List of Governor General in India – Free pdf

Governors Under Company Rule
Hastings (1772-1785)
● Became governor of Bengal in 1772 and Governor-General in 1773 through the Regulating Act.
● Abolished Dual system of administration.
● Wrote introduction to the first English translation of the Gita by Charles Wilkins.
● Founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal with William Jones in 1784.
● Rohilla War (1774)
● 1st Anglo-Maratha War (1776- 1782)
● 2nd Anglo-Mysore War (1780- 1784).
● Pitt’s India Act, 1784

Lord Cornwallis (1786-1793)
● Separated the revenue administration from the administration of justice.
● Created post of the district judge.
● Introduced Permanent Settlement in Bengal.
● Cornwallis is called the father of civil service in India.
● Fought 3rd Anglo-Mysore War.

Sir John Shore (1793-1798)
● Introduced the 1st Charter Act.
● Planned the permanent settlement and later succeeded Cornwallis as Governor General.
● Battle of Kharda between Niazm and the Marathas (1795).

Lord Wellesley (1798-1805)
● Started Subsidiary Alliance system to achieve British paramountcy in India. First alliance with Nizam of Hyderabad.
● Madras Presidency was formed during his tenure.
● 4th Anglo-Mysore War (1799)– defeat and the death of Tipu Sultan.
● 2nd Anglo-Maratha War, (1803-1805) defeat of the Scindhia, the Bhonsale and the Holkar.
● Treaty of Bassein (1802).

George Marlow (1805-1807)
● Subsidiary alliance with Holkar by Treaty of Rajpurghat.
● Vellore Mutiny.
● Second Anglo-Maratha War ended.
Lord Minto-I (1807-1813)
● Concluded Treaty of Amritsar with Ranjit Singh (1809).
● Charter Act of 1813 was passed.

Lord Hastings (1813-1823)
● Anglo–Nepalese War (1813- 1823), strife with Pindaris (1817-1818)
● 3rd Anglo-Maratha War (1817- 1818). Hastings forced humiliating treaties on Peshwa and the Sindhia.
● Introduced the Ryotwari settlement in Madras by Thomas Munro, the Governor.

Lord Amherst (1823-1828)
● 1st Burmese War (1824-26).
● Acquisition of territories in Malay Peninsula.
● Capture of Bharatpur (1826).

GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF I NDIA

Lord William Bentick (1828-1834)
● Most liberal and enlightened Governor General of India.
● Regarded as the Father of Modern Western Education in India. Introduction of English as the official language.
● Abolished sati and other cruel rites (1829).
● Suppressed Thuggee (1830), Curbed by Colonel Sleeman.
● Annexed Mysore (1831), Coorg (1834), Central Cachar (1834) on the plea of misgovernment. Concluded a treaty of perpetual friendship with Ranjit Singh.

Sir Charles Metcalfe (1834-1836)
● He is known as the Liberator of Press.
● Passed the Press law

Lord Auckland (1836-1842)
● First Afghan war (1836-1842)
● Treaty with Sikhs and Amirs of Sindh.

Lord Ellenborough (1842-1844)
● Brought an end to the Afghan War.
● Annexation of Sindh (1843).
● War with Gwalior (1843).

Lord Hardinge-I (1844-1848)
● First Sikh War (1845-1846)
● Treaty of Lahore (1846)
● Prohibition of female Infanticide
● Gave preference to English educated in employment.

Lord Dalhousie (1848-1856)
● Widow Remarriage Act (1856).
● “Wood’s Educational Despatch” of 1854 and the opening of Anglo-Vernacular schools and government colleges.
● Introduced Doctrine of Lapse. Captured Satara (1848), Jaitpur and Sambalpur (1849) Baghat (1850), Udaipur (1852), Jhansi (1853), and Nagpur (1854).
● Fought the Anglo-Sikh War and annexed the whole of Punjab.
● 2nd Burmese War (1852) and annexation of Lower Burma or Pegu.
● Annexation of Berar in 1853.
● Annexation of Awadh in 1856.
● Started the first railway line in 1853 (connecting Bombay with Thana).
● Telegraph and postal reforms.
● Establishment of separate public works departments in every province.

Lord Canning (1856-1858)
● Revolt of 1857
● He was the last Governor-General of East India Company.
● Establishment of three universities at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay in 1857.