British Viceroys of India: A Collection

One letter mentions “The Report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee”, which led to the “Government of India Act”

The British Raj in India lasted from 1858 to 1947. The British monarch was emperor or empress of India, and the British government’s representative on the spot was the the Viceroy and Governor-General of India. There were Princely States during the Raj, each with an indigenous Indian ruler called a maharaja, though on important policies and issues that were subject to the British. It was part of the Viceroy’s responsibility to maintain good relationships with the maharajas.

One of these was the Maharaja of Gondal, and this is a collection of letters, photographs, and signatures, and imprints that were addressed to or belonged to him. There is a letter from October 1934 to the Maharaja from the Earl of Willingdon, who was Viceroy from 1931-36, saying that “The Report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee which has been sitting in London on Constitutional reforms for India may confidently be expected to be published before the end of the year, after which close and continuous consultation between the Secretary of State and myself will be necessary before the bill is drafted for submission to Parliament. I therefore feel, and I know, that Your Highness will agree that throughout January I must be with my government in Delhi at such an important stage in Indian history.” The report, which came out in 1935, led to the Government of India Act, which granted a measure of autonomy to the provinces of India.

There is also a photograph of Willingdon with his successor, the Marquess of Linlithgow, who served from 1936-1943. Linlithgow and his wife sent the Maharaja a Christmas and New Year’s card, and that is present as well.

An “All-India Service of the YMCA” was to be opened in the 1930s, while Lord Irwin was Viceroy (1926-1931). There is a letter to the Maharaja from Irwin in 1930 on Viceroy’s letterhead “to commend the effort that is being made to raise the full sum required to enable the National Council of the Young Men’s Christian Association to carry out their valuable work…” There is a letter from the Metropolitan of India, who was also president of the Indian YMCA, asking the Maharaja for a donation, and a second letter reminding him to donate. In 1931, Linlithgow, having become Viceroy, wrote the Maharaja, speaking of the work of the YMCA, and hoping that “the appeal of the YMCA to the Princes and people of India may achieve all the success which it deserves…I earnestly trust [the YMCA’s work will] continue to flourish and multiply by the generous support of all those who have the happiness and welfare of their fellow-men at heart.” An invitation to dinner to the Maharaja from Lord and Lady Irwin is included.

There is a memorandum dated October 30, 1947 send out under the name of the Military Secretary to the Governor General, D.H. Currie, informing those in the Indian government and military that “Consequent upon the Earldom conferred upon the Governor General, his new designation is as follows: H.E. Rear-Admiral The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, K.G., P.C., G.M.S.I., G.M.I.E., G.C.V.O., K.C.B., D.S.O.” Mountbatten had arrived in India as Viceroy to transition it to independence in February 1947, and the work accomplished, left in 1948. Accompanying this is a photograph of Mountbatten being sworn in on March 28, 1947. There is an invitation from Mountbatten inviting the Maharaja to attend an Investiture at Government House, a card with the Procedure at Investiture, and a telegram from the Maharaja declining.

There are also signatures of Viceroys: Lord Minto (1807-1814), Lord Amherst (1823-1828), Lord Auckland (1836-1842), and Lord Lytton (1876-1880).