1861 in India

← 1860 1859 1858 1861 in India → 1862 1863 1864
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	List of years in India Timeline of Indian history

Army surgical staff, Calcutta 1861.

Events in the year 1861in India:

Incumbents

• Charles Canning, Viceroy ^[1]

Events

• Girls' High School & College, Allahabad, is founded.
• The Delhi Department of Police is founded.

Law

• Indian Councils Act 1861 ^[2]
• Indian Civil Services Act
• Indian High Courts Act
• Police Act
• Stage-Carriages Act
• Foreign Law Ascertainment Act (British statute)
• East India Loan Act (British statute)
• Malicious Damages Act (British statute)
• Wills Act (British statute)
• Domicile Act (British statute)

Births

• 27 January: Baba Tajuddin Nagpuri, Sufi, saint, healer (died 1925).
• 6 May: Motilal Nehru (died 1931).
• 7 May: Rabindranath Tagore, poet, artist, playwright, novelist and composer (died 1941).
• 18 June: Devaki Nandan Khatri, first author of mystery novels in Hindi (died 1913).
• 18 July:Kadambini Ganguly, first female medical practitioner and one of the first female graduates of the then Indian subcontinent (died 1923).
• 2 Aug: Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray.(died 1944).
• 21 Sept: Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (died 1962).
• 24 Sep: Bhikaiji Cama, independence campaigner (died 1936).

References

1. Cunningham (1891). Earl (Charles) Canning. p. 164. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
2. Britain, Great (1893). The Indian Councils Act, and the Acts Amending it: With All Official Papers Connected Therewith and the Rules for the Conduct of Business at Meetings of the Council. National Press. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-12-24.