Viceroys of British India

Lord Canning (1858-1862)

Lord Canning, who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Lord Dalhousie in 1856 , served as Governor-General of India for two years until 1858 and then as Viceroy of India until 1862. Following the proclamation of the British Queen in 1858 , he was appointed as the first Viceroy of British India. It was Lord Canning who read the proclamation of Queen Victoria at the Allahabad Durbar in November 1858. He introduced the Bengal Rent Act ( 1859) . The ' Indian Penal Code ' (1860) was passed. Accordingly, the Indian Penal Code came into force on 1 January 1862. Thomas Babington Macaulay was the architect of the Indian Penal Code. The White Mutiny took place among the British soldiers in India ( 1859). The Indigo (Indigo) Rebellion (Bengal) took place. The Adoption Prohibition Act was repealed ( 1859). The first budget was presented in India ( 1860). James Wilson presented the first budget in British India. The Archaeological Survey of India came into being in 1861. Income tax was introduced. The portfolio system was introduced in India ( 1861) . The Indian Civil Service Act ( 1861) was passed. The Indian Council Act ( 1861) was passed. The Indian High Court Act ( 1861) was passed.

Elgin I (1862 - 1863)

The Wahhabi revolt was suppressed. The first High Court of India came into existence in 1862. The first High Court of India was established in Calcutta. In 1862, other High Courts were established in Bombay and Madras.

Sir John Lawrence (1864 - 1869)

He was known as the ' Savior of Punjab ', ' Savior of India ' and ' Organizer of Victory ' . He implemented a policy of masterly inactivity . He started the Imperial Forest Department in India. When famine broke out in Orissa and the Bundelkhand-Rajputana regions, Sir John Lawrence was the Viceroy. George Campbell was the head of the commission appointed by the government to study the cause of the famine.

Lord Mayo (1869-1872)

He started the Statistical Survey of India. He implemented economic decentralization by giving financial powers to the provinces. He is known as the father of Indian fiscal decentralization. He started the departments of agriculture and commerce in India. He established Rajkot College in Kathiawar and Mayo College in Ajmer. He enacted the Indian Evidence Act ( 1872) . He led the first census in British India ( 1872) . He was assassinated by a prisoner named Sher Ali in the Andamans. Lord Mayo is the only Viceroy to be assassinated in India.

Northbrook (1872 - 1876)

Northbrooke was the Viceroy when the Kuka Rebellion in Punjab reached its peak. He established the Indian Meteorological Department. He abolished income tax. He was the Viceroy during the visit of the Prince of Wales to India in 1875. He resigned in protest at the actions of Lord Salisbury in the Afghan issue.

Lord Lytton (1876-1880)

Lord Lytton is known as the ' Viceroy of Reverse Character ' . He wrote under the pen name ' Owen Meredith ' . He enacted the Arms Act ( 1878) in India ( a law requiring Indians to have a license to possess arms). He organized the first royal court (Delhi Darbar) in Delhi. Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India at the Delhi Darbar of 1877. It was during Lord Lytton's time that Queen Victoria assumed the title of ' Kaiser-i-Hind ' at the Delhi Darbar . He reduced the age limit for appearing for the Civil Services Examination from 21 to 19 years. He introduced a unified salt tax. It was during his time that the Aligarh Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College was established ( 1875). The First Indian Famine Commission was appointed to study the Great Famine of 1876–78 . The Famine Commission came into existence in India in 1878 under the leadership of Richard Strachey. The First Indian Famine Commission is known as the Richard Strachey Commission. In 1878 , he introduced the Vernacular Newspaper Act.

Lord Ripon (1880-1884 )

He was known as the ' Popular Viceroy ' ( Ripon the Popular). He said, ' Judge me by my deeds, not my words ' . The first official census was conducted in India in 1881. The first Factory Act was passed in 1881. The Factory Act of 1881 was a law that banned child labour in British India . Under this act, employment of children below the age of seven in factories was prohibited. Lord Ripon is known as the ' Father of Local Self-Government ' in India . He passed the Local Self-Government Act in 1882. It was during his tenure that the Ilbert Bill ( 1883-84) controversy took place. The Ilbert Bill was a law that allowed Indian judges to try Britishers. The age limit for appearing for the Civil Services examination was restored from 19 to 21 .

