BRITISH VICEROYS IN INDIA

BRITISH VICEROYS IN INDIA
After the Sepoy Mutiny the rule of the British East India Company was transferred to the Crown. The Governor General remained head of the Government of India and now was called the Viceroy on account of his secondary role as the Crown's representative to the nominally sovereign princely states.

Lord Canning (1856 – 1862):

• Lord canning was the only British official to have held the positions of both the Governor General and the Viceroy.
• He became Viceroy once the Queen’s rule was imposed on India after Sepoy mutiny in 1857.
• He withdrew the draconian law ‘Doctrine of Lapse’.
• Higher education received a major boost with Universities being established at Calcutta. Bombay and Madras.
• Indian Councils Act that allowed a cabinet with Viceroy was passed in 1861 during his time.

Lord Elgin (1862 – 1863)

• Lord Elgin is best known as Governor General of the Province of Canada and Viceroy of India.
• He was one of the most trained Viceroy's ever appointed by British Government in India.
• Elgin's career in India was cut short by his sudden death after only twenty months of office, mostly carrying on Lord Canning's work.

Lord Lawrence (1864 – 1869):

• Lord Lawrence initiated telegraphic communications between India and Europe.
• To ensure the rule of law, as promised by the queen in principle, three High Courts were established at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1865.
• He initiated the expansion and improvement of canal systems and railways.
• He was instrumental in creation of the Indian Forest department.

Lord Mayo (1869 – 1872):

• Centralized model of administration in India was proving more or less fatal to the company and Lord Mayo introduced Started financial decentralization in India.
• Lord Mayo made contributions to the educational sector too with the establishment of the Rajkot College at Kathiarwar and Mayo College at Ajmer. But the entry was restricted to Indian princes.
• First census in India was held during the term of Lord Mayo in 1871.
• The first organized statistical survey of India was also held under his leadership.
• He was the only Viceroy to be murdered.

Lord Northbrook (1872 – 1876):Lord Northbrook is a reformer who was dedicated to upgrading the quality of government in the British Raj. 
Tower part of a building, currently known as Ghanta Ghar Multan or Clock Tower of Multan was named 'Northbrook Tower' located in the center of Multan city of Punjab, in Pakistan.

Lord Lytton (1876 – 1880):

• It was during Lord Lytton’s time that Queen Victoria (in absentia) proclaimed Empress of India at Delhi Durbar of 1877.
• He tried to impose Britain model trading policy in India which added to the already impoverished state of the sub continent
• It also led to a famine which claimed the lives of about 6 million people.
• His attitude while dealing with the famine bordered on ‘Selective Darwinism’ which invited a lot of criticism
• The Arms act (1878) which demanded mandatory license for Indians to acquire license for arms was also passed during his time.
• Clasping down heavily on the freedom of expression, he also passed Vernacular Press act (1878) which restricted the freedom of non English press.

Lord Ripon (1880 – 1884):

• Lord Ripon was concerned about striking a sense of equilibrium in the administration of India.
• One of the very first things he did was entering into a peace treaty with new Afghan.
• He started the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885 which gave some rights to the tenants also as opposed to permanent settlement which gave more rights to the Zamindars.
• He introduced another legislation called “IIbert bill” which stated that more rights should be granted to native Indians. It even had provisions for Indian judges to penalize British citizens. But act was not approved by others in the administration.

Lord Dufferin (1884 – 1888): 

• The significant event that took place during the term of Lord Dufferin wad the formation of Indian National Congress in 1885

Lord Lansdowne (1888 – 1894):

• Lord Lansdowne’s II Factory act passed during 1891, aspired to grant holidays and incentives to working women and children but failed in dealing with the same when it came to men.
• The general Category of Civil Services where divided into Imperial, Provincial and Subordinate during his term.
• Indian Council act of 1892 allowing increase in the size of legislative councils and number of their non-official members was passed by him. The decision was taken due to immense pressure from the Indian national congress.
• The issue Afghan province was finally taken into proper consideration with the appointment of Durand Commission to decide the frontier line between British India and Afghanistan.

Lord Elgin II (1894 – 1899): 

• During his term, Great famine of 1896 – 1897 took place with affected the North and Deccan states alike.
• He appointed Lyall commission to study the famine and its after effects. Commission came up with suggestions like minimum wages and generous remissions on the land revenue.

