 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(August 2016) |
This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
| | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(August 2016) |
This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized between the factors of the Masulipatnam (now Machilipatnam) factory (trading post), represented by Francis Day, and the Raja of Chandragiri. In 1640, Andrew Cogan, the chief of the Masulipatnam factory, made his way to Madras in the company of Francis Day and the English and Indian employees of the Masulipatnam factory. The Agency of Madras was established on 1 March 1640 and Cogan was made the first Agent. The official title was 'Governor of Fort St George' and the Governor was usually referred to as Agent. Cogan served in the post for three years and was succeeded by Francis Day. After four agents had served their terms, Madras was upgraded to a Presidency during the time of Aaron Baker. However financial considerations forced the company to revert to an agency soon after Aaron Baker had served his term. The Agency survived until 1684 when Madras was made a Presidency once and for all. Streynsham Master is the best remembered and most renowned of the Agents of Madras.
| # | Name (birth–death) | Took office | Left office | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agents | ||||||
| 1 | Andrew Cogan | 1 March 1640 | 1643 |
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| 2 | Francis Day (1605–1673) | 1643 | 1644 | |||
| 3 | Thomas Ivie (1605–1673) | 1644 | 1648 |
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| 4 | Thomas Greenhill (1611–1658) | 1648 | 1652 | |||
| 5 | Aaron Baker (1610–1683) | 1652 | 1655 | |||
| 6 | Thomas Greenhill (1611–1658) | 1655 | 1658 | |||
| 7 | Sir Thomas Chambers (d. 1692) | 1658 | 1661 | |||
| 8 | Sir Edward Winter (1622–1686) | 1661 | Aug 1665 | |||
| 9 | George Foxcroft (1634–1715) | Aug 1665 | 16 Sep 1665 | |||
| 10 | Sir Edward Winter (1622–1686) | 16 Sep 1665 | 22 Aug 1668 | |||
| 11 | George Foxcroft (1634–1715) | 22 Aug 1668 | Jan 1670 |
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| 12 | Sir William Langhorne, 1st Baronet (1631–1715) | Jan 1670 | 27 Jan 1678 | |||
| 13 | Streynsham Master (1640–1724) | 27 Jan 1678 | 3 Jul 1681 |
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| 14 | William Gyfford | 3 Jul 1681 | 8 Aug 1684 | |||
Madras was elevated to a presidency in 1684 and remained so until 12 February 1785 when new rules and regulations brought by the Pitt's India Act reformed the administration of the East India Company with the exception of a three-year period of French rule from 1746 to 1749 when Madras was a governorship.
Subsequently, Elihu Yale who took charge on 8 August 1684 was the First President of Madras. Elihu Yale, Thomas Pitt and George Macartney are some of the well-known Presidents of Madras.
| Name | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|
| Elihu Yale (First term) (acting) | 8 August 1684 | 26 January 1685 |
| William Gyfford | 26 January 1685 | 25 July 1687 |
| Elihu Yale (Second term) | 25 July 1687 | 3 October 1692 |
| Nathaniel Higginson | 3 October 1692 | 7 July 1698 |
| Thomas Pitt | 7 July 1698 | 18 September 1709 |
| Gulston Addison | 18 September 1709 | 17 October 1709 |
| Edmund Montague (acting) | 17 October 1709 | 14 November 1709 |
| William Fraser | 14 November 1709 (acting) | 11 July 1711 |
| Edward Harrison | 11 July 1711 | 8 January 1717 |
| Joseph Collett | 8 January 1717 | 18 January 1720 |
| Francis Hastings (acting) | 18 January 1720 | 15 October 1721 |
| Nathaniel Elwick | 15 October 1721 | 15 January 1725 |
| James Macrae | 15 January 1725 | 14 May 1730 |
| George Morton Pitt | 14 May 1730 | 23 January 1735 |
| Richard Benyon (governor) | 23 January 1735 | 14 January 1744 |
| Nicholas Morse | 14 January 1744 | 10 September 1746 |
In 1746, Dupleix's deputy, La Bordannais laid siege to Madras and captured the city. For the next three years, Madras remained under French Governors, until 1749, when Madras was handed to the British as per the Treaty of Aix-la-Chappele. The illustrious Mahe de la Bordannais served as acting Governor for a few months until the appointment of Governor Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil, who served until 1749 when Madras reverted to British rule.
