsmie's firmness and good sense in dealing with the Pathans had the desired effect at some personal risk. His suggestions to the government and his detailed examination of the subject in 'Crime and Criminals on the Peshawur Frontier' (Lahore, 1884) largely contributed to the promulgation in 1887 of the 'Frontier Criminal Regulations,' which were specially adapted to borderland conditions.
Elsmie left Peshawur in January 1878 to officiate as judge of the Punjab chief court for a year. After furlough in December 1880 he became commissioner of Lahore, and in April 1882 was appointed permanently to the chief court bench. In the same year he served on the Punjab re-organisation committee. In agreement with its recommendations the Lahore commissionership was greatly enlarged in area and relieved of judicial appellate work, and was bestowed anew on Elsmie in February 1885. He was on special duty for the Rawal Pindi durbar for Lord Dufferin to meet the Ameer Abdur Rahman (April 1885) and was vice-chancellor of the Punjab University (1885-7). He was made second financial commissioner in April 1887, a member of the governor-general's legislative council in May 1888, and first financial commissioner from March 1889. He thus attained the highest positions in the province, short of the lieutenant-governorship, on both the judicial and executive sides. He was re-appointed to the governor-general's legislative council in June 1892, and was made C.S.I, in Jan. 1893. He left India on 4 Feb. 1894. On 20 July 1904 Elsmie received from Aberdeen University the hon. degree of LL.D. He mainly devoted himself in his retirement to literary work. With General Sir Peter Lumsden he wrote Sir Harry Lumsden's biography, 'Lumsden of the Guides' (1899). On material collected by Sir Henry Cunningham he based the authorised life of Field-marshal Sir Donald Stewart [q. v. Suppl. I] (1903), and he edited letters of his mother (1804-1879) under the title of 'Anne Shepherd or Elsmie: a Character Sketch of a Scottish Lady of the Nineteenth Century as disclosed by her Letters' (Aberdeen, 1904). In his pleasant 'Thirty-Five Years in the Punjab' (Edinburgh, 1908) Elsmie threw much light on the contemporary history of his province; the book is dedicated to his university. Elsmie died at Torquay on 26 March 1909, and was buried at Deeside cemetery, Aberdeen. He married at Southampton, on 27 Oct. 1861, Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Thomas Spears of Kirkcaldy, who survived him. Of a family of three sons and eight daughters, two sons became officers in the Indian army, four daughters married Indian civil servants (Sir Thomas W. Holderness, now revenue secretary, India office, being one of Elsmie's sons-in-law), and two daughters married officers in the army.
[Elsmie's Works; The Times, 28 March 1909; family details kindly given by Sir T. W. Holderness.]