Modern History Notes: Viceroys of India

Dear Readers, History covers a good number of questions making it an important topic to cover in SSC Exams.  Around 5-8 questions asks from History which surely makes it important for you to study the topic well for upcoming SSC and other competitive  Exams. Here is Modern History Notes on Viceroys of India which you should not ignore.

Viceroys of India

Lord Canning (AD 1856-62) :

• The last Governor General and the first Viceroy. Withdrew Doctrine of Lapse.
• Revolt of 1857, Mutiny took place. Indian Penal Code 1860 was passed.
• Passed the Act, 1858, which ended the rule of the East India Company. The Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were established in 1857.

Lord Elgin (AD 1862) :

• Wahabi Movement

Lord John Lawrence (AD 1864-69) :

• Established the High Courts at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1865.
• Telegraphic communication was opened with Europe. Created the Indian Forest Department.

Lord Mayo (AD 1869-72) :

• Organised the Statistical Survey of India and for the first time in Indian history, a census was held in 1871.
• Started the process of financial decentralisation in India. Established the Department of Agriculture and Commerce.
• Established the Rajkot College at Kathiawar and Mayo College at Ajmer for the Indian princes.
• He was the only viceroy to be murdered in office by a Pathan convict in the Andamans in 1872.

Lord Northbrooke (AD 1872-76) :

• Kuka Rebellion in Punjab, Famine in Bihar.

Lord Lytton (AD 1872-76) :

• Known as the 'Viceroy of Reverse Character'
• Royal Titles Act of 1876 and the assumption of the title of 'Empress of India' by Queen Victoria, the Delhi Durbar in January 1877.
• Vernacular Press Act (also called the 'Gagging Act' to restrain the circulation of printed matter) and the Arms Act (made it mandatory for Indians to acquire license in arms)of 1878.

Lord Rippon (AD 1880-84) :

• First Factory Act of 1881 (prohibited labour). Local Self-Government was introduced in 1882.
• Repealed the Vernacular Press Act in 1882. Finances of the centre were divided.
• Lord Rippon is regarded as 'the founding father of local self governance' in India.
• An Education Commission was appointed under Sir William Hunter in 1882 to improve primary and secondary education.
• The Ilbert Bill Controversy (1883) enabled Indian district magistrates to try European criminals.

Lord Dufferin (AD 1884-88) :

• Third Burmese War (AD 1885-86). Establishment of the Indian National Congress in 1885.

Lord Lansdown (AD 1888-94) :

• Factory Act of 1891 granted weekly holiday and stipulated working hours for women and children.
• Civil services were divided into Imperial, Provincial and Subordinate Services.
• Indian Councils Act of 1892.
• The Durand Commission defined the Durand Line between British India and Afghanistan (now between Pakistan and Afghanistan) in 1893.

Lord Elgin II (AD 1894-99) :

• Southern uprisings of 1899. Great famine of 1896-1897 and Lyall Commission on famine was established.

Lord Curzon (AD 1899-1905) :

• A Commission was appointed under Sir Thomas Raleigh in 1902, to suggest reforms regarding universities, the Indian Universities Act of 1904 was passed on the basis of its recommendations.
• Ancient Monuments Preservation Act of 1994. Thus, Archaeological Survey of India was established.
• Agricultural Research Institute was established at Pusa in Delhi. Partitioned Bengal in 1905.

Lord Minto (AD 1905-10) :

• Swadeshi Movement (1905-08); foundation of Muslim League (1906); Surat Session and split in the Congress (1907). Morley-Minto Reforms (1909).

Lord Hardinge (AD 1910-16) :

• Capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi (1911); Delhi Durbar; Partition of Bengal was cancelled. The Hindu Mahasabha was founded in 1915 by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya.

Lord Chelmsford (AD 1916-21) :

• Gandhi returned to India (1915) and founded the Sabarmati Ashram (1916), Champaran Satyagraha, Satyagraha at Ahmedabad (1981), Kheda Satyagraha (1918).
• August Declaration (1917) by Montague, the then Secretary of State, and Montford reforms or the Government of India Act of 1919.
• Rowlatt Act (March, 1919) and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (13thApril, 1919).
• Khilafat Committee was formed and Khilafat Movement started (1919-20).
• Non-Cooperation Movement started (1920-22). Women's University was founded at Poona (1916).

Lord Reading (AD 1921-26):

• Repeal of Rowlatt Act. Chauri-Chaura incident. RSS, founded in 1925. Suppreessed Non-Cooperation Movment. Formation of Swaraj Party.
• Moplah Rebellion (1921) took place. Kokori Train Robbery on 1stAugust, 1925. Communal Riots of  1923-25 in Multan, Amritsar, Delhi etc.

Lord Irwin (AD 1926-31) :

• Simon Commission visited Indian in 1927. Convress passed the Indian Resolution in 1929.
• Dandi March (12th March, 1930). Civil Disobediene Movement (1930).
• First Round Table Conference was held in England in 1930. Gandhi-Irwin Pact.
• Lahore Session of Congress and Poorna Swaraj Declaration (1925).

Lord Willingdon (AD 1931-36) :

• Second Round Table Conference in London in 1931 and third in 1932.
• Government of India Act (1935) was passed. Communal Awards (16th August, 1932) assigned seats to different religious communities. Gandhiji went on a epic fast to protest against this division.

Lord Linlithgow (AD 1936-43) :

• Congress Ministries resignation celebrated as 'Deliverance Day' by the Muslim League (1939), the Lahore Resolution (23rd March, 1940) of the Muslim League demanding separate state for the Muslims. (It was at this session that Jinnah propounded his Two-Nation Theory). Outbreak of World War II in 1939. Cripps Mission in 1942. Quit India Movement (8th August, 1942).

Lord Wavell (AD 1943-47) :

• Cabinet Mission Plan (16th May, 1946).
• First meeting of the Constituent Assembly was held on 9thDecember, 1946.
• Arranged the Shimla Conference on 25th June, 1945 with the failure of the Indian National Congress and Muslim League.
• Election to the Constituent Assembly were held and an interim government was appointed under Nehru.

Lord Mountbatten (March to August, 1947) :

• Last Viceroy of British India and the first Governor-General of free India.
• Partition of India decided by the 3rd June Plan or Mountbatten Plan.
• Retired in June, 1948 and was succeeded by C Rajagopalachari, the first and the last Indian Governor-General of Free India.
• Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament on 4th July, 1947, by which India became independent on 15th August, 1947.