SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is a study of Lord Northbrook's career as Governor-General of India from 1872 to 1876. Northbrook was not a pre-eminently brilliant ruler nor a redical reformer, but he was a competent administrator whose sagacity and judgement were rarely at fault and who made notable contributions in many branches of government. He firmly believed that India should be ruled according to the liberal principles of the Proclamation of 1858, paid close attention to Indian public opinion, and, by shaping much of his policy accordingly, endeavoured, with considerable success, to strengthen the British position in the country. The first chapter gives a brief account of Northbrook's previous career, discusses the circumstances of his appointment, and examines the scene in India which was one of considerable unrest and had a profound effect on his whole administration. The six subsequent chapters study the problems which Northbrook considered most important and the ones which engaged most of his attention -- finance, education and the admission of Indians to the civil service, famine, relations with the princely state of Baroda, tariff reform, and foreign affairs. In the last two of these chapters considerable attention is given to relations with the home Government which became seriously strained after the Conservatives, with whose Indian policy Northbrook strongly disagreed, came into power in 1874. The conflict between him and Lord Salisbury, the Secretary of State, is specially examined in the final chapter which discusses the reasons for North-brook's premature retirement and suggests that it was largely influenced by the opposition of the home Government to policies which he considered essential for the well-being of India. The principal sources on which this work is based are the Northbrook papers, the papers of other contemporary statesmen, the official records of the period, and contemporary newspapers.