Sir Auckland Colvin

Sir Auckland Colvin KCSI KCMG CIE (1838–1908) was a colonial administrator in India and Egypt, born into the Anglo-Indian Colvin family. He was comptroller general in Egypt (1880–2), and financial adviser to the Khedive (1883–87). From 1883–92 he was back in India, first as financial member of council, and then as Lieutenant-governor of the North-West Provinces (as his father had been) and Oudh. He founded Colvin Taluqdars' College in Lucknow.

Colvin, born at Calcutta on 8 March 1838, was third son of the ten children of John Russell Colvin, an Anglo-Indian administrator, by his wife Emma Sophia, daughter of Wetenhall Sneyd, vicar of Newchurch, Isle of Wight. Three of his brothers, Bazett Wetenhall Colvin, Elliott Graham Colvin, and Sir Walter Mytton Colvin, all passed distinguished careers in India, and a fourth, Clement Sneyd Colvin, was secretary of the public works department of the India Office in London.

He was born when his father was private secretary to George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, then Governor-General of India, and was named after him. In retirement he wrote a biography of his father, who rose to be lieutenant-governor of the North-Western Provinces and died in the Mutiny.