Viceroys Of India

Lord Canning (1856 – 1862):

• The last Governor General and the first Viceroy.

• Mutiny took place in his time.
• On Nov, 1858, the rule passed on to the crown.
• Withdrew Doctrine of Lapse.
• The Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were established in 1857.
• Indian Councils Act was passed in 1861.

Lord Elgin (1862 – 1863)

Lord Lawrence (1864 – 1869):

• Telegraphic communication was opened with Europe.

• High Courts were established at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1865.
• Expanded canal works and railways.
• Created the Indian Forest department.

Lord Mayo (1869 – 1872):

• Started the process of financial decentralization in India.

• Established the Rajkot college at Kathiarwar and Mayo College at Ajmer for the Indian
princes.
• For the first time in Indian history, a census was held in 1871.
• Organised the Statistical Survey of India.
• Was the only Viceroy to be murdered in office by a Pathan convict in the Andamans in
1872.

Lord Northbrook (1872 – 1876):

Lord Lytton (1876 – 1880):

• Known as the Viceroy to reverse characters.

• Organised the Grand ‘Delhi Durbar’ in 1877 to decorate Queen Victoria with the title of
‘Kaiser – I – Hind’.
• Arms Act(1878) made it mandatory for Indians to acquire license for arms.
• Passed the infamous Vernacular Press Act (1878).

Lord Ripon (1880 – 1884):

• Liberal person, who sympathized with Indians.

• Repeated the Vernacular Press Act (1882)
• Passed the local self – government Act (1882)
• Took steps to improve primary & secondary education (on William Hunter
Commission’s recommendations).
• The I Factory Act, 1881, aimed at prohibiting child labour.
• Passed the libert Bill (1883) which enabled Indian district magistrates to try European
criminals. But this was withdrawn later.
Lord Dufferin (1884 – 1888):

• Indian National Congress was formed during his tenure.

Lord Lansdowne (1888 – 1894):

• II Factory Act (1891) granted a weekly holiday and stipulated working hours for
women and children, although it failed to address concerns such as work hours for
men.
• Categorization of Civil Services into Imperial, Provincial and Subordinate.
• Indian Council Act of 1892 was passed.
• Appointment of Durand Commission to define the line between British India and
Afghanistan.

Lord Elgin II (1894 – 1899):

• Great famine of 1896 – 1897. Lyall Commission was appointed.

Lord Curzon (1899 – 1905):

• Passed the Indian Universities Act (1904) in which official control over the Universities
was increased.
• Partitioned Bengal (October 16, 1905) into two provinces 1, Bengal (proper), 2.East
Bengal & Assam.
• Appointed a Police Commission under Sir Andrew Frazer to enquire into the police
administration of every province.
• The risings of the frontier tribes in 1897 – 98 led him to create the North Western
Frontier Province(NWFP).
• Passed the Ancient Monuments Protection Act (1904), to restore India’s cultural
heritage. Thus the Archaeological Survey of India was established.
• Passed the Indian Coinage and Paper Currency Act (1899) and put India on a gold
standard.
• Extended railways to a great extent.

Lord Minto (1905 – 1910):

• There was great political unrest in India. Various acts were passed to curb the
revolutionary activities. Extremists like Lala Laipat Rai and Ajit Singh (in May, 1907)
and Bal Gangadhar Tilak (in July, 1908) were sent to Mandalay jail in Burma.
• The Indian Council Act of 1909 or the Morley – Minto Reforms was passed.

Lord Hardinge (1910 – 1916):

• Held a durbar in dec, 1911 to celebrate the coronation of King George V.

• Partition of Bengal was cancelled (1911), capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi (1911).
• A bomb was thrown at him; but he escaped unhurt (Dec 23, 1912).
• Gandhiji came back to India from S.Africa (1915).
• Annie Besant announced the Home Rule Movement.

Lord Chelmsford (1916 – 1921):

 • August Declaration of 1917, whereby control over the Indian government would be
gradually transferred to the Indian people.
• The government of India Act in 1919 (Montague – Chelmsford reforms) was passed.
• Rowlatt Act of 1919; Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (April 13, 1919).
• Non – Cooperation Movement.
• An Indian Sir S.P.Sinha was appointed the Governor of Bengal.
• A Women’s university was founded at Poona in 1916.
• Saddler Commission was appointed in 1917 to envisage new educational policy.

