List of governors-general of India

The history of the office of the Governor of Bengal dates back to 1644, when Gabriel Boughton procured privileges for the East India Company which permitted them to build a factory at Hughli, without fortifications. Various chief agents, governors and presidents were appointed to look after company affairs in the Bay of Bengal. In 1773, Warren Hastings was appointed as the first Governor General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal following the enactment of the East India Company Act of 1772. 

 List of governors-general 
 Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal (1773–1833) 
The Regulating Act of 1773 replaced the office of the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal with Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal. The office of the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal was restored in 1833.
 Portrait Name Term Appointer 120px Warren HastingsOriginally joined on 28 April 1772 20 October1773 8 February1785 East India Company90px 120px John Macpherson (acting)  8 February1785 12 September1786 120px The Marquess CornwallisEarl Cornwallis from 1762; created Marquess Cornwallis in 1792. 12 September1786 28 October1793 120px John Shore 28 October1793 18 March1798 120px Alured Clarke (acting)  18 March1798 18 May1798 120px The Earl of MorningtonCreated Marquess Wellesley in 1799. 18 May1798 30 July1805 120px The Marquess Cornwallis 30 July1805 5 October1805 120px Sir George Barlow, Bt (acting)  10 October1805 31 July1807 120px The Lord Minto 31 July1807 4 October1813 120px The Marquess of HastingsEarl of Moira prior to being created Marquess of Hastings in 1816 4 October1813 9 January1823 120px John Adam (acting) 9 January1823 1 August1823 120px The Lord AmherstCreated Earl Amherst in 1826. 1 August1823 13 March1828 120px William Butterworth Bayley  (acting)  13 March1828 4 July1828

Governors of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal
(ex-officio Governor-General of India, 1834-1854)Name
(birth–death)PortraitTook officeLeft officeAppointer1The Lord William Bentick 
(1774–1839)100px15 November 1834
(1833)20 March 1835East IndiaCompany65px –Sir Charles Metcalfe, Bt, ICS
(acting)

(1785–1846)100px20 March 18354 March 18362The Lord Auckland (1784–1849)100px4 March 183628 February 18423The Lord Ellenborough (1790–1871)100px28 February 1842June 1844 –William Wilberforce Bird, ICS
(acting)

(1784–1857)100pxJune 184423 July 18444Sir Henry Hardinge (1785–1856)100px23 July 184412 January 18485The Earl of Dalhousie (1812–1860)100px12 January 18481 May 1854
(28 February 1856)

 Governors-General and Viceroys of India and Governors-General of the Dominion of India, 1858–1950 

