<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet</span>

Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet

<p><b>Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan, 1st Baronet</b>, <span class="noexcerpt nowraplinks" style="font-size:100%; font-weight:normal;"><a href="/en/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_Bath" title="Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath" class="mw-redirect wl">KCB</a></span> (2 April 1807<span>&nbsp;</span>– 19 June 1886) was a British civil servant and <a href="/en/British_Empire" title="British Empire" class="wl">colonial</a> administrator. As a young man, he worked with the colonial government in <a href="/en/Kolkata" title="Kolkata" class="wl">Calcutta</a>, India. He returned to Britain and took up the post of Assistant Secretary to the Treasury. During this time he was responsible for facilitating the government's response to the Irish famine. In the late 1850s and 1860s he served there in senior-level appointments. Trevelyan was instrumental in the process of <a href="/en/Northcote–Trevelyan_Report" title="Northcote–Trevelyan Report" class="wl">reforming the British Civil Service</a> in the 1850s.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">British colonial administrator</div>
<p class="mw-empty-elt"></p>

<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Sir Charles Trevelyan Bt KCB, Born, Died, Nat...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox biography vcard mobile-collapse-element"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="font-size:125%;"><div class="honorific-prefix" style="font-size: 77%; font-weight: normal; display:inline;"><a href="/en/Sir" title="Sir" class="wl">Sir</a></div><br><div class="fn" style="display:inline">Charles Trevelyan</div><br><div class="honorific-suffix" style="font-size: 77%; font-weight: normal; display:inline;"><a href="/en/Baronet" title="Baronet" class="wl">Bt</a> <a href="/en/Order_of_the_Bath" title="Order of the Bath" class="wl">KCB</a></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:Charles_Edward_Trevelyan.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Charles_Edward_Trevelyan.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Charles_Edward_Trevelyan.jpg/220px-Charles_Edward_Trevelyan.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="434" data-file-height="600" data-file-type="bitmap" height="304" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Charles_Edward_Trevelyan.jpg/330px-Charles_Edward_Trevelyan.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Charles_Edward_Trevelyan.jpg 2x" alt="Charles_Edward_Trevelyan.jpg"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">Trevelyan in the 1840s</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Born</th><td class="infobox-data"><span style="display:none">(<span class="bday">1807-04-02</span>)</span>2 April 1807<br><div style="display:inline" class="birthplace"><a href="/en/Taunton" title="Taunton" class="wl">Taunton</a>, <a href="/en/Somerset" title="Somerset" class="wl">Somerset</a>, United Kingdom</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Died</th><td class="infobox-data">19 June 1886<span style="display:none">(1886-06-19)</span> (aged<span>&nbsp;</span>79)<br><div style="display:inline" class="deathplace">London, United Kingdom</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Nationality</th><td class="infobox-data category">British</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Alma<span>&nbsp;</span>mater</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Charterhouse_School" title="Charterhouse School" class="wl">Charterhouse School</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Occupation(s)</th><td class="infobox-data role"><a href="/en/Civil_Service_(United_Kingdom)" title="Civil Service (United Kingdom)" class="wl">Civil servant</a>, <a href="/en/British_Empire" title="British Empire" class="wl">colonial administrator</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Spouses</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist ">
<ul></ul>
<div style="display:inline;white-space:nowrap;"><div style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;margin-top:1px;white-space:normal;">Hannah More Macaulay </div>
   <div style="line-height:0;margin-bottom:-2px;"><span>​</span></div><span> </span><div style="display:inline-block;margin-bottom:1px;"><span>​</span></div><span>(</span><abbr about="#mwt22" typeof="mw:ExpandedAttrs" data-mw="{&quot;attribs&quot;:[[{&quot;txt&quot;:&quot;title&quot;},{&quot;html&quot;:&quot;<span typeof=\&quot;mw:Nowiki\&quot; data-parsoid=\&quot;{}\&quot;>married</span>&quot;}]]}">m.</abbr><span>&nbsp;</span><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1038841319" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}</style><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip  ">1834</span><span>;</span><span> </span>died<span>&nbsp;</span><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip  ">1873</span><span>)</span><wbr><span>​</span></div>
<ul></ul>
<div style="display:inline;white-space:nowrap;"><div style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;margin-top:1px;white-space:normal;">Eleanor Anne Campbell </div>
   <div style="line-height:0;margin-bottom:-2px;"><span>​</span></div><span> </span><div style="display:inline-block;margin-bottom:1px;"><span>​</span></div><span>(</span><abbr about="#mwt25" typeof="mw:ExpandedAttrs" data-mw="{&quot;attribs&quot;:[[{&quot;txt&quot;:&quot;title&quot;},{&quot;html&quot;:&quot;<span typeof=\&quot;mw:Nowiki\&quot; data-parsoid=\&quot;{}\&quot;>married</span>&quot;}]]}">m.</abbr><span>&nbsp;</span><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip  ">1875</span><span>)</span><wbr><span>​</span></div>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Parents</th><td class="infobox-data"><div class="plainlist ">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Trevelyan_baronets" title="Trevelyan baronets" class="wl">Venerable George Trevelyan</a></li>
<li>Harriet Trevelyan</li></ul>

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<p>Trevelyan is mostly remembered for the controversial role he played in the British government's response to the potato blight in <a href="/en/Ireland" title="Ireland" class="wl">Ireland</a> and the subsequent <a href="/en/Great_Famine_(Ireland)" title="Great Famine (Ireland)" class="wl">Great Famine</a> of the 1840s.</p>

<p>During the height of the famine, Trevelyan was slow to disburse direct government food and monetary aid to the Irish due to his strong belief in <i><a href="/en/Laissez-faire" title="Laissez-faire" class="wl">laissez-faire</a></i> economics and the free hand of the market.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template " style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/en/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources" class="wl"><span>page<span>&nbsp;</span>needed</span></a></i>]</sup> He also wrote highly disparaging remarks about the Irish in a letter to an Irish <a href="/en/British_peerage" title="British peerage" class="mw-redirect wl">peer</a>, stating that "the judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson".<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-independent_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-independent-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span> Trevelyan's defenders say that larger factors than his own acts and beliefs were more central to the problem of the famine and its high mortality.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template " style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/en/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources" class="wl"><span>page<span>&nbsp;</span>needed</span></a></i>]</sup></p>



Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, KCB was a British civil servant and colonial administrator. As a young man, he worked with the colonial government in Calcutta, India. He returned to Britain and took up the post of Assistant Secretary to the Treasury. During this time he was responsible for facilitating the government's response to the Irish famine. In the late 1850s and 1860s he served there in senior-level appointments. Trevelyan was instrumental in the process of reforming the British Civil Service in the 1850s. Trevelyan is mostly remembered for the controversial role he played in the British government's response to the potato blight in Ireland and the subsequent Great Famine of the 1840s. During the height of the famine, Trevelyan was slow to disburse direct government food and monetary aid to the Irish due to his strong belief in laissez-faire economics and the free hand of the market. 