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Key British Administrators in India

Key British Administrators in India

Key British Administrators in India

Governors-Generals of Bengal (before 1833 Act)

Warren Hastings (1772-1785):
  • First Governor-General of Bengal.
  • Abolition of Dual System.
  • Rohilla War.
  • Pitt's India Act of 1784.
Lord Cornwallis (1786-1793):
  • Permanent Settlement of Bengal (1793).
  • Father of Indian Civil Services.
  • Cornwallis Code.
  • Third Anglo-Mysore War.
Lord Wellesley (1798-1805):
  • Subsidiary Alliance system.
  • Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
  • Second Anglo-Maratha War.

Governors-Generals of India (after 1833 Act)

Lord William Bentinck (1828-1835):
  • First Governor-General of British India.
  • Abolition of Sati (1829).
  • Suppression of Thuggee.
  • Introduction of English Education (Macaulay's Minute).
Lord Charles Metcalfe (1835-1836):
  • Liberator of the Indian Press.
Lord Dalhousie (1848-1856):
  • Doctrine of Lapse.
  • Introduction of Railways (1853).
  • Telegraph and Postal reforms.
  • Public Works Department (PWD).
  • Wood's Despatch (1854).
  • Second Anglo-Sikh War.

Viceroys of India (after 1858)

Lord Canning (1856-1862):
  • Last Governor-General and first Viceroy.
  • Revolt of 1857.
  • Abolition of Doctrine of Lapse.
  • Universities in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras (1857).
  • Indian Councils Act, 1861.
Lord Mayo (1869-1872):
  • First Census in India (1872).
  • Financial decentralization.
  • Mayo College.
Lord Lytton (1876-1880):
  • Vernacular Press Act (1878).
  • Arms Act (1878).
  • Second Anglo-Afghan War.
  • Grand Delhi Durbar, 1877.
Lord Ripon (1880-1884):
  • Repealed Vernacular Press Act (1882).
  • Father of Local Self-Government.
  • Ilbert Bill controversy.
  • Hunter Commission.
Lord Dufferin (1884-1888):
  • Formation of Indian National Congress (1885).
  • Third Anglo-Burmese War.
Lord Curzon (1899-1905):
  • Partition of Bengal (1905).
  • Indian Universities Act (1904).
  • Ancient Monuments Preservation Act (1904).
Lord Minto II (1905-1910):
  • Morley-Minto Reforms (1909).
  • Founding of Muslim League (1906).
Lord Hardinge II (1910-1916):
  • Annulment of Partition of Bengal (1911).
  • Transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi (1911).
  • Delhi Durbar (1911).
Lord Chelmsford (1916-1921):
  • Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (1919).
  • Rowlatt Act (1919).
  • Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919).
  • Non-Cooperation Movement.
Lord Reading (1921-1926):
  • Chauri Chaura Incident.
  • Formation of Swaraj Party.
Lord Irwin (1926-1931):
  • Simon Commission (1927).
  • Dandi March / Civil Disobedience Movement (1930).
  • Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931).
Lord Willingdon (1931-1936):
  • Government of India Act, 1935.
  • Poona Pact (1932).
Lord Linlithgow (1936-1944):
  • Beginning of World War II.
  • Quit India Movement (1942).
  • Cripps Mission (1942).
Lord Wavell (1944-1947):
  • Wavell Plan.
  • Cabinet Mission Plan (1946).
Lord Mountbatten (1947-1948):
  • Last Viceroy of British India and first Governor-General of independent India.
  • Mountbatten Plan / 3rd June Plan.
  • Indian Independence Act, 1947.
C. Rajagopalachari (1948-1950):
  • Last Governor-General of independent India (and the only Indian).