| Name | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|
| Mahé de La Bourdonnais (acting) | 10 September 1746 | 2 October 1746 |
| Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil | 2 October 1746 | August 1749 |
During the period between 1746 and 1749, when Madras was under French rule, the British ran a provisional government from Fort St. David, near modern-day Porto Novo. In 1752, when Madras had been returned to the British, the then President of Madras, John Saunders, shifted the seat of government from Fort David to Madras. The British gained a lot of territory during the mid-18th century, so that by the time the French military power was crushed at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1761, the territory under the Presidency of Madras had increased manyfold. In 1785, the Province of Madras was created and the President became the Governor of Madras.
| Name | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|
| John Hinde (in Fort David) | 10 September 1746 | 14 April 1747 |
| Charles Floyer (in Fort David) | 14 April 1747 | 19 September 1750 |
| Thomas Saunders (in Fort David up to 5 April 1752) | 19 September 1750 | 14 January 1755 |
| George Pigot (1st time) | 14 January 1755 | 14 November 1763 |
| Robert Palk | 14 November 1763 | 25 January 1767 |
| Charles Bourchier | 25 January 1767 | 31 January 1770 |
| Josias Du Pré | 31 January 1770 | 2 February 1773 |
| Alexander Wynch | 2 February 1773 | 11 December 1775 |
| George Pigot (2nd time) | 11 December 1775 | 23 August 1776 |
| George Stratton | 23 August 1776 | 31 August 1777 |
| John Whitehill (first time) (acting) | 31 August 1777 | 8 February 1778 |
| Sir Thomas Rumbold | 8 February 1778 | 6 April 1780 |
| John Whitehill (second time) (acting) | 6 April 1780 | 8 November 1780 |
| Charles Smith (acting) | 8 November 1780 | 22 June 1781 |
| George MaCartney | 22 June 1781 | 12 February 1785 |
| Name | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|
| George MaCartney | 12 February 1785 | 14 June 1785 |
| Alexander Davidson (acting) | 14 June 1785 | 6 April 1786 |
| Sir Archibald Campbell | 6 April 1786 | 7 February 1789 |
| John Holland (acting) | 7 February 1789 | 13 February 1790 |
| Edward J.Holland (acting) | 13 February 1790 | 20 February 1790 |
| William Medows | 20 February 1790 | 1 August 1792 |
| Sir Charles Oakeley | 1 August 1792 | 7 September 1794 |
| Baron Hobart | 7 September 1794 | 21 February 1798 |
| George Harris (acting) | 21 February 1798 | 21 August 1798 |
| The 2nd Baron Clive | 21 August 1798 | 30 August 1803 |
| Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck | 30 August 1803 | 11 September 1807 |
| William Petrie (acting) | 11 September 1807 | 24 February 1808 |
| Sir George Barlow, 1st Baronet | 24 February 1808 | 21 May 1813 |
| John Abercromby (acting) | 21 May 1813 | 16 September 1814 |
| Hugh Elliot | 16 September 1814 | 10 June 1820 |
| Sir Thomas Munro | 10 June 1820 | 10 July 1827 |
| Henry Sullivan Graeme (acting) | 10 July 1827 | 18 October 1827 |
| Stephen Rumbold Lushington | 18 October 1827 | 25 October 1832 |
| Sir Frederick Adam | 25 October 1832 | 4 March 1837 |
| George Edward Russell (acting) | 4 March 1837 | 6 March 1837 |
| The 13th Lord Elphinstone | 6 March 1837 | 24 September 1842 |
| The 8th Marquess of Tweeddale | 24 September 1842 | 23 February 1848 |
| Henry Dickinson (acting) | 23 February 1848 | 7 April 1848 |
| Sir Henry Eldred Pottinger | 7 April 1848 | 24 April 1854 |
| Daniel Eliott (acting) | 24 April 1854 | 28 April 1854 |
| The 3rd Baron Harris | 28 April 1854 | 28 March 1859 |
| Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan | 28 March 1859 | 8 June 1860 |
| William Ambrose Morehead (1st time) (acting) | 8 June 1860 | 5 July 1860 |
| Sir Henry George Ward | 5 July 1860 | 2 August 1860 |
| William Ambrose Morehead (2nd time) (acting) | 4 August 1860 | 18 February 1861 |
| Sir William Thomas Denison (1st time) | 18 February 1861 | 26 November 1863 |
| Edward Maltby (acting) | 26 November 1863 | 18 January 1864 |
| Sir William Thomas Denison (2nd time) | 18 January 1864 | 27 March 1866 |
