List of governors of Bengal Presidency

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Governor of Bengal
)

Governor of Bengal
Lord William Bentick
Formation15 November 1834
Final holderSir Frederick Burrows
Abolished1 May 1854
(later re-established in 1912)
15 August 1947
DeputyDeputy Governor (1836–1854)

The Governor of Bengal was the

Governor of West Bengal in West Bengal
.

The history of the office of the Governor of Bengal dates back to 1644, when

In 1833, the first Government of India Act was passed enacting that the three presidencies of

Presidency of Agra", were to be a part of a new "India", and the new office of Governor-General of India along with the Government of India was established. The Governor of Bengal served as the Governor-General of India in addition to his own office.[4]

This setup lasted until the enactment of the Government of India Act 1853, following which, the office of the Governor of Bengal was abolished. From this point onwards the Presidency of Fort William existed only as a nominal

King-Emperor George V was made in 1911 re-establishing the office of the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal.[5]

In 1947, India was

came into effect on 26 January 1950, the office of Governor of West Bengal become a ceremonial position.

In 1932 the position came with an annual salary of approximately £114,000 (equivalent to £8,241,000 in 2021), a sumptuary allowance of £25,000 (equivalent to £1,807,000 in 2021) and a grant of £100,000 (equivalent to £7,229,000 in 2021) to cover his staff's wages.[6] In addition to his personal staff he had 120 servants, a seventy-man mounted bodyguard, and a brass band. There were cars, two special trains, a yacht and a house boat.[7]

Precursors (1650–1773)

In 1644 Gabriel Boughton, procured privileges for the East India Company which permitted them to build a factory at Hughli, without fortifications. In 1650, the factories of Balasor and Hughli were united. On 14 December 1650, James Bridgman was appointed as the chief of the factories. However, in 1653, Bridgman left suddenly and Powle Waldegrave assumed his charge.

On 27 February 1657, the company resolved its holdings into four agencies:

Cassambazar and Pattana
were put under the Hughly agency. In 1658, Johnathan Trevisa was appointed as the second to Gawton and was meant to succeed him after the latter's death. On 6 February 1661, the company reduced the Hughly agency under the Fort St. George, and then agent Trevisa was made the "Chief of Factories in the Bay of Bengal".

On 24 November 1681, William Hedges was appointed as the "Agent and Governor for the affairs of the East India Company in the Bay of Bengal". On 21 December 1684, William Gyfford who was the President and Governor of Fort St. George was given the additional charge of Bengal due to increasing mismanagement. John Beard was appointed as the "Agent and Chief in the Bay of Bengal" and become the subordinate to Gifford.

On 20 December 1699, the Court of Directors (London East India Company) appointed then Agent Charles Eyre was made the " President and Governor of Fort William, in Bengal". The President or Chief in the Bay of Bengal for the English East India Company was Sir Edward Littleton in whose commission and instructions, dated 12 January 1698, it was also stated that power had been obtained from his Majesty to constitute him the "Minister or Consul for the English Nation" with all powers requisite thereunto. Littleton was later deposed by the Court of Directors in 1703.

The union of the two East India Companies took place on 23 July 1702. For united trade in Bengal, a Council was appointed, of which Nathaniel Halsey and Robert Hedges were to take chair each in their week alternatively as per the dispatch from United Company on 26 February 1702. In a dispatch of 12 February 1704, it was ordered that if Beard shall die, no one will be appointed as President to succeed him. After the departure of John Beard to Madras, Ralph Sheldon assumed the position of Chief of Council, and his appointment was confirmed in a dispatch of 7 February 1706.

On 30 December 1709, Anthony Weldon was appointed as the "President in the Bay, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief for Fort William, in Bengal" for the United East India Company. His appointment was later revoked and was supposed to be succeeded by Sheldon. Since Sheldon had died by the time dispatch arrived in Bengal, John Russell was ordered to succeed as the Governor. By a letter of 8 May 1771, the Court appointed Warren Hastings to be Governor of Bengal.

Name Portrait Took office Left office Remarks Appointer
Chief of the factories of Balasore and Hughli East India
Company

James Bridgman 14 December 1650 1653
Powle Waldegrave 1653 1657
Agent of Hughly Agency
George Gawton 27 February 1657 11 September 1658
John Trevisa 11 September 1658 6 February 1661
Chief of Factories in the Bay of Bengal
John Trevisa 6 February 1661 31 January 1662
William Blake 31 January 1662 24 January 1668
Shem Bridges 24 January 1668 7 December 1669
Henry Powell 7 December 1669 ?
Walter Clavell ~June 1672 7 August 1677 Died in office
Mathias Vincent 7 September 1677 ~July 1682

(position superseded)

Deposed in July 1682
Agent and Governor

for the affairs of the East India Company

in the Bay of Bengal

Sir William Hedges 24 November 1681 ~ August 1684 Deposed in August 1864
Agent and Chief in the Bay of Bengal
John Beard 21 December 1683 28 August 1685 Died in office
Job Charnock ~ April 1686 10 January 1693 Died in office
Francis Ellis 10 January 1693 January 1694
Charles Eyre 25 January 1694 1 February 1699 Left for England in 1699
John Beard 1 February 1699 20 December 1699

