Bombay Presidency

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Presidency of Bombay
1662–1935
Province of Bombay
1935–1950
1662–1950
Coat of arms of Bombay Presidency
Coat of arms
Bombay
Governor 
• 1662–1664 (first)
Abraham Shipman
• 1943–1947 (last)
Sir John Colville
Premier 
• 1937–1939 (first)
B. G. Kher
• 1939–1946
Governor's rule
• 1946–1950 (last)
B. G. Kher
Historical era
Independence of India
1947
• Bombay Province becomes Bombay State
1950
Location of Bombay Presidency
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Portuguese India
Maratha Empire
Bombay State
Sind Province (1936–55)
Aden Colony
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bombay Presidency". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an

Poona was the summer capital.[1]

The Bombay province has its beginnings in the city of Bombay that was leased in

Sind was annexed by the company in 1843 after defeating the Talpur dynasty in the Battle of Hyderabad
.

At its greatest extent, the Bombay Province comprised the present-day state of

princely states was in the hands of local rulers. The presidency, however, managed the defence of princely states and British relations with them through political agencies. The Bombay Presidency along with the Bengal Presidency and Madras Presidency were the three major centres of British power in South Asia.[3]

Origins

Early history

Silver rupee of the Bombay Presidency, in the name of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (ruled 1719–48), minted at Bombay in c. 1731. Most of the gold and silver coinages of the Presidencies were in the Mughal style.

The first

Calcutta
.

Territorial expansion

During the 18th century, the

Maratha Gaekwad rulers of Baroda
acknowledged British sovereignty.

History

1893 map of the Bombay Presidency including Aden Province and Socotra.

Expansion

In 1803, the Bombay Presidency included only

Nasik, Solapur, Belgaum, Kaladgi, Dharwad, etc.) were included in the Presidency, the settlement of which was completed by Mountstuart Elphinstone
, governor from 1819 to 1827. His policy was to rule as far as possible on native lines, avoiding all changes for which the population was not yet ripe; but the grosser abuses of the old regime were stopped, the country was pacified, the laws were codified, and courts and schools were established.

1 Pice (1/64 Rupee) copper coin of the Bombay Presidency from 1821, with the United East India Company bale mark.

The period that followed is notable mainly for the enlargement of the Presidency through the lapse of certain native states, by the addition of

Scindia
(1853). In 1862, North Canara was transferred from Madras Presidency to Bombay while South Canara remained with Madras.

Victorian era

In 1859, under the terms of the Queen's Proclamation issued by Queen Victoria, the Bombay Presidency, along with the rest of British India, came under the direct rule of the British Crown.[4]

.

The establishment of an orderly administration, one outcome of which was a general fall of prices that made the unwonted regularity of the collection of taxes doubly unwelcome, naturally excited a certain amount of misgiving and resentment; but on the whole the population was prosperous and contented, and under Lord Elphinstone (1853–1860) the presidency passed through the crisis of the

Bartle Frere agricultural prosperity reached its highest point, as a result of the American Civil War and the consequent enormous demand for Indian cotton in Europe. The money thus poured into the country produced an epidemic of speculation known as the Share Mania (1864–1865), which ended in a commercial crisis and the failure of the Bank of Bombay (1866). But the peasantry gained on the whole more than they lost, and the trade of Bombay was not permanently injured. Sir Bartle Frere encouraged the completion of the great trunk lines of railways, and with the funds obtained by the demolition of the town walls (1862) he began the magnificent series of public buildings that now adorn Bombay (Mumbai
).

During this period, parts of Bombay presidency were devastated by two great famines:

Dyarchy (1920–37)

British India's

Sir Cowasji Jehangir.[6]

In 1932,

Aden
was separated from Bombay and made a separate province, and Sindh became a separate province on 1 April 1936.

Provincial Autonomy

A 1951 hundi from Bombay

The

1937 elections, the Indian National Congress won the elections in Bombay but declined to form the government. The Governor Sir George Lloyd invited Sir Dhanjishah Cooper,[7] to form an interim ministry which was joined by Jamnadas Mehta of the Lokashahi Swarajya Paksha (Democratic Swarajya Party), Sir Siddappa T. Kambli of the Non-Brahmin Party and Hoosenally Rahimtoola of the Muslim League.[8][9][10][11]

Minister Portfolio
Dhanjishah Cooper Chief Minister, Home & General
Jamnadas Mehta Revenue & Finance
Siddappa Kambli Education, Excise & Agriculture
Hoosenaly Rahimtoola
Local Self-government

The Cooper ministry did not last long and a Congress ministry under B. G. Kher was sworn in.

Council of Ministers in Kher's Cabinet:[12][13]

Minister Portfolio
B. G. Kher Premier, Political & Services, Education and Labour
K. M. Munshi
Home & Legal
Anna Babaji Latthe Finance
Morarji Desai Revenue, Agriculture, Forests and Cooperatives
Manchersha Dhanjibhoy Gilder Public Health and Excise[14]
Mahmad Yasin Nurie Public Works[15]
Laxman Madhav Patil Industries and Local Self-Government

In 1939, all of the Congress ministries in British Indian provinces resigned and Bombay was placed under the Governor's rule.

Last days of British rule

After the end of World War II, the Indian National Congress re-entered politics and won the 1946 election under the leadership of Kher who was again elected as Chief Minister. The Bombay Presidency became Bombay State when India was granted independence on 15 August 1947 and Kher continued as the Chief Minister of the state, serving until 1952.

After independence

In 1947, Bombay Province became part of the

republic in the Commonwealth of Nations, Bombay Province became Bombay State
, a Part-A state.

