Viceroy of India

Name Events
Canning (1858-1862)
  • Queen Victoria’s Proclamation (on 1 November, 1858) and The Government of India Act, 1858
  • System of Budget was introduced
  • Formation of Imperial Civil Services
  • Indigo Revolt in Bengal in 1859–60
  • White mutiny by the European troops in 1859
  • Enactment of Indian Penal Code in 1860
  • Indian High Courts Act 1861
  • Indian Councils Act, 1861
  • Indian Civil Service Act, 1861
  • Police Act, 1861
  • Establishment of Archaeological Survey of India in 1861
  • Introduced Portfolio System which gave foundation for Cabinet System
Elgin 1 (1862-1863)
  • Establishment of Calcutta High Court, Bombay High Court (14 August) and Madras High Court (15 August) in 1862
  • Wahabi movement suppressed
John Lawrence (1864-1869)
  • Bhutan War (1864–65)
  • Establishment of Shimla as India’s summer capital in 1863
  • The Tabernacle of New Dispensation, a new Church established by Keshub Chandra Sen
  • Establishment of Allahabad High Court in 1866
  • The Famine Commission was constituted in 1867 under Henry Campbell due to the Orissa famine of 1866
  • Tenancy Act was passed in Punjab and Oudh in 1868
Mayo (1869-1872)
  • Started the Census in India in 1872
  • Opening of Rajkumar college in Rajkot and Mayo College at Ajmer for political training of Indian Princes
  • Keshub Chandra Sen establishes Indian Reform Association (1870)
  • Started Financial decentralization in 1870
  • Enacted IPC amendment-Sedition Act 1870 to tackle Wahabi Movement
  • He established the Department of Agriculture & Commerce in 1872
  • Established Statistical Survey of India in 1872
Northbrook (1872-1876)
  • Visit of Prince of Wales in 1875.
  • Trial of Gaekwar of Baroda.
  • Kuka Movement in Punjab.
  • Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College was founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1875)
  • Prince of Wales Edward VII visited India in 1875
Lytton (1876-1880)
  • The famine of 1876-78 affected Madras, Bombay, Mysore, Hyderabad, parts of central India, and Punjab; appointment of Famine Commission under the presidency of Richard Strachey (1878).
  • Royal Titles Act (1876), Queen Victoria assumed the title of ‘Kaiser-i-Hind’ or Queen Empress of India.
  • The Vernacular Press Act (1878).
  • The Arms Act (1878).
  • The Second Afghan War (1878-80).
  • 1st Delhi Durbar (out of 3) in 1877
  • Decreased the maximum age of appearing in civil services from 21 to 19
  • Second Anglo-Afghan War, (1878–80)
  • The Treaty of Gandamak signed in 1879
Ripon (1880-1884)
  • First Factory Act (1881)
  • Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
  • Repeal of the Vernacular Press Act in 1882
  • Ilbert Bill (1883)
  • Establishment of Panjab University in 1882
  • Government resolution on local self-government (1882)
  • Appointment of Education Commission under Sir William Wilson Hunter in 1882
  • First complete Census in India in 1881
  • He passed Famine codes in 1883
  • Increased the maximum age of appearing in civil services from 18 to 21
Dufferin (1884-1888)
  • Establishment of Indian National Congress (1885)
  • Bengal Tenancy Act (1885)
  • Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885)
  •  In 1886, Burma was made a province of India, with Rangoon as its capital
Lansdowne(1888-1894)
  • Age of Consent Act, of 1891 was passed to prohibit the marriages of girl child under the age of 12.
  • Indian Council Act 1892
  • Second Factory Act 1891
  • Setting up of Durand Commission in 1893
  • Categorisation of civil services into imperial, provisional, and subordinate
Elgin II (1894-1899)
  • Indian famine of 1896–1897
  • Spread of Bubonic plague in Bombay (1896)
  • Establishment of Ramakrishna Mission by Swami Vivekananda at Belur Math in 1897
  • Assassination of two British officials (Walter Charles Rand and Ayerst) by the Chapekar brothers in 1897
Curzon (1899-1905)
  • Indian famine of 1899–1900
  • Munda rebellion in 1899–1900
  • Department of Agriculture was constituted in 1901
  • Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa in Bihar was established in 1905
  • Partition of Bengal (1905)
  • Appointment of Raleigh University Commission (1902)
  • Ancient Monuments Preservation Act 1904
  • Official Secrets Act 1904 to curb free press
  • Second Delhi Durbar  in 1903
  • Appointment of Police Commission under Sir Andrew Frazer in 1902
  • Creation of North-West Frontier Province in 1901
  • Benaras Hindu Girls School (Kanya Vidyalaya) was established by Annie Besant in 1904
  • Younghusband’s expedition to Tibet in 1903–04
Minto II (1905-1910)
  • Popularisation of anti-partition and Swadeshi Movements.
