Duff, Mountstuart Grant ___ 1829-1906 ___ British ___ civilservant, politician

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff was elected the Liberal MP for Elgin in 1857, and, between 1868 and 1880, served as Under Secretary of State for India and then for the Colonies under Gladstone. Between 1881 and 1886, he was Governor of Madras. On returning to Britain he was knighted. Between 1876 and 1897, Duff owned York House in Twickenham, and was host to many famous writers and politicians of the time. His diaries are full of anecdotes and jokes, and are far too lightweight for Ponsonby who scornfully does not even bother to provide a single quotation.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Good-natured books

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1851-1901 ___ political society people travel nature India Palestine

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
etext
 

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
British Library, Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections - probably

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Notes from a Diary, kept chiefly in Southern India
Notes from a Diary: 1851-1872
A Victorian Vintage
 

May 2005, June 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.