Canning, Charles John
(1812–1862), Governor-General of the British East India Company. Viscount Charles John Canning of Kilbrahan, County Kilkenny, Ireland, was educated at Eton College and Christ Church in Oxford, England, where he graduated in classics and mathematics in 1832. Entering Parliament in 1836, he became undersecretary of state for foreign affairs in 1841. In 1855, the government of Lord Palmerston (1784–1865), then prime minister, appointed him governor-general of the East India Company's possessions in India, and he assumed office in February 1856.
Canning's career is indelibly associated with the suppression of the first large-scale Indian revolt against British rule (1857–1858), known variously as the Indian Mutiny, the Great Indian Rebellion, or the First War of Indian Independence. He became the first viceroy of British India after the takeover of the territory by the British in 1858. He combined fairness with firmness in his handling of the mutiny and its aftermath, earning the respectful title "Clemency Canning." He believed that undue harshness and racially motivated punishments of Indians would damage prospects for the reestablishment of peaceful government.
Canning was raised to an earldom in 1859. He initiated major reforms in the armed forces and the finances of the government of India, introducing, for instance, the income tax. The Indian Councils Act of 1861 greatly improved the administrative basis of the empire. Canning retired in March 1862, broken in health and spirit by the death of his beloved wife in 1861. He died in London on 17 June 1862.
Further Reading
Maclagan, Michael. (1962) "Clemency" Canning. London: Macmillan.
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