(position superseded)

Second to Eyre
President and Governor of Fort William, in Bengal
Sir Charles Eyre 20 December 1699 7 January 1701 Left on account of health issues
John Beard 7 January 1701 7 July 1705 Died in Office
President in the Bay, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief for Fort William, in Bengal
Anthony Weldon 30 December 1709 4 March 1711 Appointment revoked by the Court of Directors

Resigned in March 1711

John Rusell 4 March 1711 3 December 1713 Dismissed by the Court
Robert Hedges 3 December 1713 28 December 1717 died in office
Samuel Feake 12 January 1718 17 January 1723 Left for England due to illness
John Deane 17 January 1723 30 January 1726 Returned to England
Henry Frankland 30 January 1726 25 February 1732 Returned to Europe
John Stackhouse 25 February 1732 29 January 1739 Resigned
Thomas Broddyll 29 January 1739 4 Feb 1746 Left for England
John Forster 4 Feb 1746 March 1748 Died in office
William Barewell 18 April 1748 1749 Dismissed by the Court
Adam Dawson 17 July 1749 1752 Dismissed by the Court
William Fycthe 5 July 1752 8 August 1752 Died in Office
Roger Drake 8 August 1752 20 June 1758 Deposed by the Court
Col. Robert Clive 27 June 1758 23 January 1760 Resigned
John Zephaniah Holwell 28 January 1760 27 July 1760 Handed over to Vansittart who was appointed on

23 November 1759 to the office

Henry Vansittart 27 July 1760 26 November 1764 Returned to England
John Spencer 3 December 1764 3 May 1765
The Lord Clive 3 May 1765 20 January 1767 Returned to England
Harry Verelst 29 January 1767 24 December 1769 Retired from the service
John Cartier 26 December 1769 13 April 1772
Warren Hastings 13 April 1772 20 October 1773

(office superseded)

Appointed as the Governor-General of Fort William

in Bengal in 1774

List of Governor-Generals

Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal (1773–1833)

The

Regulating Act of 1773
replaced the office of the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal with Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal. The office of the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal was restored in 1833.

Portrait Name Term Appointer
Warren Hastings[nb 1] 20 October
1773
8 February
1785
East India Company

(1773–1858)
John Macpherson
(acting)
8 February
1785
12 September
1786
The Marquess Cornwallis[nb 2] 12 September
1786
28 October
1793
John Shore 28 October
1793
18 March
1798
Alured Clarke
(acting)
18 March
1798
18 May
1798
The Earl of Mornington[nb 3] 18 May
1798
30 July
1805
The Marquess Cornwallis 30 July
1805
5 October
1805
Sir George Barlow, Bt
(acting)
10 October
1805
31 July
1807
The Lord Minto 31 July
1807
4 October
1813
The Marquess of Hastings[nb 4] 4 October
1813
9 January
1823
John Adam
(acting)
9 January
1823
1 August
1823
The Lord Amherst[nb 5] 1 August
1823
13 March
1828
William Butterworth Bayley
(acting)
13 March
1828
4 July
1828

List of Governors

1834–1854 – Governors of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal

By an

Governor General of India
was relieved of his concurrent duties as Governor of Bengal and empowered to appoint a lieutenant-governor from 1854.

Governors of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal

(ex-officio Governor-General of India, 1834-1854)

No. Name

(birth–death)

Portrait Took office Left office Appointer
1
The Lord William Bentick

(1774–1839)

15 November 1834

(1833)

20 March 1835 East India
Company

Sir Charles Metcalfe, Bt, ICS[8]

(acting)

(1785–1846)

20 March 1835 4 March 1836
2 The Lord Auckland (1784–1849) 4 March 1836 28 February 1842
3 The Lord Ellenborough (1790–1871) 28 February 1842 June 1844
William Wilberforce Bird, ICS[8]

(acting)

(1784–1857)

June 1844 23 July 1844
4 Sir Henry Hardinge (1785–1856) 23 July 1844 12 January 1848
5 The Earl of Dalhousie (1812–1860) 12 January 1848 1 May 1854

(28 February 1856)

1912–1935 – Governors of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal

On 12 December 1911 at the

Emperor George V announced the transfer of the seat of the Government of India from Calcutta to Delhi and the reunification of the five predominantly Bengali-speaking divisions into a Presidency (or province) of Bengal under a Governor. On 1 April 1912 Thomas Gibson-Carmichael was appointed the Governor of Bengal.[9] Sir Frederick Burrows became the last Governor of Bengal followed by the Partition of India
.