Geography

1909 map of the British Indian Empire, showing British India in two shades of pink and the princely states in yellow

The Bombay Presidency was bounded on the north by

British territory
and 6,908,648 in native states.

Demographics

The Bombay Presidency had a large and diverse population. The census of 1901 gave a total of 25,468,209. By religion the population was 19,916,438

British mandate of Palestine
) in Israel.

In

Konkanis
, and another 1,400,000 Marathas not specified.

The chief languages of the province were

Canarese in the southern division. There were also Bhil (120,000) and Gipsy
(30,000) dialects.

Administration

View of Bombay from Rajabai Tower, c. 1905

The Presidency was divided into four Commisserates and twenty-four districts with

Carnatic
.

Division Divisional Headquarters Districts Princely states
Sind Karachi
Upper Sind Frontier
Khairpur
Northern Division Ahmedabad
Surat
Princely states of the Baroda and Gujarat States Agency and the Western India States Agency
Central Division Poona
Sholapur, Thana
Deccan States Agency
Southern Division Dharwad
North Kanara

The government of Bombay was administered by a

under-secretary, and an assistant secretary
, with a numerous staff of clerks. The administration of justice throughout the Presidency was conducted by a High Court at Bombay, consisting of a chief justice and seven puisne judges, along with district and assistant judges throughout the districts of the Presidency.

Each of the four divisions were administered by a senior Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer of the rank of Commissioner while the districts were each administered by a District Collector (officially styled, Deputy Commissioner). The districts were further divided into sub-divisions each under the charge of a Deputy Collector or Assistant Collector, each sub-division comprising a few

tahsildar
.

Military

The

Poona Horse
amongst the cavalry.

Under

Dharwar
and Aurangabad districts.

Agriculture

The overwhelming majority of the population of the Bombay Presidency was rural and engaged in agriculture. The staple crops were

and tobacco.

Industry

The chief industries of Bombay Presidency involved the milling of cotton. In the late 19th century steam mills sprang up in Bombay,

Nasik and Yeola. Salt was made in large quantities in the government works at Kharaghoda and Udu in Ahmedabad, and was exported by rail to Gujarat and central India. There was one brewery at Dapuri near Pune
.

Transportation

Victoria Terminus Railway Station, c. 1905

The Province was well supplied with railways, all of which, with one exception, concentrated at

Punjab and terminated at Karachi. The other chief lines are the Great Indian Peninsula, Indian Midland, Bombay, Baroda & Central India, and the Rajputana, Malwa & Southern Mahratta systems. In 1905 the total length of railway under the Bombay government open for traffic was 7,980 miles (12,840 km), which did not include the railway system in Sindh
.

Education

University Hall and Rajabai Tower, ca 1905

The

Sydenham College, was established.[19] Sind Medical School, medical school in Hyderabad, Sind
was established in 1881 and was affiliated with the University of Bombay. According to the census of 1901, out of a population of 25.5 million nearly 24 million were illiterate.

Film industry

The film production era is said to have commenced in Bombay from 1913 when the first film,

Coronation Cinema,[20] effectively marking the beginning of the Indian film industry. Around one year before, Ramchandra Gopal (known as Dadasaheb Torne) had filmed a stage drama called Pundalik and shown it in the same theatre. However, the credit for making the first Indian feature film is attributed to Dadasaheb Phalke.[21]

Other producers at Bombay during the presidency era were

studios
.

Residencies

Outside the Presidency, numerous small states

Mahikantha came under British suzerainty in a system of subsidiary alliances
between 1807 and 1820.

The native states eventually comprised some 353 separate units, administered internally by their own princes, with the British responsible for their external affairs. Relations between British India and the states were managed by British agents placed at the principal native capitals; their exact status varied in the different states according to the relations in which the principalities stood with the paramount power.

The principal groups of states were

Sahyadri
range, and certain. principalities which, from their history or geographical position, are to some extent isolated from the rest of the presidency.

princely states (agencies) of the northern Bombay Presidency to form the Baroda and Gujarat States Agency and subsequently expanded in Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency
in 1944.

See also

Notes

1. ^ A regiment made up of European soldiers.

References

  1. – via Google Books.
  2. . Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  3. . Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  4. .
  5. ^ Romesh Chunder Dutt, p10
  6. .
  7. .
  8. ^ Reed, Stanley (1937). The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who. Bennett, Coleman & Company.
  9. ^ Social reforms savarkar.org Archived 2014-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "The Bombay Ministers". The Indian Express. 31 March 1937. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  11. ^ "New Ministries for Other Provinces". The Indian Express. 2 April 1937. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  12. ^ Kamat, M. V. (1989). B.G. Kher, the gentleman premier. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 251.
  13. ^ Indian Annual Register, Volume 1. Annual Register Office. 1939.
  14. ^ "Kamat Research Database – M.D. Gilder".
  15. ^ "Kamat Research Database – N.Y. Nurie".
  16. . Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  17. ^ Bombay City, Univ (1869). The Bombay University Calendar for the year 1869–70. p. 41. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  18. ^ Great Britain. India Office. Educational Dept; India (1854). East India (education): bound collection of parliamentary papers dealing with education in India from 1854 to 1866. s.n. p. 166. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  19. . Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  20. ^ Overview The New York Times.
  21. ^ Cybertech. "Hall of Fame : Tribute : Dadasaheb Phalke". Nashik.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  22. ^ Bawden, L.-A., ed. (1976) The Oxford Companion to Film. London: Oxford University Press; p. 350
Attribution

Bibliography

External links