Sir Spencer Harcourt Butler: A Master Governor in British India (1890–1928)

A chronological account of the life and career of Sir Spencer Harcourt Butler, who rose to be British India’s Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh and of Burma. The work also serves as a means to assess British intentions towards India at a critical time with the brewing of Indian nationalism.

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The British Indian Civil Service was a small elite, which administered and governed a vast population. From their number were drawn the Governors of the various provinces. Relatively little work has been completed to explore the role these officials had in maintaining the British Indian Empire. Butler, in particular rose through the ranks of the ICS rapidly, becoming the second youngest to be promoted as Foreign Secretary and the youngest to be appointed a Governor. He was mooted as Viceroy. This book is drawn from Butler’s papers, held in the British Library, which have been edited to provide a chronological history of Butler’s personal life and of his exceptional official career. We are thus enabled to explore, not only his life in India at the personal level but to assess his input into British policy making across a wide spectrum. Most important areas include Land Settlement, Famine Relief, Foreign Policy, including towards the Princely States, Infrastructure, Industry, Agriculture, Education, Sanitation, and in response to Indian/Burmese Nationalism. An analysis of British intentions towards India is thus available. No similar or biographical work with respect to Butler has been completed.