 Governor-General or Viceroy Term of office Notable events Secretary of State for India Prime Minister Governors-General and Viceroys of India, 1858–1947 30x30px Appointed by Queen Victoria  80pxCharles Canning, Viscount CanningCreated Earl Canning 1859. 1858 1862 Queen Victoria's Proclamation (1 November 1858) and The Government of India Act, 1858
 Formation of Imperial Civil Services (1858)
 Indigo Revolt in Bengal (1859–1860)
 White mutiny by the European troops (1859)
 Enactment of Indian Penal Code (1860)
 Indian High Courts Act 1861
 Indian Councils Act, 1861
 Indian Civil Service Act, 1861
 Police Act, 1861
 Establishment of Archaeological Survey of India (1861)
 System of Budget was introduced
 Introduced Portfolio System which gave foundation for Cabinet System Lord Stanley
 Charles Wood Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
 Viscount Palmerston 80pxJames Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin 1862 1863 Establishment of Calcutta High Court (), Bombay High Court () and Madras High Court () (1862)
 Wahabi movement suppressed Charles Wood Viscount Palmerston 80pxRobert Napier  1863 1863   80pxWilliam Denison  1863 1864   80pxJohn Lawrence, Baronet 1864 1869 Bhutan War (1864–1865) (The British defeated an undefended Bhutan and annexed Assam and Bengal Duars)
 Establishment of Shimla as India's summer capital (1864)
 Establishment of Allahabad High Court (1866)
 Famine Commission was constituted (1867) under Henry Campbell due to Orissa famine of 1866
 Tenancy Act was passed in Punjab and Oudh (1868) Charles Wood
 George Robinson, Earl de Grey
 Viscount Cranborne
 Stafford Northcote
 George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll Viscount Palmerston
 John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
 Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
 Benjamin Disraeli
 William Ewart Gladstone 80pxRichard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo 1869 1872 Keshub Chandra Sen establishes Indian Reform Association (1870)
 Started Financial decentralization (1870)
 Enacted IPC amendment-Sedition Act 1870 to tackle Wahabi Movement
 Assassinated by Sher Ali Afridi (1872)
 Started the Census in India (1872)
 Established the Department of Agriculture and Commerce (1872)
 Established Statistical Survey of India (1872)
 Opening of Rajkumar college in Rajkot and Mayo College at Ajmer for political training of Indian Princes George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll William Ewart Gladstone 80pxJohn Strachey  1872 1872   80pxFrancis Napier, 10th Lord Napier  1872 1872   80pxThomas Baring, Lord Northbrook 1872 1876 He suppressed Kuka rebellion in Punjab led by Ram Singh (1872)
 Jyotiba Phule launches the Satyashodhak Samaj in Maharashtra (1873) against the caste system and the Untouchability practice
 Trial of Gaekwad of Baroda (1874)
 Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1875)
 Prince of Wales Edward VII visited India (1875)
 Dramatic Performances Act, 1876
 He resigned (1876), being asked by the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to make a treaty with the Emir of Afghanistan Sher Ali Khan George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll
 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone
 Benjamin Disraeli 80pxRobert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton 1876 1880 Royal Titles Act, 1876 by which Queen Victoria assumed the title of 'Empress of India'
 Great Famine of 1876–1878, a 'Famine Commission' was constituted under Richard Strachey (1878)
 First Delhi Durbar (of three) (1877)
 Vernacular Press Act, 1878
 Arms Act, 1878
 Second Anglo-Afghan War, (1878–1880)
 Treaty of Gandamak signed (1879)
 Decreased the maximum age of appearing in civil services from 21 to 19 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
 Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, Viscount Cranbrook
 Marquess of Hartington Benjamin Disraeli
 William Ewart Gladstone 80pxGeorge Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon 1880 1884 First Factory Act (1881)
 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
 First complete Census in India (1881)
 Repeal of the Vernacular Press Act (1882)
 Establishment of Panjab University (1882)
 Government resolution on local self-government (1882)
 Appointment of Education Commission under Sir William Wilson Hunter (1882)
 Ilbert Bill (1883)
 Passed Famine codes (1883)
 Increased the maximum age of appearing in civil services from 18 to 21 Marquess of Hartington
 John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley William Ewart Gladstone 80pxFrederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Earl of Dufferin 1884 1888 Formation of Indian National Congress (1885)
 Bengal Tenancy Act (1885)
 Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885)
 Burma was made a province of India, with Rangoon as its capital (1886) John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
 Lord Randolph Churchill
 John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
 R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross William Ewart Gladstone
 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
 William Ewart Gladstone
 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 80pxHenry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne 1888 1894 Age of Consent Act, 1891 was passed to prohibit the marriages of girl child under the age of 12
 Second Factory Act 1891
 Indian Councils Act 1892
 Setting up the Durand Commission (1893) (India-Afghanistan) R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross
 John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley
 Henry Fowler Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
 William Ewart Gladstone
 Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery 80pxVictor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin   1894https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/33561/1/11010320.pdf  1899 Spread of Bubonic plague in Bombay (1896)
 Indian famine of 1896–1897
