The Regulating Act and Warren Hastings
Fort William, Calcutta
Parliament puts the Company's Indian government under a Governor-General at Calcutta; Warren Hastings becomes the first in 1774.
The Bengal famine of 1770 and a Company close to bankruptcy brought Parliament into the government of India for the first time. The Act, which received royal assent in June 1773, made the Governor of Bengal Governor-General of Fort William with a council of four, gave him a limited authority over Bombay and Madras in matters of war and peace, and set up a Supreme Court at Calcutta with judges sent from England.
Warren Hastings took office in October 1774 and governed until 1785, often outvoted by his own council. His years fixed Calcutta as the capital of British India, which it remained until 1911. Pitt's India Act of 1784 added a Board of Control in London.
His rule remains disputed. The hanging of Nanda Kumar in 1775, the Rohilla war and his treatment of Chait Singh of Benares and the Begums of Awadh led to his impeachment in 1788; after a trial lasting seven years he was acquitted in 1795.
- colonial
- political