October 1809 he became Chief Secretary to Government, and on 30 October 1812 he succeeded his old friend and colleague James Lumsden as member of the Supreme Council at Calcutta. Having completed his five years in this appointment, he left India after thirty-four years' service there, and returned to England. He was soon after, in 1820, elected a director of the East India Company, and continued to act in this capacity until his death. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1826 as "an East India Director, and late Vice President of the Supreme Government of Bengal, (of 49 Portland Place) a Gentleman eminently versed in Oriental Literature and much attached to Science." He died at his residence, 49 Portland Place, on 4 May 1841. He married the daughter of Peter Friell, by whom he had a family of five sons and six daughters, of whom the most distinguished was the fourth son, Sir George Frederick Edmonstone, who was Lord Canning's foreign secretary, and governor of the north-western provinces after the Sepoy Mutiny. The eldest son, Neil Benjamin (born 13 June 1809), was also in the East India Company's service. He also had an Indian family which he provided for and maintained quite separately from his European one. References 1765 births 1841 deaths 18th-century Scottish people 18th-century Indian people Indian people of Scottish descent 19th-century Scottish people 19th-century Indian people Fellows of the Royal Society Directors of the British East India Company