Lord Dufferin (1884-1888)

Viceroy at the time of the formation of the Indian National Congress. The Indian National Congress was called a ' microscopic minority ' . The Third Anglo-Burmese War took place. The Public Service Commission ( 1886) came into being. Another name for the Public Service Commission is the Aitchison Commission. The Aitchison Commission was the first commission to study the issue of giving high government positions to Indians.

Lord Lansdowne (1888 – 1894)

The Viceroy of India, when the Indian Council Act of 1892 was passed. The Indian Civil Service was divided into three branches: Imperial , Provincial and Subordinate. The Second Factory Act was passed in 1891. The Age of Consent Bill was introduced , which legally fixed the marriageable age of girls at 12 years. The Durant Commission was appointed to separate British India and Afghanistan (the Durant Line currently separates Pakistan and Afghanistan).

Elgin II (1894 – 1899)

Viceroy during the plague epidemic in Bombay in 1896 , which killed thousands of people. Elgin II appointed the Lyall Famine Commission (headed by James Lyall) to study the famine in North India during 1896–97 . W.C. Rand was the commissioner of the Plague Commission in Pune, who was assassinated during the reign of Elgin II .

Lord Curzon (1899-1905)

Lord Curzon, who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Lord Elgin II in 1899 , remained Viceroy of India until 1905. During his tenure, the Famine Commission (headed by Sir Anthony Macdonnell) , the Irrigation Commission (headed by Colin Scott ) , the Police Commission (headed by Andrew Fraser) , the Education Commission , the Universities Commission ( 1899), the Indian Coinage and Paper Currency Act ( 1899), the Calcutta Corporation Act ( 1899), the Indian Universities Act ( 1904), the Agricultural Research Institute , the Department of Industry and Commerce , the Ancient Monuments Protection Act ( 1904), and the Partition of Bengal (1905) were enacted. 

Lord Minto II (1905-1910)

Lord Minto II, who was appointed to replace Lord Curzon in 1905 , remained the Viceroy of India until 1910. It was during his reign that events such as the formation of the Indian Muslim League ( 1906), the Surat Conference ( 1907), and the six-year imprisonment of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Mandalay, Burma (1908) took place. The Press Act (1908), the Explosive Substances Act (1908), the Government of India Act, 1909 , and the Indian were enacted during the reign of Lord Minto II.

Lord Hardinge II (1910-1916)

Lord Hardinge II, who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Lord Minto II in 1910 , remained Viceroy of India until 1916. On 12 December 1911 , he hosted a Durbar in Delhi for King George V when King George V and Queen Mary visited India. At this Durbar, George V announced that the capital of India had been transferred from Calcutta to Delhi. King George V's coronation as the head of the British Empire also took place in Delhi. The major events that took place during his tenure were the revocation of the Partition of Bengal ( 1911), the shifting of the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi ( 1911 ), the Delhi Conspiracy ( 1912) , the formation of the Gaddar Party ( 1913) , the beginning of the First World War ( 1914), Gandhiji's return to India from South Africa after ending his exile ( 1915 ), the formation of the Hindu Mahasabha ( 1915), the formation of the Home Rule League ( 1916), and the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of the Banaras Hindu University ( 1916) .

Lord Chelmsford (1916-1921)

Lord Chelmsford, who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Lord Hardinge II in 1916 , remained Viceroy of India until was known as the Government of India Act 1919. This Act introduced a dual system of government in the British Indian provinces. The major events that took place during Lord Chelmsford's tenure were the Lucknow Conference ( 1916), Gandhiji's entry into Indian politics ( 1917), Champaran Satyagraha ( 1917), August Declaration ( 1917 ), Ahmedabad Mills Strike ( 1918 ), Kheda Satyagraha ( 1918), the end of World War I ( 1918) , Rowlatt Act ( 1919), Jallianwala Bagh Massacre ( 1919), Khilafat Movement ( 1919-1920), and the Non-Cooperation Movement ( 1920) .

