1852
Second Anglo-Burmese War: province of Pegu annexed.
1856
Annexation of the prosperous Kingdom of Awadh (an ally) by the British.
1856
Charles John Canning, Viscount Canning, is appointed Governor-General of India (1856-58).
1857
The first British railway line is built in India with funds guaranteed from Indian taxes.
18570000 - 18580000
The Indian ‘Mutiny’ and Uprising: by 1857, grievances amongst sepoys within the Bengal Army over pay, the lack of promotion opportunities and, for sepoys from Awadh, Britain’s annexation of their province, had developed into serious disaffection. The rumour that cartridges used by the army were being greased with pig and cow fat, offensive to both Hindus and Muslims, sparked a refusal by sepoys in Meerut to use them. As punishment, the sepoys were humiliated and some expelled from the service. This provoked an uprising amongst the sepoys, who killed the British residents of Meerut and marched on Delhi to seek support from Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor. This event stimulated uprisings throughout much of Northern India by disaffected groups of Indians, each with their own personal grievances against the British in India. These uprisings would culminate in a period of intense violence and bloodshed. The uprisings would finally be brutally crushed by the British, the last Mughal Emperor deposed, and a new system of direct governance by the British crown ushered in, known as the British Raj.
1858
The Government of India Act is passed on the 2nd August, taking away authority from the East India Company and passing it to the British Crown.
1858
Charles John Canning, Viscount Canning, is appointed the first Viceroy of India (1858-62).
1859
Oppressed peasants and indigo farmers rise up in Bengal against the tyranny of European and Indian indigo planters.
1862
James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, is appointed Viceroy of India (1862-63).
1864
Sir John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baronet, is appointed Viceroy (1864-69).
18650000 - 18670000
Millions die in post-Mutiny famines in north India and Orissa.
1869
Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, is appointed Viceroy (1869-72).
1869
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian nationalist leader, is born on the 2nd of October.
1876
Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Baron Lytton, is appointed Viceroy (1876-1880).
1876
Queen Victoria is declared the Empress of India on the 1st of May.
18760000 - 18770000
The ‘Great Famine’ devastates South India.
18780000 - 18800000
Second Anglo-Afghan War: control of the Khyber pass ceded to the British, but British Resident and staff in Kabul soon after massacred. Residency subsequently abandoned in return for tacit acknowledgement of British control over Afghan foreign policy.
1880
George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, is appointed Viceroy (1880-84).
1883
The Ilbert Bill is introduced which proposes that senior Indian judges should only be allowed to preside over trials of both British subjects in rural areas if a majority of the jury are British. Indian educated opinion is outraged by this blatantly racist measure. The rule does not apply in urban areas where both senior Indian and British judges are allowed to preside with equal powers.
1884
Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Earl of Dufferin and Viscount Clandeboye, is appointed Viceroy (1884-88).
1885
Third Anglo-Burmese War
1885
The Indian National Congress holds its first meeting in Bombay – partly in response to the Ilbert controversy. The Congress is first proposed by an Englishman, A.O. Hume, who soughts to improve dialogue between educated Indians and the colonial government, but the initiative is soon taken by Indians.
1886
Annexation of Burma by the British.
1888
Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, is appointed Viceroy (1888-94).
1892
The India Councils Act is passed widening the membership and responsibility of legislative councils, which elite Indians were being selected to attend as representatives of Indian opinion.
1894
Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin and 13th Earl of Kincardine is appointed Viceroy (1894-99).
18950000 - 19000000
A devastating famine affects large parts of India and kills tens of millions of people. Valuable lessons are learned as British laissez-faire attitude to famine relief is discredited.
1899
George Nathaniel Curzon, Baron Curzon of Kedleston, is appointed Viceroy (1899-1905).
1905
Curzon oversees the partition of Bengal, which causes huge political unrest: denounced as policy of ‘divide and rule’ or an attempt to create separate administrations for Muslims and Hindus in Bengal.
1905
After Curzon’s resignation (following dispute with Army C in C Lord Kitchener), Gilbert John Elliot Murray Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto is appointed Viceroy (1905-1910).
1906
The Muslim League is formed following a request from Viceroy Minto to meet with representatives of ‘Muslim opinion’, conveyed to a meeting of the ‘Mohammedan Educational Association’.
1909
The India Councils Act (also known as the Morley-Minto reforms) is passed increasing the size of the legislative council and allowing, for the first time, the election of Indians upon a highly restrictive all-male, income and property franchise to the various legislative councils. This act also creates a separate electorate for Muslims with the reservation of a small number of seats on provincial and imperial legislative councils.
1910
Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penhurst, is appointed Viceroy (1910-16).
1911
An imperial Durbar takes place in Delhi to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, Emperor and Empress of India. George V announces the removal of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi and the reunification of the disaffected and partitioned Bengal.
19140000 - 19180000
India enters the First World War with Britain. 1.3 million Indians eventually participate in the war. The Ghadar revolutionary conspiracy is suppressed using powerful Defence of India ordinances which restrict civil liberties and permit trial without jury.
1915
Gandhi returns to India having spent 20 years in South Africa as a lawyer, during which time he organised numerous satyagrahas (non-violent protests) against the South African government’s treatment of Indian settlers. Gandhi lends his support to the National Congress and later becomes one of its leaders.
1915
Foundation of the Hindu nationalist Hindu Mahasabha, influential forerunner of the Jana Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Parties (BJP).
1916
Home rule leagues are founded across India to press for self-rule. These leagues are supported by Annie Besant, a British woman and Head of the Theosophical Society in Madras.