 Establishment of the Ramakrishna Mission by Swami Vivekananda at Belur Math (1897)
 Assassination of two British officials (Walter Charles Rand and Ayerst) by the Chapekar brothers (1897) Henry Fowler
 Lord George Hamilton Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 80pxGeorge Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of KedlestonOliver Russell, 2nd Baron Ampthill was acting Governor-General in 1904. 1899 1905 Indian famine of 1899–1900
 Munda (Ulgulan) rebellion led by Birsa Munda (1899–1900)
 Department of Agriculture was constituted (1901)
 Creation of North-West Frontier Province (1901)
 Appointment of Police Commission under Andrew Frazer (1902)
 Appointment of Raleigh University Commission (1902) (Indian Universities Act, 1904 was passed as per the recommendation of this commission)
 Second Delhi Durbar (of three) (1903)
 Younghusband expedition to Tibet under Francis Younghusband (1903–1904)
 Benaras Hindu Girls School was established by Annie Besant (1904)
 Ancient Monuments Preservation Act 1904
 Official Secrets Act 1904 to curb free press
 Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa in Bihar was established (1905)
 Partition of Bengal (1905)
 Swadeshi Movement (1905–1911) against Partition of Bengal by Lal Bal Pal-Aurbindo Ghosh Lord George Hamilton
 William St John Brodrick Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
 Arthur Balfour 30x30px Appointed by King Edward VII  80pxGilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto 1905 1910 Establishment of Muslim League by Aga Khan III and Khwaja Salimullah (Nawab of Dhaka) (1906)
 Foundation of Jugantar revolutionary group in Bengal (1906)
 Foundation stone of 'Victoria Memorial' laid (1906)
 Split in Congress (1907) (in Surat session)
 Satyendra Prasanna Sinha became first Indian member to be appointed in Viceroy's Executive Council
 Seditious meetings (prohibition) Act 1907 to curb the extremist movement
 Jamsetji Tata established TISCO (1907)
 Newspapers Act 1908
 Morley–Minto reforms (1909)
 Indian Press Act, 1910 William St John Brodrick
 John Morley
 Robert Crewe-Milnes, Earl of Crewe Arthur Balfour
 Henry Campbell-Bannerman
 H. H. Asquith 30x30px Appointed by King George V  80pxCharles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst 1910 1916 Third Delhi Durbar (1911)
 Annulment of Partition of Bengal by King George V (1911)
 Transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi (1911)
 Partition of Bengal to form Bihar and Orissa province (1912)
 World War I (1914–1918)
 Komagata Maru incident (1914)
 McMahon border line was created between India and China (1914)
 Ghadar Mutiny (1915)
 Mahatma Gandhi came back to India from South Africa (1915)
 Foundation of Hindu Mahasabha by Madan Mohan Malviya (1915)
 Foundation of Banaras Hindu University (1916) Robert Crewe-Milnes, Earl of Crewe
 John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn
 Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe
 Austen Chamberlain H. H. Asquith 80pxFrederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford 1916 1921 Formation of Indian Home Rule movement by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant (1916)
 First Women's University (SNDT Women's University) at Pune was founded by Dhondo Keshav Karve (1916)
 Lucknow Pact (1916) (between Indian National Congress and Muslim League)
 Champaran Satyagraha (1917), the first satyagraha movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in British India
 August Declaration, 1917
 Saddler University Commission or Calcutta Commission (1917)
 Kheda Satyagraha of 1918
 Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms (1919)
 Government of India Act 1919
 Rowlatt Act (1919)
 Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919)
 Khilafat Movement (1919–1920) (later merged with Non-cooperation movement in 1920)
 Foundation of Aligarh Muslim University (1920)
 Non-cooperation movement (1920–1922)
 Imperial Bank of India (now State Bank of India established in 1921) Austen Chamberlain
 Edwin Montagu H. H. Asquith
 David Lloyd George 80pxRufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading 1921 1926 Annulment of Press Act of 1910 and Rowlatt Act of 1919
 Malabar rebellion (also known as Moplah Rebellion), first Ethnic Rebellion (1921)
 Rabindranath Tagore founded Visva-Bharati University (1921)
 Chauri Chaura incident (1922) and withdrawal of Non-cooperation movement by Mahatma Gandhi
 Formation of Swaraj Party (1923)
 Appointment of Lee Commission (1923) on public services reforms
 Railway budget was separated from general budget since 1924 (this tradition continued till 2016)
 Kakori train robbery (1925)
 Foundation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh by K. B. Hedgewar (1925)
 Foundation of the Communist Party of India in Kanpur (1925) Edwin Montagu
 William Peel, Viscount Peel
 Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier
 F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead David Lloyd George
 Bonar Law
 Stanley Baldwin
 Ramsay MacDonald
 Stanley Baldwin 80pxE. F. L. Wood, Lord Irwin 1926 1929 Simon Commission (1928)
 Nehru Report (1928)
 Death of Lala Lajpat Rai (1928)
 Fourteen Points of Jinnah (1929)
 Purna Swaraj declaration (1929)
 Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929)
 Bombing in Central Legislative Assembly by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt (8 April 1929)
 "Deepavali Declaration" (31 October 1929, to grant India dominion status in due course)
 Appointment of "Hartog Committee" (1929) to survey the growth of education in British India
 Launching of Civil disobedience movement with Salt March (1930)
 Dharasana Satyagraha (1930)
 First Round Table Conferences (1930)
 Allahabad Address by Sir Muhammad Iqbal (1930)
 Chittagong armoury raid (1930)
 Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931)
 Execution of Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, and Sukhdev Thapar (1931) F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
 William Peel, Viscount Peel Stanley Baldwin

