Governor-General and Viceroys of India

Governor-General/ Viceroy

Length of Service

Important Decisions/Contributions

Warren Hastings

1773–1785

• Implemented Cornwallis Code, laying the foundation for British administration in India.

Lord Cornwallis

1786–1793, 1805

• Introduces the Permanent Settlement in Bengal.

Sir John Shore

1793–1798

• Instituted the policy of non-intervention in Indian states.

Lord Wellesley

1798–1805

• Subsidiary Alliance System, making Indian states subsidiary to British authority.

Lord Hastings

1813–1823

• Annexation of Maratha territories after the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

Lord William Bentinck

1828–1835

• Abolition of Sati, promotion of English education, suppression of Thugs.

Lord Dalhousie

1848–1856

• Introduction of Doctrine of Lapse, telegraph system, railways, and postal system.

Lord Canning

1856–1862

• Oversaw the Indian Rebellion of 1857, initiated the process of Crown rule in India.

Lord Lytton

1876–1880

• Initiated the Vernacular Press Act and the Ilbert Bill controversy.

Lord Ripon

1880–1884

• Passed the Local Self-Government Act and the First Factory Act.

Lord Curzon

1899–1905

• Partition of Bengal, founding of Indian universities, introduction of reforms in the Indian Civil Service.

Lord Chelmsford

1916–1921

• Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms leading to the Government of India Act 1919.

Lord Irwin

1926–1931

• Conducted the first Round Table Conference and issued the Irwin Declaration.

Lord Mountbatten

1947

• Instrumental in the partition of India and Pakistan, became the first Governor-General of independent India.