Elihu Yale

Elihu Yale
President of Fort St. George
In office 25 July 1687 – 3 October 1692
Preceded by	William Gyfford
Succeeded by	Nathaniel Higginson
In office 8 August 1684 – 26 January 1685
Preceded by	William Gyfford (Agent)
Succeeded by	William Gyfford
Personal details
Born	(1649-04-05)5 April 1649 Boston, Colony of Massachusetts, British America
Died	8 July 1721(1721-07-08) (aged 72) London, England
Signature

Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Yale only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in England, Wales, and India. He became a clerk for the East India Company at Fort St. George (later Madras), and eventually rose to the Presidency of the settlement. He was later removed from the post under charges of corruption for self-dealing and required to pay a fine.^[1] In 1699 he returned to Britain with a considerable fortune, around £200,000, mostly made by selling diamonds, and spent his time and wealth in philanthropy and art collecting.^[2][3][4] He is best remembered as the primary benefactor of Yale College (now Yale University), which was named in his honor, following a donation of books, portrait, and textiles under the request of Rev. Cotton Mather, a Harvard graduate. He had no male heir, and no descendants of his have survived past his grandchildren.^[5]

In the 21st century Yale's connections to slavery in India began to be more closely explored, a process assisted by the digitalisation and online publication of the East India Company's records.^[6] In 2020, Yale's president, Peter Salovey, launched the Yale and Slavery Research Project to explore the university's links with slavery and colonialism, including Elihu Yale's central role.^[7]