Lord Reading (1921 – 1926):

• Rowlatt act was repeated along with the Press act of 1910.
• Suppressed non-cooperation movement.
• Prince of Wales visited India in Nov.1921.
• Moplah rebellion (1921) took place in Kerala.
• Ahmedabad session of 1921.
• Formation of Swaraj Party.
• Vishwabharati University started functioning in 1922.
• Communist part was founded in 1921 by M.N.Roy.
• Kakory Train Robbery on Aug 9, 1925.
• Communal riots of 1923 – 25 in Multan, Amritsar, Delhi, etc.
• Swami Shraddhanand, a great nationalist and a leader of the Arya Samajists, was
murdered in communal orgy.

Lord Irwin (1926 – 1931):

• Simon Commission visited India in 1928.

• Congress passed the Indian Resolution in 1929.
• Dandi March (Mar 12, 1930).
• Civil Disobedience Movement (1930).
• First Round Table Conference held in England in 1930.
• Gandhi – Irwin Pact (Mar 5, 1931) was signed and Civil Disobediance Movement was
withdrawn.
• Martydorm of Jatin Das after 64 days hunger strike (1929).

Lord Willington (1931 – 1936):

• Second Round Table conference in London in 1931.

• On his return Gandhiji was again arrested and Civil Disobedience Movement was
resumed in Jan 1932.
• Communal Awards (Aug 16, 1932) assigned seats to different religious communities.
Gandhiji went on a epic fast in protest against this division.
• Third Round Table conference in 1932.
• Poona Pact was signed.
• Government of India Act (1935) was passed.

Lord Linlithgow (1936 – 1944):

• Govt. of India Act enforced in the provinces. Congress ministries formed in 8 out of 11
provinces. They remained in power for about 2 years till Oct 1939, when they gave up
 offices on the issue of India having been dragged into the II World War. The Muslim
League observed the days as ‘Deliverance Say’ (22 December)
• Churchill became the British PM in May, 1940. He declared that the Atlantic Charter
(issued jointly by the UK and US, stating to give sovereign rights to those who have
been forcibly deprived of them) does not apply to India.
• Outbreak of World War II in 1939.
• Cripps Mission in 1942.
• Quit India Movement (August 8, 1942).

Lord Wavell (1944 – 1947):

• Arranged the Shimla Conference on June 25, 1945 with Indian National Congress and
Muslim League; failed.
• Cabinet Mission Plan (May 16, 1946).
• Elections to the constituent assembly were held and an Interim Govt. was appointed
under Nehru.
• First meeting of the constituent assembly was held on Dec. 9, 1946.

Lord Mountbatten (Mar.1947 – Aug.1947):

• Last Viceroy of British India and the first Governor General of free India.
• Partition of India decided by the June 3 Plan.
• Indian Independence Act passed by the British parliament on July 4, 1947, by which
India became independent on August 15, 1947.
• Retried in June 1948 and was succeeded by C.Rajagopalachari (the first and the last
Indian Governor General of free India).

Governors-General of India, 1774–1858

Name Began Ended

Warren Hastings 20 October 1784 1 February 1785

Sir John MacPherson

1 February 1785 12 September 1786
(Provisional)

The Earl Cornwallis

12 September 1786 28 October 1793
(from 1792, The Marquess Cornwallis)

Sir John Shore 28 October 1793 March 1798

Sir Alured Clarke
March 1798 18 May 1798
(Provisional)

The Earl of Mornington

18 May 1798 30 July 1805
(from 1799, The Marquess Wellesley)

The Marquess Cornwallis 30 July 1805 5 October 1805

Sir George Hilario Barlow

10 October 1805 31 July 1807
(Provisional)

The Lord Minto 31 July 1807 4 October 1813

The Earl of Moira

4 October 1813 9 January 1823
(from 1817, The Marquess of Hastings)

John Adam
9 January 1823 1 August 1823
(Provisional)

The Lord Amherst

1 August 1823 13 March 1828
(from 1826, The Earl Amherst)

William Butterworth Bayly

13 March 1828 4 July 1828
(Provisional)

Lord William Bentinck 4 July 1828 20 March 1835

Sir Charles Metcalfe

20 March 1835 4 March 1836
(Provisional)

The Lord Auckland

4 March 1836 28 February 1842
(from 1839, The Earl of Auckland)
The Lord Ellenborough 28 February 1842 June 1844

William Wilberforce Bird

June 1844 23 July 1844
(Provisional)

