Viceroys of India

In 1858, the then Governor-General, Lord Canning, was given the more romantic title of Viceroy. This is a book about the Viceroys from 'Clemency' Canning to Mountbatten; about the men who held an office which, in its combination of responsibility and splendour, is without parallel in modern history. They include figures as diverse as the craggy John Lawrence and the charming and urbane Dufferin; the dynamic Mayo and the wayward Lytton; the humble, high-minded Ripon and the brilliant overbearing Curzon; the patrician Lansdowne and the self-made lawyer Reading. All are vividly portrayed against the background of their times in India; much use being made of contemporary letters - many of them unpublished - in order that they may be seen through the eyes of their colleagues and subordinates.The book is not just about the Viceroys themselves, but also about their wives; ranging from the beautiful and tragic Lady Canning to the redoubtable Lady Willingdon. It is by no means confined to affairs of state, but gives a lively and nostalgic picture of the ceremonial and social side of Viceregal life over the course of a century; of the delights and discomforts of reigning in the Government Houses of Calcutta, Simla and Delhi, surrounded by a retinue of secretaries and ADCs, a bodyguard and an army of scarlet-clad servants; of Viceregal progresses by sedan-chair, elephant, houseboat, bullock-cart, railway-train and Dakota. Although certain Viceroys appear in this book in a none too flattering light, the overall picture is of a series of rulers on the whole well suited to their high office; in which some achieved greatness and most of them success. And while the Viceroys of India now tend to be associated in peoples' minds with the most true-blue sort of British imperialism, this book shows them to have been almost without exception men of liberal and often unconventional views, who though they ruled on behalf of Britain saw their first duty as being to the Indians.