Lord Curzon (1899 – 1905):

• He introduced the Indian Universities act in 1904 which allowed more official control over the institutions.
• Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal on October 16, 1905 for the convenience in administration and therefore West and East Bengal came into existence.
• A commendable act done by him was the Ancient Monuments Protection act (1904), which aimed to restore India’s cultural heritage. The Archaeological Survey of India was established under this act.
• Lack of standardized currency was an issue, in order to solve that the Indian Coinage and Paper Currency act (1899).

Lord Minto (1905 – 1910):

• During the office term of Lord Minto, political unrest has reached at its heights
• Various acts were passed in order to suppress the revolutionary activities.
• Revolutionaries like Lala Laipat Rai, Ajit Singh Bal, Gangadhar Tilak were sent to Mandalay jail in Burma.
• The Morley-Minto Reforms which sought to reduce the involvement of Indians in the administration was passed.

Lord Hardinge (1910 – 1916):

• Lord Hardinge was known for the Delhi Durbar that he held to celebrate the coronation of King George V.
• Due to various disruptions and uncertainties the partition of Bengal was cancelled in 1911.
• The major decision to shift the capital from Calcutta to Delhi was also taken during his time as Viceroy.
• Gandhi returned to India after his studies from South Africa (1915).
• Home rule Movement, led by Annie Besant came into existence.

Lord Chelmsford (1916 – 1921):

• The legendary August Declaration of 1917 was announced during his period.
• It assured that the administration of India would be slowly transferred back to Indians itself.
• The first act that deals with self-government in India, the Montague-Chelmsford act was passed.
• Soon enough, Rowlatt act was passed in 1919 which extended the emergency period which placed India under British again due to First World War.
• It was followed by Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in 1919
• All these together contributed to a larger political unrest and Non cooperation movement started in 1920.

Lord Reading (1921 – 1926):

• Rowlatt act was to stay again under the viceroy ship of Lord Reading along with Press act of 1910 which made strict censorship compulsory for all kinds of publications.
• Under him, the British raj employed all kinds of measures to sabotage the Non cooperation movement.
• Mopla rebellion took place in the Malabar region of South.
• Swaraj party was formed.
• Viswabharathi University was established in Kolkata in 1922.
• M.N. Roy founded the Communist party in India in 1921.
• It was also the time of communal riots in various places like Delhi, Amritsar and Multan.

Lord Irwin (1926 – 1931):

• Simon Commission was appointed in India to study and suggest the constitutional reforms in 1928.
• Congress adopted the resolution of Poorna Swaraj, or complete independence.
• Dandi March took place on March 12, 1930 under the leadership of Gandhi in order to protest the tax imposed on salt.
• Civil disobedience movement, a major turning point in the history of Indian independence also took place during the term of Lord Irwin during 1930.
• First Round Table Conference was held in 1930 under the initiative of Lord Irwin.

Lord Willington (1931 – 1936) :

• Second Round Table conference took place in London on 1931
• Gandhi Irwin Pact was signed later on as part of the second round table conference in 1931 which ensured a dominion status for India under uncertain conditions.
• However, Gandhi was arrested on his arrival and this contributed to larger political unsettlement.
• After several negotiations, the Third Round Table conference took place in 1932.
• Poona Pact between Gandhi and B R Ambedkar took place during this period in which Gandhi wanted to remove award of power on communal grounds.
• Government of India act (1935) was passed which granted powers to India and made it the Federation of India.

Lord Linlithgow (1936 – 1944):

• According to the government of India act, diarchy in provinces ended and congress ministries formed in majority of the provinces.
• Winston Churchill announced the Atlantic Charter which granted sovereignty to colonies but it did not apply to India.
• Further protests were drowned in the World War II in 1939.
• Cripps Mission was sent to India to secure the help from Indians in winning the Second World War.
• Cripps mission further aggravated the condition in India which culminated to become the Quit India Movement in 1942.

Lord Wavell (1944 – 1947):

• Shimla conference was arranged by Lord Wavell on 25th June 1945 to hold talks between the Indian National Congress and Muslim League, but didn’t succeed in getting appositive result.
• Cabinet Mission Plan was undertaken in 1946 in order to proceed with the transfer of power from British to India.
• Election to the constituent assemblies formed where held under the leadership of Nehru’s interim government and it first meeting was held on December 9, 1946.

Lord Mountbatten (March 1947 – August 1947):

• Lord Mountbatten had the privilege o be the first governor general of free India.
• June 3 plan which was devised later, confirmed the partition of India.
• Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament on July 4, 1947
• India attained independence on 15 August 1947.
• Lord Mountbatten retried in June 1948.