List of British Governor Generals and Viceroys During British Period in India & The Most Important Events During Their Reign

By Bharat Choudhary -
Flag of British Governor Generals and Viceroys During British Period in India
Flag of British Governor Generals and Viceroys During British Period in India
A. Governors of Fort William in Bengal (1757-1772)
  • Roger Drake (1757)
  • Robert Clive (First Administration; 1757-1760)
  • Holwell (Officiating; 1760)
  • Henry Vansittart (1760-1765)
  • Robert Clive (Second Administration; 1765-1767)
    • Established Dual Government in Bengal from 1765-72
    • Bengal White Mutiny by white brigades at Allahabad and Monghyr
  • Harry Verelst (1767-1769)
  • Cartier (1769-72)


B. Governor Generals (1773-1858)
  • Warren Hastings (1773-1785) - Became Governor in 1772 and Governor-General in 1773 through Regulating Act of 1773
    • His four councillors were Clavering, Francis, Monson and Barwell
    • Abolished Dual system (1767-1772) of administration (1772)
    • Auctioned the right to collect land revenue to the highest bidder(1772)
    • Divided Bengal into districts and appointed Collectors (1772)
    • Rohilla war (1774) and annexation of Rohilkhand by the Nawab of Awadh with the help of Britishers.
    • Treaty of Surat (1775) between Raghunath Rao and Warren Hastings, but Council of Calcutta rejected it
    • Nanad Kumar incident (1775)
    • Treaty of Purandar (1776) between English and Peshwa
    • Refined Hindu and Muslim laws. A translation of the code in Sanskrit appeared in 1776 under the title of "Code of Gentoo Laws"
    • Chait Singh (Banaras Raja) affair (1778)
    • James Augustus Hickey started a weekly paper called Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser (1780)
    • First (1st) Anglo-Maratha War (1776-82) and Treaty of Salbai(1782)
    • Begums of Oudh / Awadh affair (1782)
    • Founded Asiatic Society of Bengal with William Jones in 1784
    • Pitts India Act of 1784
    • Second (2nd) Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84) and Treaty of Mangalore (1785) with Tipu Sultan
    • Started Diwani and Faujdari adalat at the district level and Sadar diwani and Nizamat adalats (appellate courts) at Calcutta.
    • Wrote introduction to the first English translation of the Gita by Charles Wilkins
  • Lord Cornwallis (1786-1793)
    • Sanskrit College, Banaras was founded (1791) by Jonathan Duncan
    • New Police System was introduced (1791)
    • Third (3rd) Anglo-Mysore War - defeat of Tipu Sultan (1790-92)
    • Treaty of Seringapatam (1792)
    • Cornwallis code, based on separation of powers, was introduced - Codify law - separated the financial / revenue from the judicial functions / administration (1793)
    • Created post of district judge (1793)
    • Introduced Permanent Settlement in Bengal (1793)
    • Cornwallis is known as the father of the Civil Services in India 
  • Sir John Shore (1793-1798)
    • First (1st) Charter Act was  introduced (1793)
    • Battle of Kurdla / Kharda / Khadra between Nizam and the Marathas (1795)
    • Planned Permanent Settlement with Cornwallis and later succeeded him (1793)
    • Famous for his Policy of Non-Interference
  • Lord Wallesley (1798-1805)
    • Introduced the Subsidiary Alliance system to achieve British paramountcy (1798) - The states that signed the alliance were - Hydrabad (first to sign) in 1798 and then Mysore, Tanjore, Awadh, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Mecheri, Bundi, Bharatpur and Berar
    • First treaty with Nizam (1798)
    • Fourth (4th) Anglo-Mysore war (1799) - defeat and death of Tipu Sultan
    • Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-1805) - defeat of the Sindhiya, the Bhonsale and the Holkar
    • Formation of Madras presidency (1801) during his tenure after the annexation of the kingdoms of Tanjore and Carnatic
    • Treaty of Bassein (1802) with Peshwa
    • Lord Lake captured Delhi and Agra and the Mughal emperor was put under Company's protection
    • Described himself a Bengal Tiger
  • Marquess Cornwallis (for the second time) 1805
  • Sir George Barlow (1805-1807)
    • End of Second Anglo-Maratha (1805)
    • Sepoy Mutiny of Vellore (1806)
    • Tried towords restoration of peace with Scindhia and Holkar
  • Lord Minto (I) (1807 -13)
    • Sent the mission of Malcolm to Persia and that of Eliphinston to Kabul (1808)
    • Treaty of Amritsar (1809) - with Ranjit Singh
    • Charter Act of 1813
  • Lord Hastings (1813-1823)
    • Anglo-Nepalese (Gurkha / Gorkha) war (1813-1823)
    • Treaty of Sugauli / Segowlee / Sequelae (1816) - between the East India Company and King of Nepal
    • Treaty of Poona (1817) with Peshwa
    • Third (3rd) Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818)
    • Pindari war (1817-1818)
    • Creation of Bombay Presidency (1818)
    • Ryotwari settlement in Madras by Thomas Munro, the Governor (1820)
    • Mahalwari system of land revenue was made in North-West province by James Thomson.
