James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin (1811-1863), was the governor general of Canada who implemented the principle of "responsible government" in colonial administration and paved the way for the development of a Commonwealth comprising autonomous nations.

The son of the 7th Earl of Elgin, who collected the Elgin Marbles for the British Museum, James Bruce was born in London on July 20, 1811. He studied at Eton and Oxford, where he graduated in 1833. For a short time he was a Conservative member of Parliament for Southampton, but on the death of his father in 1841 he succeeded to the peerage and was thus denied a career in the House of Commons.

Elgin received a colonial appointment as governor of Jamaica in 1842 and 4 years later was given the more important post of governor general of Canada. Arriving in Canada in January 1847, he brought with him clear instructions from the Whig colonial secretary...