 Ramsay MacDonald 80pxGeorge Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen  1929  1931   William Peel, Viscount Peel, William Wedgwood Benn 80pxFreeman Freeman-Thomas, Earl of Willingdon 1931 1936 Second Round Table Conference (1931)
 Announcement of Communal Award by Ramsay MacDonald (1932)
 Poona Pact between Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar (1932)
 Third Round Table Conference (1932)
 Pakistan Declaration (1933)
 Foundation of Congress Socialist Party (1934)
 Reserve Bank of India established by passing The Reserve Bank of India Act 1934
 Government of India Act 1935
 Formation of All India Kisan Sabha (1936) William Wedgwood Benn
 Samuel Hoare
 Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland Ramsay MacDonald
 Stanley Baldwin 30x30px Appointed by King Edward VIII  80pxVictor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow 1936 1943 Indian provincial elections (1937)
 Indian entry into World War II (1939)
 Day of Deliverance (1939)
 Formation of All India Forward Bloc (1939)
 Lahore Resolution (1940)
 August Offer (1940)
 Cripps Mission (1942)
 Formation of Indian Legion (1942)
 Quit India Movement (1942)
 Formation of Indian National Army (1942)
 Bengal famine (1943) Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
 Leo Amery Stanley Baldwin
 Neville Chamberlain
 Winston Churchill 30x30px Appointed by King George VI  80pxArchibald Wavell, Viscount Wavell 1943 1947 C. R. formula (1944)
 Simla Conference (1945)
 World War II ended (1945)
 Indian National Army (INA) trials (1945–1946)
 Cabinet Mission (1946)
 Direct Action Day (16 August 1946)
 Interim Government was formed (1946)
 Royal Indian Navy mutiny (1946) Leo Amery
 Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence Winston Churchill
 Clement Attlee 80pxLouis Mountbatten, Viscount Mountbatten of Burma 1947 1947 Indian Independence Act 1947 (18 July 1947)
 Radclife Commission was appointed under the chairmanship of Cyril Radcliffe to demarcate the border line of Bengal Presidency and Punjab Province Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence
 William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel Clement Attlee Governor-General Term of office Notable events   Prime Minister Governors-General of the Dominion of India, 1947–1950 Appointed by King George VI  80pxLouis Mountbatten, Viscount Mountbatten of BurmaCreated Earl Mountbatten of Burma on 28 October 1947. 1947 1948 First Governor-General of the Union of India Jawaharlal Nehru 80pxChakravarti Rajagopalachari 1948 1950 Last Governor-General of India, before the office was permanently abolished (1950)
 First and only Indian-born Governor-General of India

References

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Category:Lists of Indian politicians