Key Figures in India 1857-1914 Flashcards
Who was Lord William Bentinck and Lord Dalhousie?
Bentinck - Governor-general (1828-35)
Dalhousie - Governor-general (1848-56)
Part of the East India Company
Promoted reform by:
Making English the official language of law, administration and education
Outlawed Indian customs such as sati or suttee (the practice of widows being burned to death on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands)
Irrigation schemes implemented
Dalhousie created a system of communications that united India - construction of the great road from Calcutta to Peshawar (1840s)
Also began work on building a railway network, although only a few miles of track had been completed by 1857
Dalhousie reformed the tax gathering system
Who was Earl Charles Canning?
The first Viceroy of India in 1858 - previously the governor-general (pre mutiny)
Presided over the reorganisation of the Indian government after its transfer from the EIC to the crown
Between 1859 and 1861 made exhaustive tour of India to win back those who had felt alienated or dispossessed by British rule:
Indian Councils Act (1861) - some land and titles returned to native Indians
Star of India medals introduced
Positions in Imperial Assembly / Statutory Civil Service posts shared amongst Indian nobility
He reorganised his executive council, instituting departmental distribution of responsibilities.
Remodeled Indian army
Encouraged railway development, took measures for famine relief, and helped found the Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. He created opportunities for suitably westernised Indians but also he tightened the grip of the British on Indian society.
What was Benjamin Disraeli’s policy related to India?
British politician, served as Prime Minister twice (27 February 1868 – 1 December 1868 and then 20 February 1874 – 21 April 1880).
A Jew by birth - became a Christian in 1817 and leader of the Conservative party during the year he served his first, short-lived term
He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire - ‘The Party of the Empire’.
Bestowed Empress of India on Queen Victoria 1877
Earned title of Earldom of Beaconsfield in 1876
Further embedded British rule over India by appointing Robert Lyton as Viceroy and supporting his ‘coronation durbar’
Second term dominated by Eastern Question—the slow decay of the Ottoman Empire and desire of other European powers, such as Russia, to gain at its expense
Purchased £4 million worth of Suez Canal shares in 1875
In 1878, faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to obtain peace in the Balkans at terms favourable to Britain and unfavourable to Russia, its longstanding enemy. This diplomatic victory over Russia established Disraeli as one of Europe’s leading statesmen.
Who was Lord Curzon?
Viceroy India 1899-1905
Curzon’s reforms:
1. civil service
2. founded the imperial cadet corps to give native princes military training
3. universities
4. police
5. lowered taxes
Curzon’s failures in 1905: The Partition of Bengal - Bengal was divided into two separate provinces, East = Muslim, West = Hindu.
Reasons for tension and anger from the Hindus in the West of Bengal - Hindu elite were angry as many owned land in the East and Hindus saw this as payback for their criticism of British Rule
Viceroy Minto
Appointed in 1905 - after Curzon had resigned, after the failure in Bengal
English was made the official language of law under Bentinck
John Morley - Secretary of State for India - helped Minto introduce reforms in 1909 to appease the Bengals
Indian Council Act enabled 27 Indians elected from provinces to join the Viceroys council
During the 1890s political opposition to the British grew and nationalist newspapers emerged in India and this protest was mainly amongst the educated professional Indians
Tilak
Editor of the newspaper Kesari
Accused of inciting the murder of a medical officer and stirring up hostility - imprisoned 1908
Became the joint secretary of the Congress party in 1895 with Krishna
Gokhale Krishna
Social reformer who founded an organisation to help the underprivileged in India
Led the moderate nationalists during the early years of Indian Independence
Advocated for:
1. gradual reform
2. working with the existing government
3. constitutional methods to bring about reform
Became the joint secretary of the Congress party in 1895 with Tilak
Ghandi regarded him as his Guru