    • Adopted the Policy of Intervention and War
    • He considered Rajputs as the natural allies
  • Lord Amherst (1823-28)
    • First (1st) Burmese war (1824-1826) 
    • Treaty of Yandaboo (1826) - with lower Burma (Pegu) by which British merchants were allowed to settle in southern coast of Burma and Rangoon
    • Acquisition of territories in Malay Peninsula (1824)
    • Capture of Bharatpur (1826)
  • Lord William Cavendish - Bentinck (1828-35)
    • Known as most enlightened and liberal Governor-General of India
    • Known as Father of Modern Western Education in India
    • Abolition / Prohibition of Sati (1829)
    • Banned female infanticide (1829)
    • Suppression of thuggee / thugs (1829-35) - Military operations led / curbed by William Sleeman - 1830
    • Annexed Mysore (1831), Coorg (1834), Central Chachar (1834)  on the plea of misgovernment
    • Charter Act / Regulation of (1833) - Mertins Bird (Father of land revenue settlement in North)
    • Created the province of Agra (1834)
    • Macaulay's minutes on Education (1835)
    • English was made the official language of india (1835)
    • Abolition of provincial court of appeal and circuit set up by Cornwallis
    • Appointment of commissioners of circuit and revenue
    • Concluded a treaty of perpetual friendship with Ranjit Singh
  • Sir Charles (Lord) Metcalfe (1834-1836)
    • Passed the famous Press Law, which freed Indian press from restrictions
  • Lord Auckland (1836-1842)
    • First Afghan War (1836-42)
  • Lord Ellenborough (1842-1844)
    • Termination of First Afghan Wars (1842)
    • Annexation of Sindh (1843)
    • War with Gwalior (1843)
    • Abolition of slavery in India in year (~1844)
  • Lord Hardinge (1844-48)
    • First Sikh war (1845-1846)
    • Treaty of Lahore (1846) - end of Sikh sovereignty in India
    • Prohibition of female infanticide and human sacrifice among Gonds of central India.
  • Lord Dalhousie (1848-56)
    • Abolished Title and Pension
    • Second Sikh War (1845-1846) 
    • Annexation of Punjab (1849)
    • Application of Doctrine of Lapse - Captured Satara (1848), Jaipur and Sambalpur (1849), Baghat (1850), Udaipur (1852), Jhansi (1853) and Nagpur (1854)
    • Second Burmese war (1852)
    • Annexation of Berar (1853)
    • Charter Act of 1853
    • Introduction of Railways (32 km) b/t Bombay -Thana  (1853)
    • Telegraph b/t Calcutta - Agra (1853)
    • Postal system (1853)
    • Recruitment of the Civil Service by competitive examination (1853)
    • Woods Dispatch (1854)
    • Widow Remarriage Act (1856)
    • Santhal uprising (1855-56)
    • Annexation of Oudh (1856)
    • Three Universities established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras (1857)
    • Introduced Bon-Regulation System - the system of centralized control in newly acquired territories
    • Founded the Public Work Department (P.W.D.)