Lord Reading (1921-1926)

Lord Reading, who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Lord Chelmsford in 1921 , remained the Viceroy of India until Lord Reading was the Viceroy when the Railway Budget and the General Budget were separated in 1924. The visit of the Prince of Wales to India ( 1921), the Mappila riots ( 1921), the wagon tragedy (1921) , the Visva-Bharati University (1922) , the system of holding simultaneous examinations in Delhi and England for admission to the the SwarajIndian Party (1923), the formation of the Rashtriya the Communist Swayamsevak Sangh (1925), and the Kakori all took place during the reign of Lord Reading.

Lord Irwin (1926-1931)

Lord Irwin, who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Lord Reading in 1926 , remained Viceroy of India until 1931 . The visit of the Simon Commission ( 1928), the Bardoli strike ( 1928), the Nehru Report ( 1928), the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association ( 1928), the assassination of Superintendent Sanders (1929) , the bomb blast by Bhagat Singh in Lala the Delhi Lajpat Rai, the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru , the Congress session in Lahore the capture of the British arsenal in Chittagong Disobedience Movement (1930), the Dandi March (1930) , the First Round Table Conference in London (1930), and the Gandhi -Irwin Pact (1931) were some of the major events that took place during Lord Irwin's tenure.

Lord Wellington (1931-1936)

Lord Wellington, who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Lord Irwin in 1931 , remained Viceroy of India until 1936. Lord Wellington was the Viceroy of whenIndia the Second (1931) and Third (1932) Round Table Conferences were held in London. The Second Civil Disobedience Movement of the Congress was launched (1932), the Ramsay MacDonald Communal Award was announced (1932), the Poona Pact (1932), the formation of the Congress Socialist Party (1934), and the Government of India , which separated Burma from India all took place during Lord Wellington's tenure.

Lord Linlithgow (1936-1943)

Lord Linlithgow is the longest serving Viceroy of India. He was the one who enacted the Government of India Act ( 1935) . He was the Viceroy when the Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution for the formation of Pakistan in 1940. It was also during his time that Gandhiji started his personal satyagraha. He put forward the August Offer in 1940. He declared that India would fight alongside Britain against Germany in the Second World War. He was the Viceroy during the ' Quit India ' movement and when the ' Cripps Mission ' came to India.

Lord Wavell (1943-1947)

Viceroy of India at the end of World War II. Convened the Simla Conference in 1945. Viceroy when the Interim Government under Nehru came into power in India on 2 September 1946. It was during his tenure that the Naval Mutiny took place in 1946. The Cabinet Mission visited India. The Constituent Assembly began its work. British Prime Minister Clement Attlee made the Declaration of India's Independence.

Mountbatten (1947-1948)

Lord Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of British India and the first Governor-General of independent India. The Mountbatten Plan was a plan to partition India. The Mountbatten Plan was presented at the joint session of the Congress and Muslim League in Delhi on June 3, 1947. It declared ' Partition of British India. Formation of Pakistan as a new country with independent India ' . The Mountbatten Plan was known as the Balkan Plan , the June Third Plan , and the Dickey Bird Plan. The Mountbatten Plan was made legal through the Indian Independence Act of 1947. The law came into force with the assent of the British monarch and accordingly India became an independent nation on August 15 , 1947. The Indian Independence Act of 1947 abolished the post of Viceroy and established the post of Governor-General appointed by the British monarch. Mountbatten then became the first Governor-General of India.

C. Rajagopalachari (1948–1950)

C. Rajagopalachari was the second and last Governor General of independent India. C. Rajagopalachari is the only Indian to have been the Governor General of India.