Elihu Yale ( 1649 - 1721 )

Birth: Boston, Massachusetts (05 April 1649) Death: London (08 July 1721) Burial: Wrexham Churchyard Profession: Merchant Education: William Dugard's school, London Career: Left America with his father (1652); Writer to the HEIC (1671); lived at Fort Saint George [Madras] (1672-1699); President and Governor of Fort Saint George (1687-1692); charged with having favoured private trading ventures and fined £3000 (he had made a fortune of £175,000); on his return, settled at his family's seat in Wales and traded as a diamond merchant in London; High Sheriff of Denbighshire (1704); became known for his philanthropy and sent a gift of books to the Collegiate School, Saybrooke, Connecticut (1714); Cotton Mather (FRS 1713) suggested that the school might be named after him and he sent further goods worth about £800, whereupon the school became Yale College (1718) Membership: Fellow Election Date: 30/11/1717 Proposers: Sir Hans Sloane.