1916
Frederick John Napier Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford, is appointed Viceroy (1916-21).
1916
An agreement (The Lucknow Pact) between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League is reached to collaborate in pressurising the British into allowing Indians greater influence in the Government of India. The agreement is negotiated by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a member of the Muslim League and later its leader.
19170000 - 19180000
Gandhi embarks on non-violent protests (satyagraha) among the indigo workers of Champaran in Bihar, peasants in Kheda in Gujarat and the mill workers of Ahmedabad.
1919
Third Anglo-Afghan War.
1919
The British Government introduce the Montague-Chelmsford reforms with the idea of gradually developing self-ruling institutions in India. The reforms establish a diarchic system of government and transfer more authority to Indians in local and provincial matters. The electorate is widened slightly but ‘extremist’ candidates, critical of British rule, are disallowed.
1919
Simultaneously, fearing revolution in the period post-First World War, the British Government passes the Rowlatt Bills in India. These bills put a curb on individual rights and allow for arrest and detention without a warrant, making the Defence of India ordinances a part of India’s permanent peace-time constitution. Mass protests follow and Gandhi calls for a nationwide movement for the repeal of these laws.
1919
In Amritsar, in the Punjab, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opens fire on a crowd of unarmed demonstrators. Later known as the Amritsar Massacre, this event sparked a phase of mass non-cooperation. Official sources placed the fatalities at 379, whilst private sources suggest there were possibly more than 1000 deaths, with more than 2000 wounded
19200000 - 19220000
Gandhi initiates the non-cooperation movement calling for Indians to withdraw from British institutions. The Indian National Congress is turned into a fully fledged political party with a national, provincial, and district level committees. Large numbers of protestors are imprisoned. The movement is eventually called-off by Gandhi, to the dismay of his followers, after a group of policemen are killed by a crowd in Chauri Chaura. Gandhi is arrested soon after on charges of sedition and imprisoned.
1921
Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st Earl of Reading, is appointed Viceroy (1921-26).
1924
Kanpur Bolsehvik Conspiracy case. Seven prominent members of the Indian Communist party (founded 1920), including M.N. Roy, are charged – in Roy’s case in absentia - with attempting to separate Britain from India by violent Bolshevik revolution.
1925
Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton, is appointed acting Viceroy (April-Aug, 1925).
1925
Foundation of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteers' Organisation) by Dr. K.B. Hedgewar.
1925
Gandhi is released early from prison due to bad health.
1926
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, Baron Irwin, is appointed Viceroy (1926-31).
1928
A parliamentary commission led by Sir John Simon is sent to India to investigate the possibilities for further constitutional reform. The commission is boycotted by all parties for not containing any Indians.
1929
Irwin pledges dominion status for India at an unspecified time in the future.
1929
Jawaharlal Nehru is appointed President of the Indian National Congress at the age of 40 (the first of six subsequent elections).
1930
The National Congress declare that only complete independence from British rule (Purna Swaraj) would be acceptable and a mass civil disobedience movement is launched which includes Gandhi’s Salt March to Dandi in protest against salt taxes. Gandhi and thousands of others are imprisoned.
1930
The first Round Table Conference is convened to consider dominion status for India. The Muslim League attend, but the conference is boycotted by the National Congress.
1931
Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Earl of Willingdon, is appointed Viceroy (1931-36).
1931
Gandhi is released from prison and the Gandhi-Irwin pact is agreed, which temporarily ends the civil disobedience movement and ensures the release of political prisoners.
1931
Gandhi joins the second Round Table Conference in London to discuss dominion status for India, but is disillusioned by lack of progress and plays little part, instead spending his time meeting with the unemployed in Lancashire and the East End of London.
1932
The Gandhi-Irwin pact collapses and Gandhi resumes the civil disobedience movement.
1932
The third Round Table Conference takes place without most of the main political leaders of India.
1934
Powerful repression by the British over-awes the efforts of the Indian National Congress and the civil disobedience movement is called-off. Gandhi embarks on a compaign to raise the status of India’s harijan or untouchable/dalit communities.
1934
Mohammad Ali Jinnah returns to India and becomes leader of the Muslim League.
1935
The Government of India Act is passed, granting India provincial autonomy and a federal form of government, subject to British vetos.
1936
Victor Alexander John Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, is appointed Viceroy (1936-43).
1937
The National Congress gains a majority in provincial elections held on a Westminster first past the post basis and governs in seven provinces. The exclusion of the Muslim League from government in northern and central India (despite winning many votes) leads to increasing tension and conflict between the Muslim League and Congress. The League wins control of Bengal, to the distress of Bengali Hindu nationalists.
1937
General unrest in the 1930s is worsened by the impact of the Great Depression, which leads to mass indebtedness, land loss, and poverty migration from rural areas to Indian cities.
1939
India enters the Second World War with Britain, but without consent of Indian politicians or provincial assemblies. Congress members resign from provincial governments in protest.
1939
Linlithgow issues a statement on war aims and the war effort, offering concessions and promising dominion status for India following the war.
1940
The Muslim League enacts the Lahore Resolution, later known as the Pakistan Resolution. The Muslim League demands that areas of India predominantly inhabited by Muslims should become independent states.
1940
The British promise to set up a constitution-making body (comprising all viewpoints within India) at the end of the war. In the interim, Linlithgow offers to create limited additional places for Indian representatives on his executive council and to establish a war advisory council. The National Congress and Muslim League reject his offer and Gandhi and Congress launch a civil disobedience movement.