Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

The third Duke of Buckingham and Chandos was Governor of Madras from 1875 to 1880, the years of the great famine of 1876–78 in the Deccan districts and Nellore. The coastal canal finished as a famine relief work was renamed the Buckingham Canal after him. In 1876 he went to see the Krishna and Godavari works, his government admitted that the company running the Kurnool–Kadapa canal had been unfairly treated, and in 1880 he ordered the whole Amaravati stupa site dug out, which the archaeologist Burgess regretted.

The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos governed Madras through the great famine of 1876–78. It struck the Deccan districts of the Presidency and Nellore, and millions died.1 A canal finished as a famine relief work was named after him.2 See British Crown (Madras Presidency) and Famines and floods.

Governor of Madras

Maclean’s chronology records that the Duke took office on 23 November 1875.3 His list of Governors shows him in office until 20 December 1880.4

The great famine

On 12 October 1876 famine was reported in Bellary, Kadapa (then Cuddapah) and Nellore.3 The Imperial Gazetteer says the famine “lasted twenty-two months”.1 It affected fourteen of the Presidency’s twenty-one districts.1 It “is calculated to have caused the death of 3½ millions of people”.1 In one week of September 1877, more than 2¼ million people were on relief.1

Cotton’s biography quotes the Duke as stating that “two-thirds of the Presidency were suffering from the high price of food”.5 In the Bellary country, the gazetteer says, the government ordered a proper system of task-work, for the first time in any famine.6 It also suggested moving workers to Nellore to dig the Buckingham Canal.6 That plan failed: only 12,000 people from Bellary and Anantapur could be persuaded to go so far.6 See Bellary and Nellore.

The Buckingham Canal

A salt-water canal along the coast had been begun earlier as the East Coast Canal.2 In the great famine it was decided to complete it as a relief work, at a cost of over 29 lakhs of rupees.2 It was then renamed after the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, “then Governor of Madras”.2 It ran from Pedda Ganjam in Guntur south towards Madras, and linked the Krishna canals with the city.27 See Guntur.

The Krishna and Godavari works

In 1876 Arthur Cotton wrote to a friend: “Do you see that the Duke of Buckingham has gone up to see Kistna and Godavari”.8 Cotton was glad to hear that the Duke was overruling his Council.8 He hoped it meant the Duke was “going really to govern”.8 See Krishna anicut.

The Kurnool–Kadapa canal belonged to a private company, and it had not paid.9 Giving evidence before a committee, Cotton blamed bad management, and named the Duke as his authority.9 A minute of the Duke’s government admitted that the company had “real cause of complaint”.10 The Deputy Collector of Kurnool had in effect stopped the ryots from asking the canal officers for water.10 See Kurnool.

Amaravati

In February 1880 the Duke told the Collector to finish digging out the whole site of the Amaravati stupa at once.11 James Burgess called this “unfortunate”.11 No trained help was given, not even a Public Works engineer, and the sculptures suffered.11 Burgess says his plate of the site in 1882, after the Duke’s excavation, shows very few stones still in place.12 See Amaravati stupa.

Footnotes

  1. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 80 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 181, s.v. Buckingham Canal (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. C. D. Maclean (ed.), Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1885), p. 267, chronological annals, 1864–1884 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. Maclean (ed.), Manual of the Administration, Vol. II (1885), p. 270, list of Governors of Fort St. George (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Lady Hope, General Sir Arthur Cotton (1900), p. 411 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary (1904), p. 132 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 182, s.v. Buckingham Canal (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Lady Hope, General Sir Arthur Cotton (1900), p. 459, letter of Arthur Cotton, 1876 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Lady Hope, General Sir Arthur Cotton, R.E., K.C.S.I.: His Life and Work (1900), pp. 285–286 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Lady Hope, General Sir Arthur Cotton (1900), p. 286 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. James Burgess, The Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta (1887), p. 19 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Burgess, Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta (1887), p. 22 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Photos

Dynasties

British Crown (Madras Presidency)

1858–1947 CE

The government of the Telugu districts of the Madras Presidency by the British Crown, from the transfer of the East India Company's territories in 1858 to independence in 1947. Under a Governor in Council at Madras, the coast and Rayalaseema were ruled through Collectors, a Board of Revenue, district and taluk boards and municipalities. The districts were redrawn (Godavari and Kistna in 1859, Anantapur in 1882, Guntur in 1904, Chittoor in 1911, West Godavari in 1925), and the Nizam ceded the Bhadrachalam and Rekapalli taluks in 1860. The ryotwari lands were surveyed and settled, and the inams registered by the Inam Commission. The great zamindaris of Vizianagaram, Bobbili, Pithapuram, Venkatagiri, Kalahasti and Karvetinagar kept their permanent settlements. The Godavari and Krishna deltas were irrigated, and railways reached Bezwada and Waltair. The great famine of 1876–78 emptied the Ceded Districts. The Rampa rising of 1879–80 was the last that needed regular troops in the Presidency.

References

Sources (5)
  1. C. D. Maclean (ed.), Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (Appendices) (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1885, pp. 267, 270. [Public domain]
  2. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 80, 181–182. [Public domain]
  3. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1904, pp. 132. [Public domain]
  4. Lady Hope (Elizabeth Hope, née Cotton), General Sir Arthur Cotton, R.E., K.C.S.I.: His Life and Work, with some Famine Prevention Studies by William Digby (opens in a new tab), Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1900, pp. 285–286, 411, 459. [Public domain]
  5. James Burgess, The Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta in the Krishna District, Madras Presidency, Surveyed in 1882 (opens in a new tab), Trübner & Co. for the Archaeological Survey of Southern India, 1887, pp. 19, 22. [Public domain]

Spotted an error on this page? Tell us

Last updated: