James Rivett-Carnac
Sir James Rivett-Carnac, 1st Baronet was the Governor of the Bombay Presidency of British India from 1838 to 1841, during the period of Company Rule. His family name came about in 1801, when his father was made testamentary by his brother-in-law General John Carnac, husband of Elizabeth Rivett.
Born in Bombay in 1784, Carnac served the East India Company in India from 1801 and was a director of the Company for various periods between 1827 and 1838.
He was made a baronet in 1836 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 1838.
Rivett-Carnac was Member of Parliament for Sandwich from 1837 to 1839. He succeeded Robert Grant as Governor of Bombay Presidency after the latter's death on 9 July 1838.
He died on 28 January 1846 in Rockcliffe, near Lymington, Hampshire In 1815 he had married Anna-Maria, the eldest daughter of William Ricardes of Penglais.
Rivett-Carnac is the ancestor of the Rivett-Carnac baronets, of whom the most well-known member today is the bag designer Lulu Guinness, daughter of the ninth baronet.
