Who was the last Viceroy of India and the first Governor-General of independent India?
- A.Lord Wavell
- B.Lord Mountbatten
- C.C. Rajagopalachari
- D.Lord Linlithgow
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Lord Mountbatten. He took charge in March 1947, announced the plan of 3 June 1947 under which the country was divided, and after the Indian Independence Act of 1947 came into force he continued as the first Governor-General of the Dominion of India until June 1948. Option A, Lord Wavell, was his predecessor, who called the Simla Conference of 1945 and received the Cabinet Mission of 1946. Option C, C. Rajagopalachari, became the second Governor-General of independent India and the only Indian to hold the post, but he was never Viceroy. Option D, Lord Linlithgow, had left India in 1944. Remember the sequence of the last three: Linlithgow, Wavell, Mountbatten, and then Rajagopalachari as Governor-General alone. The Indian Independence Act received royal assent on 18 July 1947 and the transfer of power took effect on 15 August 1947, a date that is itself a favourite one-line question.
Read the full article: Viceroys of India 1858 to 1947: List and Major Events
Practice Questions
View allWho was the first Viceroy of India after the Government of India Act of 1858?
- A.Lord Dalhousie
- B.Lord Canning
- C.Lord Mayo
- D.Lord Lytton
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The Government of India Act of 1858 transferred the administration of India from the East India Company to the Crown and renamed the Governor-General of India as the Viceroy; Canning, who was already Governor-General when the Revolt of 1857 broke out, became the first Viceroy in 1858 and held the…
Read the full explanation →Which Viceroy of India was assassinated while in office?
- A.Lord Mayo
- B.Lord Northbrook
- C.Lord Elgin
- D.Lord Lansdowne
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He was stabbed to death by Sher Ali Afridi, a convict, during a visit to the penal settlement at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands in February 1872, and remains the only Viceroy killed in office.
Read the full explanation →The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 was passed during the Viceroyalty of
- A.Lord Ripon
- B.Lord Lytton
- C.Lord Dufferin
- D.Lord Curzon
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The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 required the publisher of an Indian language newspaper to execute a bond and allowed the government to seize the press if seditious matter was printed, while English newspapers were left untouched; it was therefore called the gagging Act.
Read the full explanation →Who is called the father of local self-government in India?
- A.Lord Canning
- B.Lord Mayo
- C.Lord Ripon
- D.Lord Minto
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His Resolution on Local Self-Government of 1882 proposed boards for rural and urban areas with a majority of elected non-official members and a non-official chairman, and asked that they be given control over local funds, which is why he is remembered as the father of local self-government in India.
Read the full explanation →The partition of Bengal of 1905 was carried out by which Viceroy?
- A.Lord Curzon
- B.Lord Minto II
- C.Lord Hardinge II
- D.Lord Lansdowne
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He announced the partition of the Bengal Presidency in July 1905 and it came into force on 16 October 1905, creating the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam; the official reason was administrative convenience, but the real purpose was to divide the Hindu and Muslim population and weaken the nationalist…
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