Elihu Yale

Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a British-American colonial administrator.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Yale lived in America only as a child, and spent 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.

In 1699, he returned to Britain with a considerable fortune, around £200,000 (equivalent to £35.3 million in 2023), mostly made by selling diamonds, and spent his time and wealth in philanthropy and art collecting.

He was the primary benefactor of Yale College, now Yale University, which was named in his honor, following a donation of books, portraits, and textiles at the request of Rev. Cotton Mather, a Harvard University graduate. He had no male heir, and no descendants of his have survived past his grandchildren.

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. In 2020, Peter Salovey, president of Yale University, launched the Yale and Slavery Research Project to explore the university's historical links with slavery and colonialism, including Elihu Yale's role.

Yale was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to David Yale (1613–1690), a wealthy Boston merchant and attorney to Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, and Ursula Knight; he was the grandson of Ann Yale (born Lloyd), daughter of Bishop George Lloyd. After the death of her first husband, Thomas Yale Sr. (1587–1619), son of Chancellor David Yale, Anne Yale married Theophilus Eaton, ambassador to Denmark. Eaton was the co-founder of two of the Thirteen British Colonies, which are represented on the Flag of the United States, mainly through the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the New Haven Colony, and was the brother of Nathaniel Eaton, Harvard's first Headmaster and President designate, at the founding of Harvard in 1636.

His son, Samuel Eaton, the uncle of Elihu, was also involved in the foundation of Harvard, being one of the seven founder members of the Harvard Corporation, the governing board and charter that incorporated the college in 1650. It was they, along with Elihu's uncle and aunt, Thomas Yale Jr., and Anne Yale Jr., who brought the reconstituted Eaton/Yale family to America, while other members of the family stayed in England. Their estates in Wales were Plas-yn-Yale and Plas Grono, and Elihu's brother was London merchant Thomas Yale, later ambassador to the King of Siam for the East India Company.