Lord Dalhousie and Development of
Transport and Communication Facilities
Lord Dalhousie was the Governor
General of India from 1848 to 1856. His tenure can be considered as one of the
most eventful at the same time controversial. During his tenure as the Governor
General of India lots of territories were conquered and annexed it with the
British empire. Thus, he expanded the British empire in India. At the same time
his tenure was marked with the beginning of Postal and Electric Telegraph services
and Railways in India. On the one hand Indian territories were lost to British
and on the other hand new age communication and transportation facilities were
developed in India. That is why we have said in the beginning that his times as
the Governor General of India were both eventful and controversial.
The entire name of Lord Dalhousie
was James Andrew Broun Ramsay. He was Marquess and 10th Earl of
Dalhousie. Marquess and Earl were the titles given to the nobility in United
Kingdom. Marquess is above the title or
ranking of Earl and Viscount and below
the Duke. Earl is the title above the Viscount and below Marquess.
Lord Dalhousie was Scottish by
birth. He was born on 22 April 1812 in Dalhousie Castle located in Midlothian,
Scotland. Castle is a huge building having strong fortifications, towers,
battlements, etc. According to experts most of the Castles in Europe are built
during mediaeval period.
Lord Dalhousie’s father George
Ramsay was the 9th Earl of Dalhousie.
Lord Dalhousie completed his
education from Christ Church College affiliated to the University of Oxford.
Before coming to India as the Governor General Lord Dalhousie had served as the
President of the Board of the Trade in the ministry of Sir Robert Peel, the
then Prime Minister of United Kingdom. Sir Robert Peel had served as the Prime
Minister from 1834 to 1835 and 1841 to 1846.
As far as conquests of Lord
Dalhousie in India are considered they can be mainly classified into two
categories. One category is the wherein he fought wars and conquered the
territories. In this category comes Punjab, Sikkim and Burma (today’s Myanmar).
The second category is the category of those states which were taken over by
the application of Doctrine of Lapse and Cancellation of Titles.. He took over
the kingdom of Oudh (Awadh) by giving the reason of neglect of governance and indulgence
of Wajid Ali Shah, the then Nawab of
Oudh in merry making and luxury.
We have mentioned about Doctrine of
Lapse in above paragraph. It would be better to throw more light on it.
According to the Doctrine of Lapse those Indian rulers who had entered into
alliances and treaties with the British East India Company and did not have natural
heir to succeed to their throne had to take permission from British East India
Company for adopting son. The British East India Company declined such
permission and adoptions were not allowed. The major States or kingdoms
captured by the application of Doctrine of Lapse were Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur,
Sambalpur, Jaitpur, Baghat and Udaipur.
Lord Dalhousie as mentioned above developed
the network of electric telegraph in India during nineteenth century. Due to
electric telegraph it became easier to transmit information from one place
another with help of wire or radio waves. It was a revolutionary thing during
those days. Nowadays we use WhatsApp and Emails for sending messages and writing
letters or sending attachments. WhatsApp and Emails along with other social
media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat, etc. have become the
fastest mode of exchanging information and messages. But in 19th
century electric telegraph was the fastest mode of communication. The Electric
Telegraph was introduced in the year 1852 in India.
Modern pan-India Postal System was introduced in India during
the time of Lord Dalhousie. Postal System is used even today in the world
including India. People can write letters to their relatives or anybody else
including different government and non-government organisations and communicate
with them. Later on Postal System was used even for sending money from one
place to other through Money Order. At present the Postal Department is under
the control of Government of India and it provides lot many services to the
people which includes the investment schemes. The pan-India Postal System was
started by Lord Dalhousie in the year 1854.
In India the passenger railway
service was started in the year 1853 when Lord Dalhousie was the Governor
General of India. The first train in India ran between Bombay (now Mumbai) and
Thane in Maharashtra. The first official run of the train took place on 16
April 1853. The locomotives which pulled the train were called as Sahib, Sultan
and Sindh.
On 15 August 1854 the first train
in Bengal Presidency or Eastern India ran between Howrah and Hooghly. On 1 July
1856 the first passenger train ran in Madras Presidency. It ran between Veyasarpandy
and Walajah Road. Thus the Western, Eastern and Southern India witnessed the
beginnings of passengers trains by the end of tenure of Lord Dalhousie as he
returned to Britain in March 1856.
Later on the network of railways
was spread into the breadth and length of India. Lord Elgin also played an
important role in building and spreading railway services in India. Lord Elgin
was the Governor General of India between 21 March 1862 to 20 November 1863.
Lord Dalhousie also developed the
Public Works Department and Ganga Canal was built during his times. Even though
so many important works were done during the times of Lord Dalhousie still his
tenure is considered as one the most controversial one. It was partly due to
his policy of annexations and especially the Doctrine of Lapse. His critics say
that his conquests and policies were one of the reasons responsible for the
Revolt of 1857.
A Hill Station in Himachal Pradesh
has been named after him as Dalhousie. One of the progressive works done by him
was the drafting of the Widow Remarriage Bill. He could not pass it as he was
called back but Lord Canning who replaced him as the Governor General get it
passed and it became the Widow Remarriage Act 1856.