| Francis Napier | 27 March 1866 | 19 February 1872 |
| Alexander John Arbuthnot (acting) | 19 February 1872 | 15 May 1872 |
| Lord Hobart | 15 May 1872 | 29 April 1875 |
| William Rose Robinson (acting) | 29 April 1875 | 23 November 1875 |
| The 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos | 23 November 1875 | 20 December 1880 |
| William Patrick Adam | 20 December 1880 | 24 May 1881 |
| William Huddleston (acting) | 24 May 1881 | 5 November 1881 |
| M.E. Grant Duff | 5 November 1881 | 8 December 1886 |
| The 1st Baron Connemara | 8 December 1886 | 1 December 1890 |
| John Henry Garstin | 1 December 1890 | 23 January 1891 |
| The 3rd Baron Wenlock | 23 January 1891 | 18 March 1896 |
| Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock | 18 March 1896 | 28 December 1900 |
| The 2nd Baron Ampthill (1st time) | 28 December 1900 | 30 April 1904 |
| James Thompson (acting) | 30 April 1904 | 13 December 1904 |
| The 2nd Baron Ampthill (2nd time) | 13 December 1904 | 15 February 1906 |
| Sir Gabriel Stokes (acting) | 15 February 1906 | 28 March 1906 |
| Sir Arthur Lawley | 28 March 1906 | 3 November 1911 |
| Sir Thomas David Gibson-Carmichael | 3 November 1911 | 30 March 1912 |
| Sir Murray Hammick (acting) | 30 March 1912 | 30 October 1912 |
| The 1st Baron Pentland | 30 October 1912 | 29 March 1919 |
| Sir Alexander Gordon Cardew | 29 March 1919 | 10 April 1919 |
| The 1st Baron Willingdon | 10 April 1919 | 12 April 1924 |
| Sir Charles George Todhunter (acting) | 12 April 1924 | 14 April 1924 |
| The 2nd Viscount Goschen | 14 April 1924 | 29 June 1929 |
| Sir Norman Edward Majoribanks (acting) | 29 June 1929 | 11 November 1929 |
| Sir George Frederick Stanley (1st time) | 11 November 1929 | 16 May 1934 |
| Sir Muhammad Usman Sahib Bahadur (acting) | 16 May 1934 | 16 August 1934 |
| Sir George Frederick Stanley (2nd time) | 16 August 1934 | 15 November 1934 |
| Lord Erskine (1st time) | 15 November 1934 | 18 June 1936 |
| Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu (acting) | 18 June 1936 | 1 October 1936 |
| Lord Erskine (2nd time) | 1 October 1936 | 12 March 1940 |
| Arthur Oswald James Hope | 12 March 1940 | 26 February 1946 |
| Sir Henry Foley Knight (acting) | 26 February 1946 | 5 May 1946 |
| Sir Archibald Edward Nye | 5 May 1946 | 15 August 1947 |
Elihu Yale was a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist. Although born in Boston, Massachusetts, he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in England, Wales and India. Starting as a clerk, he eventually rose up to the rank of President of the British East India Company settlement in Fort St George, Madras. He later lost that position under charges of corruption for self-dealing and had to pay a fine. In 1699, he returned to Britain with a considerable fortune, around £200,000, mostly made by selling diamonds, and spent his time and wealth toward philanthropy and art collecting. He is best remembered as the primary benefactor of Yale College, which was named in his honor, following a sizable donation of books, portrait and textiles under the request of Rev. Cotton Mather, a Harvard graduate. No direct descendants of his have survived to this day.
Sir Streynsham Master was an English colonial administrator who was one of the 17th-century pioneers of the English East India Company. He served as the Agent of Madras from 27 January 1678 to 3 July 1681, and is credited with having introduced the first administrative reforms in the Madras Government. He banned sati and prohibited the burning of a Hindu widow in 1680 in what is the first official British response to sati. He made English the sole official language and language of court in the Madras Presidency, replacing the Portuguese, Tamil and Malayalam languages.
Fort St. George is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further settlements and trading activity, in what was originally an uninhabited land. Thus, it is a feasible contention to say that the city evolved around the fortress. The fort currently houses the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly and other official buildings.
