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 10^th 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 9^th 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 19^th 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.