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William Bentinck(William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck)

Profile

  • Governor-General of Bengal: 1828–1833
  • Governor-General of India: 1833–1835
  • Remembered as an early British reformer who pursued administrative, judicial, financial, and social welfare reforms in Company territories.

Police Reforms

  • Abolished the office of Superintendent of Police (SP).
  • Made the Collector–Magistrate the head of policing within the district.
  • The Divisional Commissioner was to function like a supervising SP at the division level.
  • Outcome: The arrangement largely failed because it placed an excessive workload on Collectors/Magistrates.

In Presidency towns, administrative practice moved towards separating the roles of the Collector/Magistrate and policing functions.

Judicial & Legal Reforms

  • Abolition of Circuit Courts: The four Circuit Courts were abolished; many functions were transferred to Collectors, under the supervision of the Commissioner of Revenue and Circuit.
  • Shift of Sadar Courts to Allahabad: Separate Sadar Diwani Adalat and Sadar Nizamat Adalat were set up at Allahabad, improving access for people in the Upper Provinces.
  • Law Commission (1833): A Law Commission under Macaulay was established for the codification of Indian laws.
    • This codification process later produced:
      • Civil Procedure Code (1859)
      • Indian Penal Code (1860)
      • Criminal Procedure Code (1861)

Social Reforms

  • Abolition of Sati (1829): Sati was declared illegal; Raja Rammohan Roy played a major role in the reform movement.
  • Female infanticide: Steps were taken to criminalise and curb the practice.
  • Ban on human sacrifice: Measures introduced to prohibit such practices.
  • Hindu inheritance reforms: Reforms were initiated in aspects of the Hindu law of inheritance.
  • Suppression of Thuggee (1830): Thuggee was systematically suppressed under Colonel Sleeman.

Administrative Reforms

  • Followed a broad policy of non-intervention in Indian states, with annexation/intervention justified mainly on grounds of ending misgovernment.
  • Mysore: Administration was taken over to end misrule and later managed under Lord Cubbon.
  • Language policy in courts:
    • Persian was replaced as the official court language.
    • Vernacular languages were used in lower courts and English gained primacy in higher courts.

Financial & Revenue Reforms

  • Abolished the “double bhatta” system.
  • Reduced salaries (earlier raised under Cornwallis) to stabilise finances.
  • Abolished costly provincial courts created earlier to cut expenditure.

Charter Act of 1833: Major Provisions

Company’s Status & Trade

  • The Company’s charter was renewed for 20 years.
  • The Company’s territories were to be governed in the name of the British Crown.
  • The Company’s trade monopoly ended completely, including tea and China trade.
  • The Company ceased to be a trading body and became primarily an administrative authority.

Centralisation of Power

  • The Governor-General of Bengal became the Governor-General of India.
  • The Governor-General of India was placed in charge of overall civil and military authority across British India.
  • The Act strengthened the idea of a single Government of India with authority over all British territories.

Law-Making Changes

  • Legislative powers of the Governors of Bombay and Madras were curtailed; they could propose laws but not legislate independently.
  • The Governor-General of India received exclusive legislative power for all British India.
  • The Executive Council was expanded to 4 members, including a Law Member to assist in legislation.
  • A Law Commission was provided for codifying and consolidating laws.
  • Earlier laws were commonly called “Regulations”; laws under this Act were termed “Acts.”

Civil Services & Equality Clause

  • Declared that no discrimination should be made in employment on grounds of religion, colour, birth, or descent.
  • Attempted to promote a move towards open competition and the principle that Indians should not be barred from office though practical implementation faced resistance and parts were diluted later.

Slavery Reform Objective

  • Stated the objective of improving the condition of slaves and moving toward abolition; slavery was abolished in 1843.

Educational contributions

Education direction: Macaulay’s education approach pushed English as the key language for higher learning and administration.

Macaulay Committee on Education (1835)

  • Formally known as: General Committee of Public Instruction
  • Key figure: Thomas Babington Macaulay (Law Member of the Governor-General’s Council)
  • Context: Set up during the tenure of Lord William Bentinck

Macaulay’s Minute on Education (1835) – Core Ideas

  • Advocated English as the medium of instruction for higher education.
  • Rejected heavy state support to Oriental learning (traditional Sanskrit–Arabic education).
  • Emphasised teaching Western science, philosophy, and literature.
  • Mass education was largely neglected.

Downward Filtration Theory 

  • The British education policy aimed to educate only a limited section of Indians, mainly from the upper and middle classes.
  • The purpose was to produce a group of people who were Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, opinions, morals, and intellect.
  • This educated group was expected to serve as interpreters/mediators between the British government and the Indian masses.
  • Over time, this class was supposed to develop and enrich vernacular languages, so that Western science, literature, and modern knowledge could gradually filter down to the wider population through the vernaculars.

Recommendations

  • Government funds should be spent on English education, not on Sanskrit or Arabic colleges.
  • Promotion of modern, Western knowledge over traditional learning.
  • Education to serve administrative needs of the colonial state.

Implementation & Impact

  • English became the official medium of higher education and administration.
  • Led to the expansion of English schools and colleges.
  • Laid the foundation for modern education in India.
  • Influenced the establishment of institutions like Calcutta Medical College (1835).

The Macaulay Committee (1835) recommended English education and Western learning, shaping the modern education system in colonial India.

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