| Governor General / Viceroy | Period | Important Achievements/Contributions/Events |
|---|
| Warren Hastings | 1774 - 1785 | (1) First Governor General of India,
(2) During his tenure Regulating Act, 1773 was introduced which brought the dual government of Bengal to an end.
(3) He was impeached due to mismanagement and personal corruption but was finally acquitted. |
| Lord Cornwallis | 1786 - 1793 |
(1) Introduced Permanent Settlement of Bengal (or Zamindary System).
It was an agreement between the East India Company and Bengali landlords to fix revenues to be raised from land.
(2) Introduced police reforms.
(3) He led British forces in the Third Anglo-Mysore War to defeat the Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan. |
| Lord Wellesley | 1798 - 1805 |
He introduced the policy of Subsidiary Alliance to keep the Indian rulers under control by
keeping British forces in their territory. Hyderabad was the first state to accept Subsidiary Alliance.
|
| Lord Minto I | 1807 - 1813 | Concluded the treaty of Amritsar with Maharaja Ranjit Singh. |
| Lord William Bentinck | 1828 - 1835 | (1) He was made the first Governor General of India (earlier the designation was Governor General of Bengal).
(2) He carried out social reforms such as Prohibition of Sati, Indian people were again appointed as subordinate judges, made English the language of higher education, suppress the thugs.
|
| Sir Charles Metcaffe | 1835 - 1836 | He abolished all restrictions on vernacular press (He was also called Liberator of the press). |
| Lord Auckland | 1836 - 1842 | First Afghan war. |
| Lord Dalhousie | 1848 - 1856 | (1) He opened the first Indian Railway from Bombay to Thane in 1853.
(2) He introduced Telegraph lined from Calcutta to Agra in 1853.
(3) He introduced the infamous 'Doctrine of Lapse' and
captured Satara (1848), Jaipur and Sambhalpur (1849), Udaipur (1852), Jhansi (1853) and Nagpur (1854).
(4) He made Shimla the summer capital.
(5) Started the Public Works Department
(6) Remarriage of widows was legalised by Widow Remarriage Act, 1856. |
| Lord Canning | 1856 - 1862 |
(1) He was the Governor General during the mutiny of 1857
(India's First War of Independence). After war he was made first Viceroy of India.
(2) He withdrew Doctrine of Lapse.
(3) In 1861, Indian Councils Act was passed.
(4) Universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras was established in 1857. |
| Lord Lawrence | 1864 - 1869 |
(1) After second Sikh war, he became member of the Punjab Board of Administration and was responsible
for numerous reforms which earned him the sobriquet "the Saviour of the Punjab".
(2) High Court were constituted at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1865. |
| Lord Mayo | 1869 - 1872 | (1) Census was held in 1871.
(2) He was the only Viceroy of India who was killed in office by a
convict in the Andaman Island in 1872. |
| Lord Lytton | 1876 - 1880 | In 1877, he organised the Delhi Durbar in which Queen Victoria was proclaimed with the title
of 'Kaiser-i-Hind'. |
| Lord Rippon | 1880 - 1884 | (1) He repealed the Vernacular Press Act in 1882.
(2) Age for entry in Civil Services was again raised to 21 years.
(3) The first Factory Act, 1881, was passed to prohibit child labour.
(4) He passed Local Self Government Act in 1882.
(5) He introduced IIbert Bill in 1883.
He was also known as Father of Local Self
Government in India. |
| Lord Dufferin | 1884 - 1894 | Indian National Congress was formed. |
| Lord Lansdowne | 1888 - 1894 | (1) Indian Council Act was passed in 1892.
(2) Durand Commission was appointed
to demarcate the line between British India and Afghanistan. |
| Lord Curzon | 1899 - 1905 | (1) Partition of Bengal in 1905.
(2) Swadeshi movement launched. |
| Lord Minto | 1905 - 1910 | Indian Council Act, 1909 or the Morley-Minto Reforms was passed. |
| Lord Hardinge | 1910 - 1916 | (1)King George V of England attended Delhi Durbar in 1911.
(2) Capital of India shifted from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911.
(3) Home Rule Movement was launched by Annie Besant.
(4)Mahatma Gandhi came back to India from South Africa in 1915. |
| Lord Chelmsford | 1916 - 1921 | (1) The Government of India Act, 1919 (Montague - Chelmsford reforms) was passed.
(2) Rowlatt Act, 1919 was passed
(3)Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy.
(4) Khilafat Movement.
(5) Non-Cooperation movement. |
| Lord Reading | 1921 - 1926 | (1) Rowlatt Act was repealed.
(2) Swaraj Party was formed.
(3) Chauri Chaura
incident. |
| Lord Irwin | 1926 - 1931 | (1) Simon Commission visited India in 1928.
(2) Dandi March was launched.
(3) Civil Disobedience Movement was launched in 1930.
(4) Gandhi - Irwin Pact was signed.
(5) First Round Table Conference. |
| Lord Willingdon | 1931 - 1936 | (1) Second and Third Round Table Conference in 1931.
(2) Communal award started by British
PM Ramsay Macdonald.
(3) Poona Pact was signed. |
| Lord Linlithgow | 1936 - 1944 | (1) Government of India Act, 1935 enforced in the provinces.
(2) Cripps Mission visited India in 1942.
(3) Quit India movement. |
| Lord Wavell | 1944 - 1947 | (1) Cabinet Mission Plan.
(2) Shimla conference between Indian National Congress and Muslim League. |
| Lord Mountbatten | Mar 1947 - Aug 1947 | (1) Last Viceroy of British India and first Governor General of free India.
(2) Partition of India.
(3) Succeeded by C. Rajagopalachari, the first and the last Indian Governor General of free India. |
