Lord
Ripon, originally known as George Frederick Samuel Robinson, was the
Governor General and Viceroy of India from 1880 to 1884. Before he came
to Calcutta (now
Kolkata)
to join as Governor General and Viceroy of India, Lord Ripon (Earl of
Ripon) was a member of parliament from 1852 to 1879. While in
parliament, he held the posts of Under Secretary for War (1859-61),
Under Secretary for India (1861-63), Secretary of State for War
(1863-1866), Secretary for state of India (1866), and Lord President of
the Council (1868-73). He was made Marques in 1871.
Early Life of Lord Ripon
George Frederick Samuel Robinson was born on October 24th 1827, at 10
Downing Street in London, as the son of Frederick John Robinson, Prime
Minister at that time, and Lady Sarah. He joined the House of Commons in
1852, as member for Hull and later appeared for Huddersfield. In the
year 1859, Lord Ripon succeeded his father for the title of Earl of
Ripon and Viscount Goderich, entering the House of Lords, and later that
year, succeeded his cousin as Earl de Grey.
Political Career of Lord Ripon
In the year 1861, Lord Ripon first took office as Earl de Grey, and
remained as an active member of Liberal Cabinet till his demise. Lord
Ripon became Privy Counsellor in 1863. He also remained as Secretary of
State for War, for the years 1863-66, under the guidance of Palmerston
and in 1866; he was Secretary of State for India. Lord Ripon was Lord
President of the Council from 1868 to 1873, in the Gladstone
administration. He was also the chairman of the joint commission which
drew the Treaty of Washington in the United States of America. Thus, he
became the Marquess of Ripon. Lord Ripon also became Knight of the
Garter in the year 1869. He was also Grand Master Mason from 1870 to
1874, when Lord Ripon converted to Catholicism.
Reform Policies of Lord Ripon
The
change of government in Britain with the Liberal Party of Gladstone in
power led to a corresponding change in the top executive of India as
well. Lord Ripon, who had previously held high posts in the India Office
two times, was appointed the Governor General and Viceroy of India.
Lord Ripon, a radical liberal among the liberals, set his reform
programme in motion immediately after he assumed power on 8 June 1880.
His earliest measure was to end the protracted Anglo-Afghan hostilities.
He entered into a peace treaty with the new Afghan, Amir Abdur Rahman.
The new Amir agreed, in return for an annual subsidy, to determine his
foreign policy in consultation with the government of India.
Lord Ripon made remarkable contribution to the development of Local
Government. In 1882, he abandoned the existing system of local
government by the officially nominated people. His reform thought, as he
declared, was directed to educating the people politically and
educationally. According to his local self-government plan, the enormous
Local Boards were split into smaller units to achieve greater
efficiency. In order to ensure popular participation in the management
of local affairs, the existing nomination system was replaced by
election system.
But due to opposition from the British civilians, who believed the
natives were not yet prepared for electoral system, Ripon could not
implement his electoral ideas as fully as he intended to. The nominated
members on the local committees, rural and urban, remained side by side
with the elected members. The famous
Bengal Tenancy Act
of 1885, though enacted after Ripon's departure, got its origin from
the Rent Commission that he established in 1880, in response to
widespread peasant unrest in the country. Against the rack-renting
Zamindars and Taluqdars, the Bengal Raiyats were agitating for long. The
Rent Commission was asked to study the agrarian problems and make
appropriate recommendations for legislative actions. The upshot of the
commission report (1882) was a long debate on the rights and liabilities
of tenants and the eventual enactment of the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885
under which the Raiyats got considerable rights in land that they lost
under the Permanent Settlement.
Education was one of the most important issues that Lord Ripon focused
upon. As Lord President of the Council in the Liberal Government of
Gladstone, Ripon had been responsible for bringing important educational
reforms. As Governor General, Ripon gave high priority on education,
particularly primary education. He set up a committee, called Indian
Education Commission (1882), for looking into the problems of primary
and secondary education.
Controversial Policies of Lord Ripon
The most controversial
Ilbert Bill
issue particularly marked Ripon's administration. The controversy arose
out of the question of the jurisdiction of native judges over European
subjects. The Law member, Sir Courtney Ilbert, introduced a bill banning
the protected status of the white and seeking equality of all subjects,
native or otherwise, in the eye of law. The Anglo Indian community put
up a strong resistance movement to the passage of the bill and forced
the government to enact the bill by bringing substantial amendment to
its original spirit and letter.
The liberal policy of Ripon met resistance again when he repealed in
1882 the controversial Vernacular Press Act (1878) that required the
editors of Indian newspapers either to give an undertaking, not to
publish any matter objectionable to government or to submit the proof
sheets before publication for scrutiny. The native press hailed his
action, but the Anglo-Indian press and the community were against the
idea of granting freedom of press to the natives. However, Ripon's idea
about granting freedom of press to all without showing any racial
discrimination prevailed.
Death of Lord Ripon
Ripon left India in December 1884. Lord Ripon died at the age of 81, in
the year 1909.
No other Governor General before or after Ripon was dearer to the
natives as he was and conversely no other Governor General was possibly
as detestable to the Anglo-Indian community as Ripon.
