William Yule was the son of George and Elizabeth Yule; his family were farmers in East Lothian, Scotland. He was appointed a cadet in the Bengal Army in December 1780, aged sixteen, and sailed for India the following March. He was Assistant Resident in Lucknow and Delh,i and Postmaster in Lucknow in 1800. In October 1806 he was promoted to Major, retiring in 1808. He was offered the Lieutenant-Governorship of St Helena in 1807, but did not accept. In 1811 he married Eliza, eldest daughter of William Paterson of Braehead. He died at 25 Regent Terrace, Edinburgh on 6 October 1839.
Daoguang, Emperor of China, was the seventh Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the sixth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1820 to 1850. His reign included the First Opium War and the beginning of the Taiping Rebellion.