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Historical records matching George Arbuthnot, 2nd of Elderslie
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About George Arbuthnot, 2nd of Elderslie
George was sent in 1801 to work with his elder brother Robert as part of the colonial administration in Ceylon, but his post was under threat as part of an economy drive in the government service there, and in the autumn of 1802 he moved to Madras to join Francis Latour & Co., a trading and banking company founded in 1777. He was very soon a partner in the business (Latour lending him the money to buy in) and it was known as Arbuthnot, de Monte & Co. from 1810 and Arbuthnot & Co. from 1821. Arbuthnot's became one of the most important banks in southern India and financed much other mercantile and industrial activity before going bust spectacularly in 1906, by which time it was no longer in direct family control. Although he did not make a fortune on the scale of the great Indian nabobs like Hastings or Cockerell, George Arbuthnot accumulated substantial funds and in 1823 he retired from the business and returned to England. On a previous visit in 1816 he had bought a London town house and he now bought the small Elderslie estate and moved his family there. It is perhaps typical of the man that the property he bought was relatively modest in relation to his wealth, so that it did not represent a drain on his income. As a result, it was able to pass successfully through many generations of his family.
When George died in 1843 his heir was his eldest son, George Arbuthnot (1815-95), who had also worked in the family business in Madras. His eldest son, George Arbuthnot-Leslie (1846-96) married the heiress of the Leslies of Warthill in Aberdeenshire and they succeeded to that estate in 1880. When he inherited Elderslie, therefore, he had no need of the house, and sold it to his younger brother, James Woodgate Arbuthnot (1848-1927) who had worked in the family firm in Madras until his retirement in 1884. James in turn left the estate to his grandson, Sir John Francis Prideaux (1911-93) who became Chairman of the family's London bank, Arbuthnot Latham & Co., and later of the National Westminster Bank. Elderslie was sold by his widow after his death.
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George Arbuthnot, 2nd of Elderslie's Timeline
| 1815 |
April 24, 1815
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Madras, India
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July 1, 1815
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Madras, India
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| 1847 |
March 12, 1847
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Tamil Nadu, Madras, India
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| 1849 |
1849
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Brighton, Sussex, England (United Kingdom)
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| 1851 |
1851
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Madras, India
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| 1860 |
October 21, 1860
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Hyde Park Garden, London, England (United Kingdom)
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| 1895 |
March 15, 1895
Age 79
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Elderslie, Surrey, England (United Kingdom)
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