Governors-General and Viceroys of India: Key Events
Every Governor-General and Viceroy is linked to one or two key events that exams love to ask. Learn the person together with the event.
Governors-General (1773 to 1858)
| Name | Years | Key events |
|---|---|---|
| Warren Hastings | 1773 to 1785 | Ended dual government (1772). Regulating Act. First Rohilla War (1774). First Maratha War. Second Mysore War. Asiatic Society (1784) by William Jones. Impeached (1788 to 1795) but acquitted. |
| Lord Cornwallis | 1786 to 1793 | Permanent Settlement (1793); Cornwallis Code; police and judicial reforms; Third Mysore War; "Father of the Civil Services". |
| Sir John Shore | 1793 to 1798 | Policy of non-intervention. Charter Act 1793. |
| Lord Wellesley | 1798 to 1805 | Subsidiary Alliance; Fourth Mysore War; Second Maratha War; Fort William College (1800). |
| Lord Minto I | 1807 to 1813 | Treaty of Amritsar (1809) with Ranjit Singh; Charter Act 1813. |
| Lord Hastings | 1813 to 1823 | Gurkha War; Third Maratha War; end of Pindaris; Ryotwari and Mahalwari; relaxed press censorship (1818). |
| Lord Amherst | 1823 to 1828 | First Burmese War; Barrackpore mutiny (1824). |
| Lord William Bentinck | 1828 to 1835 | Abolished sati (1829); suppressed thuggee; Charter Act 1833; English education; Macaulay's Minute (1835). |
| Sir Charles Metcalfe | 1835 to 1836 | Freed the press (1835). |
| Lord Auckland | 1836 to 1842 | First Afghan War. |
| Lord Ellenborough | 1842 to 1844 | Annexed Sindh (1843); abolished slavery (1843). |
| Lord Hardinge | 1844 to 1848 | First Anglo-Sikh War; banned female infanticide and human sacrifice in some areas. |
| Lord Dalhousie | 1848 to 1856 | Doctrine of Lapse; Second Sikh War; railways (1853), telegraph (1854), Post Office Act (1854); Wood's Despatch (1854); PWD. |
| Lord Canning | 1856 to 1858 (Governor-General) | Revolt of 1857; Widow Remarriage Act (1856); three universities (1857). |
Viceroys (1858 to 1947)
| Name | Years | Key events |
|---|---|---|
| Lord Canning | 1858 to 1862 | First Viceroy. Queen's Proclamation (1858); Indian Councils Act 1861; IPC (1860), CrPC (1861); High Courts Act 1861; income tax (1860); Indigo Commission (1860). |
| Sir John Lawrence | 1864 to 1869 | Punjab Tenancy Act (1868); Bhutan War (1864 to 1865); Orissa famine (1866). |
| Lord Mayo | 1869 to 1872 | Financial decentralisation (1870); first Census (1872); Agriculture Department. Assassinated in the Andamans (1872). |
| Lord Northbrook | 1872 to 1876 | Kuka revolt (1872); Baroda Gaekwad deposed (1875). |
| Lord Lytton | 1876 to 1880 | Royal Titles Act (1876); Delhi Durbar (1877); Vernacular Press Act (1878); Arms Act (1878); Second Afghan War; Great Famine (1876 to 1878). |
| Lord Ripon | 1880 to 1884 | Local self-government (1882); repealed Vernacular Press Act (1882); First Factory Act (1881); Hunter Commission (1882); Ilbert Bill (1883); first regular census (1881). |
| Lord Dufferin | 1884 to 1888 | Foundation of the Indian National Congress (1885); Third Burmese War; Bengal Tenancy Act (1885). |
| Lord Lansdowne | 1888 to 1894 | Indian Councils Act 1892; Age of Consent Act (1891); Factory Act (1891); Durand Line (1893). |
| Lord Elgin II | 1894 to 1899 | Tilak's trial (1897); famines; Chapekar murders (1897). |
| Lord Curzon | 1899 to 1905 | Partition of Bengal (1905); Indian Universities Act (1904); Ancient Monuments Act (1904); Police, Irrigation and Famine Commissions; Younghusband's Tibet mission. |
| Lord Minto II | 1905 to 1910 | Swadeshi; Surat split (1907); Morley-Minto Reforms (1909); Press Acts. |
| Lord Hardinge II | 1910 to 1916 | Delhi Durbar (1911); annulled Partition (1911); shifted the capital to Delhi; bomb attack on him (1912). |
| Lord Chelmsford | 1916 to 1921 | Lucknow Pact (1916); Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms; Rowlatt Act (1919); Jallianwala Bagh (1919); Khilafat and Non-Cooperation begin. |
| Lord Reading | 1921 to 1926 | Chauri Chaura; Swaraj Party; Kakori; Rowlatt Act repealed (1922). |
| Lord Irwin | 1926 to 1931 | Simon Commission; Nehru Report; Dandi; Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931); First Round Table Conference. |
| Lord Willingdon | 1931 to 1936 | Second and Third Round Table Conferences; Communal Award (1932); Government of India Act 1935. |
| Lord Linlithgow | 1936 to 1943 | Congress ministries (1937); Second World War; August Offer (1940); Cripps Mission; Quit India (1942). |
| Lord Wavell | 1943 to 1947 | Wavell Plan (Simla Conference, 1945); Cabinet Mission (1946); Bengal famine (1943). |
| Lord Mountbatten | March to August 1947 | Last Viceroy; Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947); first Governor-General of free India (to June 1948). |
Keep practising
Notes are only half the work. Test yourself with questions and discuss doubts with other aspirants.
Prepared for exam revision from standard sources such as NCERT, Bipan Chandra, Spectrum and official records. Historians differ on some dates, figures and interpretations, so check your exam syllabus and a standard textbook. Found a mistake? Tell us.