Dalhousie, James Andrew Broun Ramsay, First Marquess of Dalhousie

(1812–1860)

   Son of the ninth Earl of Dalhousie, James, first marquess of Dalhousie, was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford. He became a convinced Tory. Elected to Parliament in 1837, he joined the cabinet of Sir Robert Peel as president of the Board of Trade in 1845. After the fall of Peel, he refused an offer to join Russell’s government. Russell appointed Dalhousie governor-general of India, where he served from 1848 to 1856. Dalhousie pursued a policy of internal economic moder nization and external expansion within what were called the natural frontiers of India. He energetically pushed railway and telegraph building, within the limits of the East India Company ’s finances, and made it a matter of policy that the law should apply equally to all, regardless of religion. Externally, under Dalhousie, the Sikhs were defeated and the Punjab annexed, and the doctrine of “lapse,” which stated that Indian states without a clear succession should come under company rule, was enunciated. Dalhousie’s annexation of Oudh, along with the rapid moder nization he set in motion, has been blamed for the mutiny that followed shortly after his departure from the subcontinent.

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   FURTHER READING:

    Lee-Warner, William. The Life of the Marquis of Dalhousie K.T. Shannon: Irish University Press, 1972.

   MARK F. PROUDMAN