Viceroys
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
1. Lord Canning 1858-1862
(i) Transfer of control from East India Company to the
Crown, the Government of India Act, 1858.
(ii) ‘White Mutiny’ by European troops in 1859.
(iii) Indian Councils Act of 1861.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
2. Lord Elgin I 1862-1863
Wahabi Movement
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
3. Lord John Lawrence 1864-1869
(i) Bhutan War (1865)
(ii) Setting up of the High Courts at Calcutta, Bombay
and Madras (1865).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
4. Lord Mayo 1869-1872
(i) Opening of the Rajkot College in Kathiawar and the
Mayo College at Ajmer for political training of
Indian princes.
(ii) Establishment of Statistical Survey of India.
(iii) Establishment of Department of Agriculture and
Commerce.
(iv) Introduction of state railways.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
5. Lord Northbrook 1872-1876
(i) Visit of Prince of Wales in 1875.
(ii) Trial of Gaekwar of Baroda.
(iii) Kuka Movement in Punjab.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
6. Lord Lytton 1876-1880
(i) Famine of 1876-78 affecting Madras, Bombay,
Mysore, Hyderabad, parts of central India and Punjab;
appointment of Famine Commission under the
presidency of Richard Strachey (1878).
(ii) Royal Titles Act (1876), Queen Victoria assuming
the title of ‘Kaiser-i-Hind’ or Queen Empress of
India.
(iii) The Vernacular Press Act (1878).
(iv) The Arms Act (1878).
(v) The Second Afghan War (1878-80).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
7. Lord Ripon 1880-1884
(i) Repeal of the Vernacular Press Act (1882).
(ii) The first Factory Act (1881) to improve labour
conditions.
(iii) Continuation of financial decentralisation.
(iv) Government resolution on local self-government
(1882).
(v) Appointment of Education Commission under
chairmanship of Sir William Hunter (1882).
(vi) The Ilbert Bill controversy (1883-84).
(vii) Rendition of Mysore.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
8. Lord Dufferin 1884-1888
(i) The Third Burmese War (1885-86).
(ii) Establishment of the Indian National Congress.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
9. Lord Lansdowne 1888-1894
(i) Factory Act (1891).
(ii) Categorisation of civil services into imperial,
provisional and subordinate.
(iii) Indian Councils Act (1892).
(iv) Setting up of Durand Commission (1893) to define the Durand Line between India and Afghanistan (now
between Pakistan and Afghanistan; a small portion of
the line touches India in Pakistan occupied Kashmir).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
10. Lord Elgin II 1894-1899
Two British officials assassinated by Chapekar
brothers (1897).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
11. Lord Curzon 1899-1905
(i) Appointment of Police Commission (1902) under Sir
Andrew Frazer to review police administration.
(ii) Appointment of Universities Commission (1902) and
passing of Indian Universities Act (1904).
(iii) Establishment of Department of Commerce and
Industry.
(iv) Calcutta Corporation Act (1899).
(v) Ancient Monuments Preservation Act (1904).
(vi) Partition of Bengal (1905).
(vii) Curzon-Kitchener controversy.
(viii) Younghusband’s Mission to Tibet (1904).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
12. Lord Minto II 1905-1910
(i) Popularisation of anti-partition and Swadeshi
Movements.
(ii) Split in Congress in the annual session of 1907 in
Surat.
(iii) Establishment of Muslim League by Aga Khan (1906).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
13. Lord Hardinge II 1910-1916
(i) Creation of Bengal Presidency (like Bombay and
Madras) in 1911.
(ii) Transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi (1911).
(iii) Establishment of the Hindu Mahasabha (1915) by
Madan Mohan Malaviya.
(iv) Coronation durbar of King George V held in Delhi
(1911).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
14. Lord Chelmsford 1916-1921
(i) Formation of Home Rule Leagues by Annie Besant
and Tilak (1916).
(ii) Lucknow session of the Congress (1916).
(iii) Lucknow pact between the Congress and Muslim
League (1916).
(iv) Foundation of Sabarmati Ashram (1916) after Gandhi’s
return; launch of Champaran Satyagraha (1916), Kheda
Satyagraha (1918), and Satyagraha at Ahmedabad
(1918).
(v) Montagu’s August Declaration (1917).
(vi) Government of India Act (1919).
(vii) The Rowlatt Act (1919).
(viii) Jallianwalla Bagh massacre (1919).
(ix) Launch of Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movements.
(x) Foundation of Women’s University at Poona (1916)
and appointment of Saddler’s Commission (1917) for
reforms in educational policy.
(xi) Death of Tilak (August 1, 1920).