  • Morley–Minto reforms 1909, or the Indian Councils Act 1909
  • Split in Congress in 1907 (in Surat session)
  • Satyendra Prasanna Sinha became the first Indian member to be appointed to the Viceroy’s Executive Council
  • Seditious Meetings (prohibition) Act 1907 to curb the extremist movement
  • Establishment of the Muslim League by Aga Khan III and Khwaja Salimullah (Nawab of Dhaka) in 1906
  • Foundation of Jugantar revolutionary group in Bengal (1906)
  • Indian Press Act, 1910
  • Jamsetji Tata established TISCO in 1907
  • The foundation stone of ‘The Victoria Memorial’ laid in 1906
  • Newspapers Act 1908
Hardinge II (1910-1916)
  • Third Delhi Durbar (1911)
  • Annulment of Partition of Bengal by King George V in 1911
  • Transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi (1911)
  • Partition of Bengal to form Bihar and Orissa province (1912)
  • World War I (1914–18)
  • Komagata Maru incident (1914)
  • The McMahon border line was created between India and China in 1914
  • Ghadar Mutiny (1915)
  • Mahatma Gandhi came back to India from South Africa in 1915
  • Foundation of Hindu Mahasabha by Madan Mohan Malviya (1915)
  • Foundation of Banaras Hindu University in 1916
Chelmsford (1916-1921)
  • Formation of the Indian Home Rule movement by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant (1916)
  • The first Women’s University (SNDT Women’s University) at Pune was founded by Dhondo Keshav Karve (1916)
  • Lucknow Pact (1916) between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League
  • Foundation of Sabarmati Ashram (1916) after Gandhi’s return
  • Champaran Satyagraha (1917), the first satyagraha movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in British India
  • Montagu’s August Declaration, 1917
  • Saddler University Commission or Calcutta Commission (1917)
  • Kheda Satyagraha of 1918
  • Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms (1919)
  • Government of India Act 1919
  • Rowlatt Act (1919)
  • Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919)
  • Khilafat Movement (1919–20) 
  • Non-cooperation movement (1920–22)
  • Foundation of Aligarh Muslim University in 1920
  • Imperial Bank of India (now State Bank of India established in 1921)
Reading (1921-1926 )
  • Malabar rebellion(1921)
  • Rabindranath Tagore founded Visva-Bharati University in 1921
  • Chauri Chaura incident (1922) and withdrawal of the Non-cooperation movement by Mahatma Gandhi
  • Establishment of the Swaraj Party by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru (1922)
  • Appointment of Lee Commission in 1923 on public services reforms
  • The railway budget was separated from the general budget in 1924
  • Kakori train robbery in 1925
  • Foundation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh by K. B. Hedgewar in 1925
  • Foundation of the Communist Party of India in Kanpur in 1925
  • Annulment of Press Act of 1910 and Rowlatt Act of 1919
Irwin (1926-1931)
  • Visit of the Simon Commission to India (1928) and the boycott of the commission by the Indians.
  • Appointment of the Harcourt Butler Indian States Commission (1927).
  • Nehru Report (1928)
  • Death of Lala Lajpat Rai (1928)
  • Fourteen Points of Jinnah (1929)
  • Lahore session of the Congress (1929); Purna Swaraj Resolution.
  • Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929)
  • Bombing in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929 by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt
  • “Deepavali Declaration” on 31 October 1929 
  • Appointment of “Hartog Committee” (1929) to survey the growth of education in British India
  • Launching of the Civil disobedience movement with Salt March (1930)
  • Dharasana Satyagraha (1930)
  • First Round Table Conferences (1930)
  • Allahabad Address by Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1930)
  • Chittagong armoury raid in 1930
  • Boycott of the First Round Table Conference (1930), Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931), and suspension of Civil Disobedience Movement.
  • Execution of Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, and Sukhdev Thapar (1931)
Willingdon (1931-1936)
  • Second Round Table Conference (1931)
  • Announcement of Communal Award by Ramsay MacDonald (1932)
  • Poona Pact between Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar in 1932
  • Third Round Table Conference (1932)
  • Pakistan Declaration (1933)
  • Launch of Individual Civil Disobedience (1933)
  • Foundation of Congress Socialist Party in 1934
  • Government of India Act 1935
  • Formation of All India Kisan Sabha in 1936
  • Reserve Bank of India was established by passing The Reserve Bank of India Act 1934.
  • ·Burma separated from India (1935).
Linlithgow (1936-1944)
  • Indian provincial elections (1937)
  • Indian entry into World War II (1939)
  • Day of Deliverance (1939)
  • Formation of All India Forward Bloc (1939)
  • Lahore Resolution (1940)
  • August Offer (1940)
  • Cripps Mission (1942)
  • Formation of Indian Legion (1942)
  • Quit India Movement (1942)
  • Formation of Indian National Army (1942)
  • Bengal famine (1943)
  • ‘Divide and Quit’ slogan at the Karachi session (1944) of the Muslim League.
Wavell (1944-1947)
  • C. R. formula (1944)
  • Simla Conference (1945)
  • WW II ended (1945)
  • Indian National Army (INA) trials in 1945-1946
  • Cabinet Mission (1946)
  • Direct Action Day (16 August 1946)
  • Interim Government was formed in 1946
  • Royal Indian Navy mutiny (1946)
  • Observance of ‘Direct Action Day’ (August 16, 1948) by the Muslim League.
  • Elections to the Constituent Assembly, formation of Interim Government by the Congress (September 1946).
  • Announcement of the end of British rule in India by Clement Attlee (prime minister of England) on February 20, 1947.
Mountbatten (1947-1948)
  • June Third Plan (June 3, 1947) announced.
  •  Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed on 18 July 1947.
  • Radcliffe Commission was appointed under the chairmanship of Cyril Radcliffe to demarcate the borderline of Bengal Presidency and Punjab Province
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