Dictionary of Indian Biography/Clerk, Sir George Russell
CLERK, SIR GEORGE RUSSELL (1800–1889)
I.C.S. : son of John Clerk : educated at Haileybury: entered the Service as "writer" in 1817 : after holding some unimportant appointments in Bengal, he entered the Political Department : was in the Secretariat, in Rajputana, at Delhi, Political Agent at Umbala and Ludiana : Envoy at Lahore, 1842 : Agent to the Governor-General on the North-Western Frontier during the first Afghan war, in which capacity he pushed forward reinforcements with energy, and, after the massacre of the Army, urged a policy of retribution. He was Lieutenant-Governor of the N.W.P., June to Dec. 1843 : Provisional Member of the Supreme Council, 1844 : twice Governor of Bombay, from 1847 to 1848 : K.C.B. : and from 1860–2. He refused the government of the Cape, but served there on boundary and political work, 1853–4 : was Under Secretary and Secretary to the Board of Control in 1856–8, and permanent Under Secretary of State for India, 1858–60. He was a Member of the Council of India, 1863–76 : K.C.S.I., 1861 : G.C.S.I., 1866 : died July 25, 1889.