Person
William Pitt Amherst
- Slug
- william-amherst-434
- Alternative names
- Right Honourable, First Earl of Amherst, Earl Amherst
- Gender
- Assigned male at birth
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Ethnicity
- White
- Languages
- English
- Occupations
- Diplomat, Politician
Born in Bath in 1773, Amherst was a British diplomat and colonial administrator, and served as Governor-General of India between 1823 and 1828.
He had been sent as a diplomat to China in 1816, but the mission failed as a result of his refusal to kowtow. He was shipwrecked on his return home, though survived, and his rescue went via St. Helena, allowing him to interview Napoleon.
While Governor General of India, he annexed Assam, leading to the first Burmese war of 1824. Amherst was an inexperienced governor who was, at least in the early days of his tenure in Calcutta, influenced heavily by senior military officers in Bengal such as Sir Edward Paget. The war significantly changed Amherst’s stance on Burma, and he now adamantly refused to annexe Lower Burma, but he did not succeed in repairing his reputation entirely, and he was replaced in 1828.