Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier

Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier KT, PC (15 September 1819-19 December 1898), was a Scottish diplomat and colonial administrator. Napier was the son of William John Napier, 9th Lord Napier and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. James Cochrane. He served as Envoy Extraordinaire and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States from 1857 to 1859 and to the Netherlands from 1859 to 1861, as Ambassador to Russia from 1861 to 1864 and to Prussia from 1864 to 1866. The latter year he was appointed Governor of Madras, a post he held until 1872, when he also served as acting Viceroy of India for a short period. In honor of this service, he has a museum named after him in Kerala. Napier was admitted to the Privy Council in 1861 and made a Knight of the Thistle in 1864. In July 1872 he was created Baron Ettrick, of Ettrick in the County of Selkirk, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords. Lord Napier also chaired the Napier Commission (the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands) which was appointed in 1883 and reported in 1884. Lord Napier married Anne Jane Charlotte, daughter of Robert Manners, in 1845. He died in December 1898, aged 79, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son William John George Napier.