Elijah Impey

Background

Elijah Impey was born on the 13th of June, 1732, the youngest son of Elijah Impey and his wife Martha, daughter of James Fraser.

Career

Elijah Impey was called to the bar in 1756, in 1773 he was appointed the first chief justice of the new supreme court at Calcutta, and in 1775 presided at the trial of Maharaja Nandakumar, who was accused of forging a bond in an attempt to deprive a widow of more than half her inheritance. As a result of the trial he went down in history, because in 1787 he was subjected to impeachment, along with Warren Hastings, for their conduct of the case.

Elijah Impey was accused by Macaulay in the House of Commons of conspiring with Hastings to commit a judicial murder by having unjustly hanged Nandakumar. But the whole question of the trial of Nandakumar was examined in detail by Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, who stated that "no man ever had, or could have, a fairer trial than Nuncomar, and Impey in particular behaved with absolute fairness and as much indulgence as was compatible with his duty." According to Macaulay, Impey later applied English law so aggressively as to "throw a great country into the most dreadful confusion", until in effect bribed by Hastings to desist. In 1790 Impey was returned to Parliament as the member for New Romney constituency and spent the next seven years as an MP before retiring to Newick Park near Brighton He died there in 1809 and was buried in the family vault in Hammersmith, London.

In 1795 his application for a fellowship of the Royal Society was rejected.

Achievements

• Impey was a British jurist, whose name is best known in connection with the trial of Maharaja Nandakumar.

Membership

17th Parliament of Great Britain.

References

• Selected Writings of James Fitzjames Stephen: The Story of Nuncomar and the Impeachment of Sir Elijah Impey