Sir Henry Hardinge

23 July 1844 12 January 1848
(from 1846, The Viscount Hardinge)

The Earl of Dalhousie

12 January 1848 28 February 1856
(from 1849, The Marquess of Dalhousie)

The Viscount Canning 28 February 1856 1 November 1858

Governors-General and Viceroys of India, 1858–1947

Name Began Ended

The Viscount Canning

1 November 1858 21 March 1862
from 1859, the Earl Canning

The Earl of Elgin 21 March 1862 20 November 1863

Sir Robert Napier

21 November 1863 2 December 1863
(Provisional)

Sir William Denison

2 December 1863 12 January 1864
(Provisional)

Sir John Lawrence 12 January 1864 12 January 1869

The Earl of Mayo 12 January 1869 8 February 1872

Sir John Strachey
9 February 1872 23 February 1872
(Provisional)

The Lord Napier

24 February 1872 3 May 1872
(Provisional)

The Lord Northbrook 3 May 1872 12 April 1876

The Lord Lytton 12 April 1876 8 June 1880

The Marquess of Ripon 8 June 1880 13 December 1884

The Earl of Dufferin 13 December 1884 10 December 1888

The Marquess of Lansdowne 10 December 1888 11 October 1894

The Earl of Elgin 11 October 1894 6 January 1899

The Lord Curzon of Kedleston 6 January 1899 18 November 1905

The Earl of Minto 18 November 1905 23 November 1910

The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst 23 November 1910 4 April 1916

The Lord Chelmsford 4 April 1916 2 April 1921

The Earl of Reading 2 April 1921 3 April 1926

The Lord Irwin 3 April 1926 18 April 1931

The Earl of Willingdon 18 April 1931 18 April 1936

The Marquess of Linlithgow 18 April 1936 1 October 1943

The Viscount Wavell 1 October 1943 21 February 1947

The Viscount Mountbatten of Burma 21 February 1947 15 August 1947

Governors-General of India, 1947–1950

Name Began Ended

The Viscount Mountbatten of Burma 15 August 1947 June 1948

Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari June 1948 25 January 1950

Governors-General of Pakistan, 1947–1958

For more details on this topic, see Governor-General of Pakistan.

Name Began Ended

Mohammad Ali Jinnah 15 August 1947 11 September 1948

Khwaja Nazimuddin 14 September 1948 17 October 1951

Ghulam Mohammad 17 October 1951 6 October 1955

Iskander Mirza 6 October 1955 23 March 1956

 •

Parliament of the United Kingdom (1801–present)

Preceded by Member of Parliament for Succeeded by

Durham
Richard Wharton Michael Angelo Taylor
Michael Angelo Taylor 1820–1830 Sir Roger Gresley, Bt
with Michael Angelo Taylor

Member of Parliament for St Succeeded by

Preceded by
Germans Charles Ross
Charles Ross
1830–1831 Winthrop Mackworth
James Loch
with Charles Ross Praed

Member of Parliament for

Preceded by Newport (Cornwall) Succeeded by
Jonathan Raine 1831–1832 (constituency abolished)
John Doherty with Jonathan Raine 1831, Viscount
Grimston 1831–1832

Preceded by
Member for Launceston Succeeded by
James Brogden
1832–1844 William Bowles
Sir John Malcolm

Political offices

Preceded by Clerk of the Ordnance Succeeded by

Robert Ward 1823–1827 Sir George Clerk, Bt

Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary at War
Sir Francis Leveson
The Viscount Palmerston 1828–1830
Gower

Preceded by
Chief Secretary for Ireland Succeeded by
Lord Francis Leveson-
1830 Edward Smith-Stanley
Gower

Preceded by Chief Secretary for Ireland Succeeded by

Edward Littleton 1834–1835 Viscount Morpeth

Preceded by Secretary at War Succeeded by

Thomas Macaulay 1841–1844 Sir Thomas Fremantle

Preceded by Governor-General of India Succeeded by

 William Wilberforce
1844–1848 The Earl of Dalhousie
Bird

Preceded by
Master-General of the Ordnance Succeeded by
The Marquess of
1852 The Lord Raglan
Anglesey

Peerage of the United Kingdom

Preceded by Viscount Hardinge Succeeded by

New Creation 1846–1856 Charles Hardinge

Military offices

Preceded by Commander-in-Chief of the Forces Succeeded by

The Duke of Wellington 1852––1856 The Duke of Cambridge