Name Portrait Took office Left office Appointer
The Lord Carimichael 1 April 1912 26 March 1917 The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst
The Earl of Ronaldshay 26 March 1917 28 March 1922 The Lord Chelmsford
The Earl of Lytton 28 March 1922 28 March 1927 The Earl of Reading
Sir Francis Stanley Jackson 28 March 1927 28 March 1932
The Lord Irwin
Sir John Anderson 29 March 1932 30 May 1937 The Earl of Willingdon

1935–1947 – Governors of the Province of Bengal

Name Portrait Took office Left office Appointer
The Lord Brabourne 30 May 1937 23 February 1939 The Marquess of Linlithgow
Sir John Arthur Herbert
1 July 1939 1 December 1943
The Lord Casey 14 January 1944 19 February 1946 The Viscount Wavell
Sir Frederick John Burrows 19 February 1946 15 August 1947

Lieutenant-Governors

Lieutenant-Governors of the Bengal Division of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal (1854–1912)

Under the Government of India Act 1853 the Governor-General of India was relieved of his concurrent duties as Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal and a separate Governor was decided to be appointed. Until then a Lieutenant Governor was to be appointed. F. J. Halliday became the first Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. William Duke served as the last lieutenant governor after which the office was superseded by the restored office of the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal in 1912.

No. Name Portrait Took office Left office Appointer
1 Frederick James Halliday 1854 1859
The Marquess of Dalhousie
2 John Peter Grant 1859 1862 The Earl Canning
3
Cecil Beadon
1862 1866
4
William Grey
1867 1870 Sir John Lawrence, Bt
5
George Campbell
1870 1874 The Earl of Mayo
6 Sir Richard Temple Hart 1874 1877 The Lord Northbrook
7 Sir Ashley Eden 1877 1882
8
Sir Augustus Rivers Thompson
1882 1887 The Marquess of Ripon
9 Sir Steuart Colvin Bayley 1887 1890 The Earl of Dufferin
10 Sir Charles Alfred Elliott 1890 1893 The Marquess of Lansdowne
11
Sir Anthony Patrick MacDonnell
1893 1895
12 Sir Alexander Mackenzie 1895 1897 The Earl of Elgin
13
Sir Charles Cecil Stevens
1897 1898
14
Sir John Woodburn
1898 1902
15 James Dewar Bourdillon 1902 1903 The Lord Curzon of Kedleston
16 Sir Andrew Henderson Leith Fraser 1903 1906
17 Francis Slacke 1906 1908 The Earl of Minto
18 Sir Edward Norman Baker 1908 1911
19
Frederick William Duke
1911 1912 The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst

Lieutenant-Governors of the North-Western Provinces of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal (1835–1878)

The Government of India Act of 1833 had intended that there be four presidencies comprising India – that of

Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal
was abolished.

No. Name Portrait Took office Left office Appointer
(Governor-General of India)
1 Sir C. T. Metcalfe 1 June 1836 1 June 1838 The Earl of Auckland
2 T. C. Robertson 4 February 1840 31 December 1842
3 Sir G. R. Clerk 30 June 1843 22 December 1843 The Lord Ellenborough
4
James Thomason
22 December 1843 10 October 1853
5 J. R. Colvin 7 November 1853 9 September 1857 The Earl of Dalhousie
6
Colonel H. Fraser
30 September 1857 9 February 1858 The Viscount Canning
7 Sir G. F. Edmonstone 19 January 1859 27 February 1863
8 The Hon. Edmund Drummond 7 March 1863 10 March 1868 The Earl of Elgin
9 Sir William Muir 10 March 1868 7 April 1874 Sir John Lawrence
10 Sir John Strachey 7 April 1874 26 July 1876 The Lord Northbrook
11
Sir G. E. W. Couper
26 July 1876 15 February 1877 The Lord Lytton

Post-independence

In 1947, the

British rule over India came to an end, and India was partitioned into two independent dominions of the Indian Union and Pakistan. Bengal Province was partitioned into the province of West Bengal in India, and province of East Bengal (later East Pakistan) in Pakistan. East Pakistan later become independent in 1971 as Bangladesh
.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Originally joined on 28 April 1772
  2. ^ Earl Cornwallis from 1762; created Marquess Cornwallis in 1792.
  3. ^ Created Marquess Wellesley in 1799.
  4. Earl of Moira
    prior to being created Marquess of Hastings in 1816
  5. ^ Created Earl Amherst in 1826.
  1. ^ (in full, the Lieutenant Governor of the North-Western Provinces of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal and the Lieutenant Governor of the Bengal Division of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal)

References

  1. .
  2. ^ "Government of India Act 1833". Act No. 38 of 28 August 1833. Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
  3. .
  4. ^ .
  5. .
  6. ^ Wheeler-Bennett 1962, pp. 178–179.
  7. ^ Wheeler-Bennett 1962, pp. 148–149.
  8. ^ a b "Raj Bhavan Kolkata" (PDF).
  9. ^ Appendix to the Journal of the House of the Representatives. p. 51. [25th June, 1912] WHEREAS His Majesty has been pleased to appoint a Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal as delimited by a Proclamation made by the Governor - General in Council, and dated the twenty second day of ...

Sources

External links