The Northern Circars was a division of British India's Madras Presidency. It consisted of a narrow slip of territory lying along the western side of the Bay of Bengal from 15° 40′ to 20° 17′ north latitude, in the present-day Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The Subah of Deccan (Hyderabad/Golconda) consisted of 22 circars. These northern circars were five in number and the most prominent ones in the Subah.
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the whole of the Indian state of Andhra state, almost whole of Tamil Nadu and some parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha and the union territory of Lakshadweep. The city of Madras was the winter capital of the Presidency and Ooty, the summer capital. The coastal regions and northern part of Island of Ceylon at that time was a part of Madras Presidency from 1793 to 1798 when it was created a Crown colony. Madras Presidency was neighboured by the Kingdom of Mysore on the northwest, Kingdom of Cochin on the southwest, Kingdom of Pudukkottai in the Center and the Kingdom of Hyderabad on the north. Some parts of the presidency were also flanked by Bombay Presidency (Konkan) and Central Provinces and Berar.
Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is India's fifth largest city. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. With an estimated population of 8.9 million (2014), the 383-year-old city is the 31st largest metropolitan area in the world.
Fort St David, now in ruins, was a British fort near the town of Cuddalore, a hundred miles south of Chennai on the Coromandel Coast of India. It is located near silver beach without any maintenance. It was named for the patron saint of Wales because the governor of Madras at the time, Elihu Yale, was Welsh.
British India was the collective name for the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent, and in Southeast Asia also termed as the provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns. In one form or another, they existed between 1612 and 1947, conventionally divided into three historical periods:
Sir Andrew Cogan, 1st Baronet also known as Andrew Coggan was the first agent of the English East India Company to rule Madras. He was the chief of the Masulipatnam factory when Madras was purchased from Peda Venkata Raya, the last king of the Aravidu dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire, the capital of which was at Chandragiri. As such Cogan is a significant figure in the history of the English colonial empire.
George Morton Pitt was a Madras-born British politician and administrator who served as the President of Fort St George from 1730 to 1735.
Francis Day (1605–1673) was an administrator associated with the East India Company. He served as a factor of the company's factory at Masulipatnam from 1632 to 1639. In 1639, he negotiated the purchase of a strip of land south of the Dutch factory at Pulicat from the Raja of Chandragiri, where the town of Madras was built. He served as the second Agent of Madras from 1643 to 1644. Along with Andrew Cogan, he is regarded as the founder of Madras.
William Gyfford was an English factor and Agent of Madras from 3 July 1681 to 8 August 1684 and the President of Madras from 26 January 1685 to 25 July 1687.
Nathaniel Higginson was an English politician and a scion of the Higginson family of Salem, Massachusetts who served as the first Mayor of Madras, and later as the President of the colony from 3 October 1692 to 7 July 1698.
Madras Presidency, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, Madras Presidency included much of southern India, including the present-day Indian State of Tamil Nadu, the Malabar region of North Kerala, Lakshadweep Islands, the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, Brahmapur and Ganjam districts of Orissa and the Bellary, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi districts of Karnataka. The presidency had its capital at Madras.
South Arcot District was a district in the Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the area of the present-day districts of Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Viluppuram in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The district was divided into eight taluks and covered a total area of 13,510 square kilometres (5,217 sq mi). The administrative headquarters was the town of Cuddalore.
The Indian independence movement had a long history in the Tamil-speaking districts of the then Madras Presidency going back to the 18th century.
Sir John Goldsborough was a sea-captain and administrator of the British East India Company.
Slavery in the Madras Presidency during the British Raj affected close to 20% of the population. Madras Presidency was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India. The landlords were predominantly higher caste individuals. When those from the lower castes borrowed money against their land and defaulted, they entered a life of debt bondage. The slaves formed 12.2% of the total population in 1930.
Bantam Presidency was a presidency established by the British East India Company and based at the Company factory at Bantam in Java. Founded in 1617, the Presidency exercised its authority over all the Company factories in India, including the agencies of Madras, Masulipatnam and Surat. The factors at Bantam were instrumental in founding the colony of Madraspatnam in 1639 with the Fort St. George, which later grew into the modern city of Madras. The Presidency of Bantam was twice downgraded, first in 1630 before being restored in 1634 and for the second time in 1653, when owing to the hostility of Dutch traders, the Presidency was shifted to Madras.
Administrators of provinces in British India | ||
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| Lt. Governors |
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