The Earl Canning | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byJohn 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 |
| 1stViceroy 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 | (1812-12-14)14 December 1812 |
| Died | 17 June 1862(1862-06-17) (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 (14 December 1812 – 17 June 1862), also styledViscount Canning and referred to as "Clemency Canning",[1] was a British politician andGovernor-General of India during theIndian Rebellion of 1857.[2] He was the first Viceroy of India after the transfer of power from theEast India Company to the Crown ofQueen Victoria in 1858 after the rebellion was crushed.[3]
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, theUniversity of Calcutta,University of Madras andUniversity of Bombay based onWood's despatch.[4][5][6] Canning passed theHindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856 which was drafted by his predecessorLord Dalhousie before the rebellion.[7][8] He also passed theGeneral Service Enlistment Act of 1856.[9]
After the rebellion he presided over a smooth transfer and reorganisation of government from the East India company to the crown,[10] theIndian Penal Code was drafted in 1860 based on the code drafted byMacaulay and came into force in 1862.[11] Canning met the rebellion '"with firmness, confidence, magnanimity and calm" as per his biographer, Sir George Dunbar.[12] Canning was very firm during the rebellion but after that he focused on reconciliation and reconstruction rather than retribution and issued a clemency proclamation.[13][14][15]
Born at Gloucester Lodge,Brompton, near London,[16] Canning was the youngest child ofGeorge andJoan Canning. His mother was the daughter ofMajor-General John Scott. Meanwhile, his father was aTory Member of Parliament who had been a member of the ministries ofWilliam Pitt the Younger and theDuke of Portland (most notably having beenForeign Secretary from 1807 to 1809), but as of Charles's birth was out of government due to personal and policy differences with several leading figures. Over Charles's youth, his father returned to government and held several senior posts, including a second stint as Foreign Secretary 1822-27 andPrime Minister for a few months before his untimely death from illness in 1827. His mother was granted a viscountcy in her own right, becoming the 1st Viscountess Canning, largely in tribute to her late husband.
Charles Canning was educated atChrist Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1833, as first class inclassics and second class in mathematics.[17]
In 1836 he enteredParliament, being returned as member for the town ofWarwick in theConservative interest. He did not, however, sit long in the House of Commons; for, on the death of his mother in 1837, he succeeded to the peerage and entered theHouse of Lords. His first official appointment was that ofParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in the administration formed bySir Robert Peel in 1841, his chief being theEarl of Aberdeen. This post he held till January 1846; and from January to July of that year, when the Peel administration was broken up, Lord Canning filled the post ofFirst Commissioner of Woods and Forests.[18]
He served on theRoyal Commission on the British Museum (1847–49).[19] He declined to accept office under theEarl of Derby; but on the formation of the coalition ministry under the Earl of Aberdeen in January 1853, he received the appointment ofPostmaster General. In this office, he showed not only a large capacity for hard work but also general administrative ability and much zeal for the improvement of the service. He retained his post underLord Palmerston's ministry until July 1855, when, in consequence of the departure ofLord Dalhousie and a vacancy in the governor-generalship of India, he was selected by Lord Palmerston to succeed to that great position. This appointment appears to have been made rather on the ground of his father's great services than from any proof as yet given of special personal fitness on the part of Lord Canning. The new governor sailed from England in December 1855 and entered upon the duties of his office in India at the close of February 1856.[20]
According to theEncyclopædia Britannica of 1911, "In the year following his accession to office, the deep-seated discontent of the people broke out in theIndian Rebellion of 1857. Fears were entertained, and even the friends of the Governor-General to some extent shared them, that he was not equal to the crisis. But the fears proved groundless. He had a clear eye for the gravity of the situation, a calm judgment, and a prompt, swift hand to do what was really necessary. ... He carried the Indian empire safely through the stress of the storm, and, what was perhaps a harder task still, he dealt wisely with the enormous difficulties arising at the close of such a war. ... The name of Clemency Canning, which was applied to him during the heated animosities of the moment, has since become a title of honour."[20] He was derisively called "Clemency" on account of a Resolution dated 31 July 1857, which distinguished between sepoys from regiments which had mutinied and killed their officers and European civilians, and those Indian soldiers who had disbanded and dispersed to their villages, without being involved in violence. While subsequently regarded as a humane and sensible measure, the Resolution made Canning unpopular at a time when British popular opinion favoured collective and indiscriminate reprisals.[21][14]
TheEncyclopædia Britannica of 1911 continues, "While rebellion was raging inOudh he issued a proclamation declaring the lands of the province forfeited, and this step gave rise to much angry controversy. A secret despatch, couched in arrogant and offensive terms, was addressed to Canning byLord Ellenborough, then a member of the Derby administration, which would have justified the Governor-General in immediately resigning. But from a strong sense of duty, he continued at his post, and ere long the general condemnation of the despatch was so strong that the writer felt it necessary to retire from office. Lord Canning replied to the despatch, calmly and in a statesman-like manner explaining and vindicating his censured policy" and in 1858 he was rewarded by being made the firstViceroy of India.[20]
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TheEncyclopædia Britannica of 1911 adds, "In April 1859 he received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament for his great services during the rebellion. He was also made an extra civil grand cross of theOrder of the Bath, and in May of the same year he was raised to the dignity of anEarl, asEarl Canning. ...By the strain of anxiety and hard work his health and strength were seriously impaired, while the death of his wife was also a great shock to him; in the hope that rest in his native land might restore him, he left India, reaching England in April 1862. But it was too late. He died in London on 17 June. About a month before his death he was created aKnight of the Garter. As he died without issue the titles became extinct."[20]
Prior to the rebellion, Canning and his wife, Charlotte, had desired to produce a photographic survey of Indian people, primarily for their own edification. This project was transformed into an official government study as a consequence of the rebellion, after which it was seen as useful documentation in the effort to learn more about native communities and thereby better understand them. It was eventually published as an eight-volume work,The People of India, between 1868 and 1875.[22]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Canning, Charles John".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 185–186.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWarwick 1836–1837 With:Edward Bolton King | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1841–1846 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | First Commissioner of Woods and Forests 1846 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Postmaster General 1853–1855 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor-General of India 1856–1862 | Succeeded by |
| New creation | Viceroy of India 1858–1862 | |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Earl Canning 1859–1862 | Extinct |
| Preceded by | Viscount Canning 1837–1862 | |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
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