John Strachey (civil servant)
Sir John Strachey | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byElliott & Fry,1876 | |
| Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces | |
| In office 1874–1876 | |
| Governor‑General | The Lord Northbrook |
| Preceded by | Sir William Muir |
| Succeeded by | Sir George Couper |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 June 1823 London,England |
| Died | 19 December 1907 (aged 84) |
| Relations | Richard Strachey(brother) |
Sir John StracheyGCSICIE(5 June 1823 – 19 December 1907) was a British civil servant and writer in India who served asLieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provincesfrom 1874 to 1876. He was briefly actingGovernor-Generalin February 1872 (followingLord Mayo's assassination), before being replaced by the more appropriateLord Napierwho acted for the remainder of time untilLord Northbrookarrived.
Life
[edit]
The fifth son of Edward Strachey, second son ofSir Henry Strachey, 1st Baronet,he was born inLondon,England. After passing through theEast India Company College,Strachey entered theBengalcivil service in 1842, and served in the North-Western Provinces, occupying a number of important positions. His brother wasSir Richard Strachey.[1]
In 1861,Lord Canningappointed him president of a commission to investigate the greatcholeraepidemic of that year. In 1862 he became judicial commissioner in the Central Provinces. In 1864, after the report of the royal commission on thesanitarycondition of the army, a permanent sanitary commission was established in India, with Strachey as president. In 1866, he becameChief CommissionerofOudh,having been chosen byLord Lawrenceto remedy as far as possible the injustice done after theIndian rebellion of 1857by the confiscation of the rights of tenants and small proprietors of land, maintaining at the same time the privileges of theTalukdarsof great landlords. As member of the legislative council he introduced several bills for that purpose, which, with the full approval of the Talukdars, passed into law.[1]
In 1868, Stratchey became a member of the governor-general's council, and on the assassination ofLord Mayoin February 1872 he acted temporarily asViceroy and Governor-General.[2]After only several weeks, he was replaced by, the more apt and competent,Lord Napier,who acted until the officially appointedLord Northbrookarrived in May. In 1874 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of theNorth-Western Provinces.In 1876, by request ofLord Lyttonand the secretary of state, he consented to relinquish that office, and returned to the governor-general's council as financial minister, which post he retained until 1880.[3][4]
During this time, while Lord Lytton was viceroy, important reforms were carried out. The measures for decentralizing financial administration, initiated under Lord Mayo, were practically completed. Thesaltduties were reduced, and the system under which they were levied was altered, and that opprobrium of the administration, theinland customs line,was abolished. The removal of all importduties,including those on Englishcottongoods, and the establishment of completefree trade,was declared to be the fixed policy of the government, and this was in great measure carried into effect before 1880, when Strachey leftIndia.[1]
The system under which military accounts were kept occasioned an erroneous estimate of the cost of theSecond Afghan Warof 1878–80. For this error Strachey was technically responsible; it was made the occasion of a partisan attack, which resulted in his resignation. From 1885 to 1895 Strachey was a member of the council of the Secretary of State for India. He died in 1907.[1]
Works
[edit]Strachey was joint author with his brotherLt-Gen Sir Richard StracheyofThe Finances and Public Works of India(1882), besides writingIndia(3rd edition, 1903), andHastings and theRohillaWar(1892).[1]He also planned and designed the construction of TheRail-cum-Road BridgeonRiver YamunainAgra.He didn't get to see the completion of the Arch Bridge as he died in 1907. The bridge was completed in 1908, taking 10 years to complete since its construction commenced in 1898. The 1,024-metre-long (3,360 ft) bridge was named after John Strachey as Strachey Bridge. It is still functional even being 112 years old carrying trains in Agra Cantonment Railway Station on Delhi - Bhopal Main line to Tundla Junction Railway station in Delhi - Howrah Main Line.
Family
[edit]Strachey married Katherine Batten, daughter ofJoseph Batten,Principal of the East India Company College, on 9 October 1856,[5]and they had eight children. They included SirArthur Strachey(1858–1901), judge in India.[6]Their daughter Winifred marriedHugh Shakespear Barnes.[7]
Legacy
[edit]
Strachey was a great patron of theMuhammadan Anglo-Oriental College,Aligarh.[8]The Strachey Hall in Aligarh Muslim University is named after him.[9]
In theAgra Fortthere is a tablet commemorating Strachey’s efforts in the conservation of Mughal architecture. The tablet is located in the south-east corner of the Machchi Bhawan ('Fish Quarters'), very close to theSaman Burj(Jasmine Tower), from which Mughal EmperorShah Jahangazed east across theRiver Yamunato his creation, theTaj Mahal.The tablet reads:
In grateful commemoration of services rendered to posterity by the Honorable Sir John Strachey G.C.S.I. to whom, not forgetting the enlightened sympathy and timely care of others India is mainly indebted for the rescued and preserved beauty of the Taj Mahal and other famous monuments of the ancient art and history of provinces formerly administered by him This tablet is placed by order of his friend theEarl of LyttonViceroy and Governor General of India A.D. 1880
During his period as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces Strachey directed restoration of the Machchi Bhawan and the nearbyDiwan-i-Am(Hall of Audience), which had been subject to looting by theEast India Companyin the early British colonial period.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcdeChisholm 1911.
- ^England (pseud.) (1878).What are our legions? Or, The truth about the Indian armies.London: William H. Allen Co. p. 45.
- ^The Statesman: a Monthly Review of Home & Foreign Politics, Ed. by R. Knight.1880. p. 90.
- ^Mathur, Birendra Prasad (2005).Governance Reform for Vision India.Macmillan India. p. 284.ISBN978-1-4039-2739-2.
- ^Descent and Alliances of Croslegh et. al.by Charles Croslegh, privately printed at The De La More Press, London, 1904 pp.330–3
- ^Lee, Sidney,ed. (1912)..Dictionary of National Biography(2nd supplement).Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^Bostock, Frances. "Barnes, Sir Hugh Shakespear".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53561.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^Hassaan, Rahmani B. M. R. (1959).The educational movement of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, 1858-1898(phd thesis). SOAS University of London.doi:10.25501/soas.00029491.
- ^"Sir Syed Hall North, AMU".
Sources
[edit]- This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Strachey, Sir John".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 975–976.
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