The Earl Canning | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, c. 1855 | |
| Governor-General of India | |
| In office 28 February 1856 – 31 October 1858 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | The Marquess of Dalhousie |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Elgin |
| Viceroy of India | |
| In office 1 November 1858 – 21 March 1862 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Viscount Palmerston The Earl of Derby |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Elgin |
| First Commissioner of Woods and Forests | |
| In office 2 March 1846 – 30 June 1846 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | Sir Robert Peel, Bt |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Lincoln |
| Succeeded by | Viscount Morpeth |
| Postmaster General | |
| In office 5 January 1853 – 30 January 1855 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Aberdeen |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Hardwicke |
| Succeeded by | The Duke of Argyll |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 December 1812 Brompton, London |
| Died | 17 June 1862 (aged 49) Grosvenor Square, London |
| Political party | Conservative Peelite |
| Spouse | |
| Parent(s) | George Canning Joan Canning, 1st Viscountess Canning |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning, KG, GCB, KCSI, PC (14 December 1812 – 17 June 1862), also known as the Viscount Canning and Clemency Canning, was a British statesman and Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857[1] and the first Viceroy of India after the transfer of power from the East India Company to the Crown of Queen Victoria in 1858 after the rebellion was crushed.[2]
Canning is credited for ensuring that the administration and most departments of the government functioned normally during the rebellion and took major administrative decisions even during the peak of the Rebellion in 1857, including establishing the first three modern Universities in India, the University of Calcutta, University of Madras and University of Bombay based on Wood's despatch.[3][4][5] Canning passed the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856 which was drafted by his predecessor Lord Dalhousie before the rebellion.[6][7] He also passed the General Service Enlistment Act of 1856.[8]
After the rebellion he presided over a smooth transfer and reorganisation of government from the East India company to the crown,[9] the Indian Penal Code was drafted in 1860 based on the code drafted by Macaulay and came into force in 1862.[10] Canning met the rebellion '"with firmness, confidence, magnanimity and calm" as per his biographer, Sir George Dunbar.[11] Canning was very firm during the rebellion but after that he focused on reconciliation and reconstruction rather than retribution and issued a clemency proclamation.[12][13][14]
- ^ Raman, Praveen (2017). Canning. Praveenraman.
- ^ "Proclamation by the Queen in Council to the Princes, Chiefs and people of India". British Library. 1 November 1858. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ Edward Thompson; Edward T. & G.T. Garratt (1999). History of British Rule in India. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. pp. 472–. ISBN 978-81-7156-804-8. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ Sheshalatha Reddy (15 October 2013). Mapping the Nation: An Anthology of Indian Poetry in English, 18701920. Anthem Press. pp. 28–. ISBN 978-1-78308-075-5. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ Augustine Kanjamala (21 August 2014). The Future of Christian Mission in India: Toward a New Paradigm for the Third Millennium. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 76–. ISBN 978-1-62032-315-1. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ Mohammad Arshad; Hafiz Habibur Rahman (1966). History of Indo-Pakistan. Ideal Publications. p. 316. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ Nusantara. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. 1972. p. 233. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ Alan Lester; Kate Boehme; Peter Mitchell (7 January 2021). Ruling the World: Freedom, Civilisation and Liberalism in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire. Cambridge University Press. pp. 232–. ISBN 978-1-108-42620-6. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Micropaedia (10 v.). Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1983. p. 512. ISBN 978-0-85229-400-0. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ O. P. Singh Bhatia (1968). History of India, 1857 to 1916. S. Amardeep Publishers. pp. 27–28. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ Sir George Dunbar (1939). A History of India from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Nicholson & Watson, limited. p. 528. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ Deborah Cherry (7 September 2015). The Afterlives of Monuments. Taylor & Francis. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-1-317-70450-8. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ Helen Rappaport (2003). Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion. ABC-CLIO. pp. 201–. ISBN 978-1-85109-355-7. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- ^ James Stuart Olson; Robert Shadle (1996). Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 245–. ISBN 978-0-313-29366-5. Retrieved 10 December 2018.