'''Sir James Emerson Tennent, 1st Baronet''' (7_April 1804–6_March 1869), born '''James Emerson''', was an English Politician and Traveller.
The third son of William_Emerson, a merchant of Belfast, he was born there in 1804. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, of which he afterwards became LL.D. He took up the cause of Greek independence, and travelled in Greece, publishing a ''Picture of Greece'' (1826), ''Letters from the Aegean'' (1829), and a ''History of Modern Greece'' (1830); and he was called to the English bar at Lincoln's_Inn in 1831. In this year he married the daughter and co-heiress (with her cousin, Robert_James_Tennent, M.P. for Belfast, 1848-52) of William_Tennent, a wealthy merchant at Belfast, who died of cholera in 1832, and he adopted by royal licence the name of his wife in addition to his own.
He entered parliament in 1832 as member for Belfast. In 1841 he became Secretary_to_the_Board_of_Control, and in 1843 he was presented with a service of plate by the calico printers of Great Britain as an acknowledgment of his getting a bill passed in Parliament for the Copyright of calico designs.
In 1845 he was knighted and appointed Colonial_secretary of Ceylon, where he remained till 1850. While he was there, an economic depression in the United Kingdom severely affected the local Coffee and Cinnamon industry. Planters and merchants clamoured for a reduction of export duties. Tennent therefore recommended to Earl Grey, Secretary of State for Colonies in London that taxation should be radically shifted from Indirect_taxation to Direct_taxation, which proposal was accepted. It was decided to abolish the Export_duty on Coffee and reduce the export duty on Cinnamon leaving a deficit of £40,000 Sterling which was to be met by direct taxes on the people. This was one of the causes of the Matale_Rebellion of 1848.
The result of his residence in Ceylon appeared in ''Christianity in Ceylon'' (1850) and ''Ceylon, Physical, Historical and Topographical'' (2 vols., 1859). The latter was illustrated by his protege, fellow Ulsterman Andrew_Nicholl. The Oxford_English_Dictionary attributes to it the first use in English of 'Rogue_Elephant', a translation of the Sinhala term ''hora aliya''.
On his return, he became member for Lisburn, and under Lord Derby was secretary to the Poor_Law_Board in 1852. From 1852 till 1867 he was permanent secretary to the Board_of_Trade, and on his retirement he received a baronetcy.
Tennant was elected a Fellow of the Royal_Society on 5_June 1862.
In his early years his political views had a Radical tinge, and, although he subsequently joined the Tories, his Conservatism was of a mild type. He withdrew from the Whigs along with Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham, and afterwards adhered to Sir Robert Peel. However, he broke with Peel over the Corn_Laws and followed the Derbyites. He died in London on the 6th of March 1869. His family consisted of two daughters and a son, Sir William_Emerson_Tennent, who was an official in the Board of Trade, and at whose death the baronetcy became extinct.
Besides the books above mentioned, Emerson Tennent wrote ''Belgium in 1840'' (1841), and ''Wine; its Duties and Taxation'' (1855), and was a contributor to magazines and a frequent correspondent of ''Notes and Queries''.
==References==
*Tyronne Fernando, PC, ''154th Death Anniversary of Veera Puran Appu'' accessed 5_December 2005.
*William E. A. Axon (ed), ''The Annals of Manchester: A chronological record from the earliest times to the end of 1885'', 1886.
* {{gutenberg author| id=James+Emerson+Tennent | name=James Emerson Tennent}}
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'''(of Tempo Manor) | before=New creation | after=William_Emerson_Tennent | years='''1867–1869}} {{end box}} Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson ---- {{1911}}
'''(of Tempo Manor) | before=New creation | after=William_Emerson_Tennent | years='''1867–1869}} {{end box}} Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson Tennent, James Emerson ---- {{1911}}