(xii) Appointment of S.P. Sinha as governor of Bihar (the
first Indian to become a governor).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
15. Lord Reading 1921-1926
(i) Chauri Chaura incident (February 5, 1922) and the
subsequent withdrawal of Non-Cooperation
Movement.
(ii) Moplah rebellion in Kerala (1921).
(iii) Repeal of the Press Act of 1910 and the Rowlatt Act
of 1919.
(iv) Criminal Law Amendment Act and abolition of cotton
excise.
(v) Communal riots in Multan, Amritsar, Delhi, Aligarh,
Arvi and Calcutta.
(vi) Kakori train robbery (1925).
(vii) Murder of Swami Shraddhanand (1926).
(viii) Establishment of Swaraj Party by C.R. Das and
Motilal Nehru (1922).
(ix) Decision to hold simultaneous examinations for the
ICS both in Delhi and London, with effect from 1923.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
16. Lord Irwin 1926-1931
(i) Visit of Simon Commission to India (1928) and the
boycott of the commission by the Indians.
(ii) An All-Parties Conference held at Lucknow (1928)
for suggestions for the (future) Constitution of India,
the report of which was called the Nehru Report or
the Nehru Constitution.
(iii) Appointment of the Harcourt Butler Indian States
Commission (1927).
(iv) Murder of Saunders, the assistant superintendent of
police of Lahore; bomb blast in the Assembly Hall
of Delhi (1929); the Lahore Conspiracy Case and
death of Jatin Das after prolonged hunger strike
(1929), and bomb accident in train in Delhi (1929).
(v) Lahore session of the Congress (1929); Purna Swaraj
Resolution.
(vi) Dandi March (March 12, 1930) by Gandhi to launch
the Civil Disobedience Movement.
(vii) ‘Deepavali Declaration’ by Lord Irwin (1929).
(viii) Boycott of the First Round Table Conference (1930),
Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931) and suspension of Civil
Disobedience Movement.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
17. Lord Willingdon 1931-1936
(i) Second Round Table Conference (1931) and failure
of the conference, resumption of Civil Disobedience
Movement.
(ii) Announcement of Communal Award (1932) under
which separate communal electorates were set up.
(iii) ‘Fast unto death’ by Gandhi in Yeravada prison,
broken after the Poona Pact (1932).
(iv) Third Round Table Conference (1932).
(v) Launch of Individual Civil Disobedience (1933).
(vi) The Government of India Act of 1935.
(vii) Establishment of All India Kisan Sabha (1936) and Congress Socialist Party by Acharya Narendra Dev
and Jayaprakash Narayan (1934).
(viii) Burma separated from India (1935).
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
18. Lord Linlithgow 1936-1944
(i) First general elections (1936-37); Congress attained
absolute majority.
(ii) Resignation of the Congress ministries after the
outbreak of the Second World War (1939).
(iii) Subhash Chandra Bose elected as the president of
Congress at the fifty-first session of the Congress
(1938).
(iv) Resignation of Bose in 1939 and formation of the
Forward Bloc (1939).
(v) Lahore Resolution (March 1940) by the Muslim
League, demand for separate state for Muslims.
(vi) ‘August Offer’ (1940) by the viceroy; its criticism
by the Congress and endorsement by the Mulsim
League.
(vii) Winston Churchill elected prime minister of England
(1940).
(viii) Escape of Subhash Chandra Bose from India (1941)
and organisation of the Indian National Army.
(ix) Cripps Mission’s Cripps Plan to offer dominion
status to India and setting up of a Constituent
Assembly; its rejection by the Congress.
(x) Passing of the ‘Quit India Resolution’ by the Congress
(1942); outbreak of ‘August Revolution’; or Revolt
of 1942 after the arrest of national leaders.
(xi) ‘Divide and Quit’ slogan at the Karachi session
(1944) of the Muslim League.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
19. Lord Wavell 1944-1947
(i) C. Rajagopalachari’s CR Formula (1944), failure of
Gandhi-Jinnah talks (1944).
(ii) Wavell Plan and the Shimla Conference (1942).
(iii) End of Second World War (1945).
(iv) Proposals of the Cabinet Mission (1946) and its
acceptance by the Congress.
(v) Observance of ‘Direct Action Day’ (August 16,
1948) by the Muslim League.
(vi) Elections to the Constituent Assembly, formation of
Interim Government by the Congress (September
1946).
(vii) Announcement of end of British rule in India by
Clement Attlee (prime minister of England) on
February 20, 1947.
Viceroys of India list for UPSC
20. Lord Mountbatten 1947-1948
(i) June Third Plan (June 3, 1947) announced.
(ii) Introduction of Indian Independence Bill in the House
of Commons.
(iii) Appointment of two boundary commissions under Sir
Cyril Radcliff for the partition of Bengal and Punjab.