    • Raised Gorkha Regiment
    • Shimla was made summer capital of British India
C. British Governor Generals and Viceroys (1858-1947)

  • Lord Canning
    • Queen Victorias proclamation and India Act of 1858
    • White Mutiny
    • Indian Councils Act of 1861
    • Indian Penal Code in 1860
    • Lord Elgin (I) (1862)
    • Suppressed Wahabis movement
  • Lord John Lawrence (1864 -69)
    • Bhutan War ( 1865)
    • Establishment of High Courts at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1865
  • Lord Mayo (1869-72)
    • Establishment of statistical survey of India
    • Dept. of Agriculture and commerce
    • State railways
    • He was assassinated in Andamans in 1872
  • Sir John Strachey
  • Lord Napier of Merchistoun
  • Lord Northbrook
  • Lord Lytton (I) (1876-80)
    • Royal Titles Act of 1876
    • Assumption of title of empress of India by Queen Victoria
    • Vernacular Press Act
    • Arms Act of 1878
    • Second Afghan War (1878-80)
    • Appointment of first famine commission in 1878
  • Lord Ripon (1880-84)
    • First Factory Act and First census
    • Local Self Government in 1882
    • Division finances of the centre in 1882
    • Hunter commission on Education
    • Ilbert Bill Controversy
  • Lord Dufferin (1884-88)
    • Burmese War (1885-86)
    • Foundation of Indian National Congress
  • Lord Landsdowne (1888-94)
    • Factory Act of 1891
    • Division of Civil services into Imperial, Provincial and Subordinate
    • Indian councils Act of 1892
    • Appointment of Durand Commission and its definition of Durand line between India (Now Pakistan) and Afghanistan
  • Lord Elgin (II)
    • Assassination of British By Chapekar
  • Lord Curzon (1899-1905)
    • Thomas Raleigh commission
    • Ancient Monuments Preservation Act of 1904
    • Establishment of Agriculture research Institute at Pusa in Bihar
    • Partition of Bengal in 1905
  • Lord Minto (II) (1905-10)
    • Anti Partition and swadeshi movements
    • Surat session and Split in the congress
    • Minto Morley reforms
    • Foundation of Muslim League by Aga Khan
    • Nawab of Dacca etc. in 1906
  • Lord Hardinge II (1910-16)
    • Annulment of partion of Bengal
    • Transfer imperial capital to Delhi
    • Death of G.K. Gokhale in 1915
    • Foundation of Hindu Mahasabha in 1915
  • Lord Chelmford (1916 -21)
    • Return of Ghandhji
    • Home Rule leagues
    • Luknow Session and reunion of congress in 1916
    • Lucknow pact in 1916 by the efforts of B.G.Tilak
    • August Declaration of Montague
    • Formation of Indian Liberal Federation by S.N.Banerjee
    • Jallian Walla Bagh Massacre (13 April 1919)
    • Khilafat movement (1919-20)
    • Appointment of Sir S.P.Sinha as Lieutenant Governor of Bihar (First Indian)
  • Lord Reading (1921-26)
    • ChauriChaura incident ( 5th Feb 1922)
    • Formation of Swaraj party by C.R.Das
    • Motilal Nehru in Dec 1922
    • Foundation of RastriyaSwayamSevakSangh (RSS) by K.B.Hedgewar (1925)
    • Repeal of Rowlatt Act
    • Holding of simultaneous examinations in India and England
    • Beginning of Indianisation of officers cadre of the Indian Army.
  • Lord Irwin (1926-31)
    • Simon commission and its Boycott
    • Harcourt Butler Indian States commission (1927)
    • Nehru report and its rejection by Muslim League
    • Hindu Mahasabha etc.
    • Deepavali declaration
    • Lahore session (1929)
    • Poornaswaraj declaration
    • Launching of Civil Disobedience Movement and Dandi march
    • First Round Table Congress
    • Gandi Irwin Pact
  • Lord Willingdon (1931-36)
    • Second and Third Round Table conferences
    • Communal award (1932) by Ramsay Mac Donald
    • Poona pact between Gandhi and Ambedkar(1932)
    • Govt. of India Act 1935
    • Foundation of Socialist Party by Acharya Narendra Dev and Jai Prakash Narayan (1934)
  • Lord Linlithgow (1936-43)
    • Formation of congress ministries
    • Resignation of Subash Chandra Bose from the President ship of congress
    • Formation of Forward Block
    • August offer by Linlithgow and its rejection by congress
    • Deliverance day by Muslim League (1939)
    • Cripps Mission
    • Quit India movement
  • Lord Wavell (1943-47)
    • C.R.Formula by C.Rajagopalchari
    • Wavell Plan and Simla Conference
    • INA Trials
    • Naval Mutiny (1946)
    • Cabinet Mission ( Lawrence, Cripps and Alexander)
    • Formation of Interim Government and Launching of Direct Action Day
  • Lord Mountbatten (1947)
    • Partition of India and Independence

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