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Lieutenant General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck GCB GCH PC (14 September 1774 – 17 June 1839), known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British military commander and politician who served as the governor of Fort William (Bengal) from 1828 to 1834 and the first governor-general of India from 1834 to 1835.
- Overview
- Early career
- Tour in Sicily
- Governor-general of India
- Legacy
Lord William Bentinck (born September 14, 1774, Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire, England—died June 17, 1839, Paris, France) British governor-general of Bengal (1828–33) and of India (1833–35). An aristocrat who sympathized with many of the liberal ideas of his day, he made important administrative reforms in Indian government and society. He reformed th...
The second son of the 3rd duke of Portland, Bentinck at age 17 received a commission as ensign in the Coldstream Guards, and by 1794 he had become a lieutenant colonel. Born to wealth and rank, he was a promising, if not outstanding, young officer. Nevertheless, his appointment as governor of Madras (now Chennai) in 1803, at the early age of 29, caused surprise.
Although he performed his duties satisfactorily enough, his administration was clouded by his disagreements with his council and was abruptly terminated by the mutiny at Vellore. An unwise order by the commander in chief of the Madras army had forbidden the native troops to wear their traditional beards and turbans; Bentinck, even more unwisely, would not allow the order to be rescinded. The consequence was a serious mutiny in July 1806, accompanied by attacks on officers and British troops. The outbreak was suppressed with heavy loss of life, and the ill-considered order was finally withdrawn. Bentinck was held responsible and was recalled from his post in 1807. Believing he had been treated unjustly, he pressed for the next 20 years for a chance to vindicate his name by service in India.
With the Napoleonic Wars ongoing, he was next assigned to Spain, where he commanded a brigade at Corunna, after which he was appointed commander of the British troops in Sicily. Italy was then in the hands of Napoleon, but in Sicily the Bourbon monarchs of Naples still reigned under the protection of the British fleet. Bentinck’s orders were to rai...
He refused reappointment to the governorship of Madras in 1819, waiting to attain his real ambition—the appointment as governor-general of Bengal, which came in 1827. Bentinck’s immediate instructions were to rescue India from its financial difficulties; at this time the government in India operated on an annual deficit of about £1.5 million. Bentinck soon succeeded in turning the deficit into a surplus of about the same amount. The result of his efforts was the renewal of the East India Company’s government by the Charter Act of 1833, whereby Bentinck became the first governor-general of India. He next turned to personnel reforms, which included making more administrative and judicial positions available to Indians and improving the salaries and status of Indian judges. Bentinck also made English, instead of Persian, the language of the higher courts and of higher education and arranged for financial aid to colleges, which were to be adapted to the Western models.
Bentinck showed great courage and humanity by his decision to abolish suttee (sati), the Hindu custom of burning widows alive with the corpses of their husbands. Previous governors-general had shrunk from prohibiting the custom as an interference in religion and one particularly likely to upset the Indian army, but Bentinck cut through these hesitations without facing much open opposition. He was also responsible for the measures taken to suppress the murder of unwanted children, human sacrifice, and the thags—bands of robbers, bound together by oaths and ritual, who murdered unsuspecting travelers in the name of the goddess Kālī. Flogging in the Indian army was also abolished, long before it ended in the British army.
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Bentinck left India in March 1835 and returned to England, where he refused a peerage and was again elected to the House of Commons. He died in Paris in 1839. It has been argued that the reforms he initiated and those that followed in the next 20 years—which accelerated the westernization of India—were partly responsible for the Indian army’s Mutin...
1 day ago · He joined the British army at 16, rising to the rank of colonel by 1798. He also served as a Member of Parliament for over 30 years. Governor of Madras: In 1803, Lord William Bentinck was appointed Governor of Madras. He faced significant challenges, including the Vellore Mutiny of 1806. Bentinck was held responsible and recalled from his post ...
Jun 17, 2018 · The first Governor-General of India, Lord William Bentinck died on 17 June 1839 in Paris. He is most remembered for his abolition of Sati in British India.
Jun 8, 2016 · Lord William Bentinck served as Governor General of India between 1828 to 1835. His tenure is known for the social reforms such as Abolition of Sati in 1829, Suppression.
Biography of Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (1774-1839; M.P. and Governor General of India) Lord William Bentinck was born in London, the second son of the 3rd Duke of Portland. He was educated at Rev. Dr Samuel Goodenough's school in Ealing, before moving on to Westminster School.
William, Lord Bentinck, (born Sept. 14, 1774, Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire, Eng.—died June 17, 1839, Paris, France), British colonial administrator. Born to wealth and rank, he was appointed governor of Madras in 1803. Recalled in 1807 after a mutiny of Indian troops at Vellore, he pressed for the next 20 years for a chance to vindicate his name.
