Colonial Despatches

Sir James Robert Graham, a soldier in the British Army who would later enter into politics, left Oxford University in 1812 and travelled to the Iberian peninsula to join the battle against Napoleon. After he returned to England, Graham entered politics, and, in 1830, rose to the position of first lord of the Admiralty. Graham's main goal while in government was to reduce government expenditure and patronage.1

• 1. Jonathan Parry, Graham, Sir James Robert George, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.