From 1690, a governor represented the British East India Company in Bengal, which had been granted the right to establish a trading post by the local rulers, the nawabs of Murshidabad, who were nominal vassals of the Mughal emperor in Delhi.

Chief Agents (1681-1684)

• September 3, 1681 - July 17, 1684: William Hedges
  William Hedges (colonial administrator)
  Sir William Hedges was a British merchant and the first governor of the East India Company in Bengal.-Life and career:He was born in Coole in County Cork, Ireland, the eldest son of Robert and Catharine Hedges...
  
   (1632-1701)
• July 17, 1684 - 1685: John Beard
  John Beard (colonial administrator)
  -References:...
  
  

Presidents (1684-1694)

• August 8, 1684 - January 26, 1685: William Gyfford
  William Gyfford
  William Gyfford was an English factor and Agent of Madras from July 3, 1681 to August 8, 1684 and the President of Madras from January 26, 1685 to July 25, 1687.....
  
  
• January 26, 1685 - January 10, 1693: Job Charnock
  Job Charnock
  Job Charnock was a servant and administrator of the English East India Company, traditionally regarded as the founder of the city of Calcutta.-Early life and career:...
  
  
• January 10, 1693 - August 12, 1693: Francis Ellis
  Francis Ellis
  Sir Francis Ellis was an administrator of the English East India Company, and President of Bengal in 1693.Sir Francis Ellis was an administrator of the English East India Company, and President of Bengal in 1693....
  
   (acting)
• August 1693 - January 1694: Charles Eyre
  Charles Eyre
  Sir Charles Eyre , of Kew, in the county of Surrey, knight, was an administrator of the English East India Company, and President of Bengal....
  
  

Chief Agents (1694-1700)

• Jan 1694 - 1698: Charles Eyre
• 1698 - Dec 1699: John Beard
• Dec 1699 - 26 May 1700: Charles Eyre

Presidents

• 1700–1701: Charles Eyre
  Charles Eyre
  Sir Charles Eyre , of Kew, in the county of Surrey, knight, was an administrator of the English East India Company, and President of Bengal....
  
  
• 1701–1705: John Bead
• 1705: Edward Littleton
  Edward Littleton
  Edward Littleton was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century. From 1685 until 1689, he sat as Member of Parliament for Staffordshire.-References:...
  
  
• 1705–1710: Ruled by a council
• 1710–1711: Anthony Weltden
  Anthony Weltden
  Anthony Weltden was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.Anthony Weltden was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.Anthony Weltden was an...
  
  
• 1711–1713: John Russell
  John Russell (colonial administrator)
  John Russell was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.John Russell was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.John Russell was an...
  
  
• 1713–1718: Robert Hedges
  Robert Hedges (colonial administrator)
  Robert Hedges was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.Robert Hedges was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.Robert Hedges was an...
  
  
• 1718–1723: Samuel Flake
  Samuel Flake
  Samuel Flake was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.Samuel Flake was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.Samuel Flake was an...
  
  
• 1723–1726: John Deane
  John Deane (colonial administrator)
  John Deane was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.John Deane was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.John Deane was an administrator of...
  
  
• 1726–1728: Henry Frankland
  Henry Frankland
  Henry Frankland was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the eighteenth century. He was a younger son of Sir Thomas Frankland, 2nd Baronet and was the father of Sir Charles Frankland, 4th Baronet, and Sir Thomas Frankland, 5th Baronet.Henry...
  
  
• 1728: Edward Stephenson
• 1728–1732: John Deane
  John Deane (colonial administrator)
  John Deane was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.John Deane was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the early eighteenth century.John Deane was an administrator of...
  
  
• 1732–1739: John Stackhouse
  John Stackhouse (colonial administrator)
  John Stackhouse was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the eighteenth century.John Stackhouse was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the eighteenth century.John Stackhouse was an administrator...
  
  
• 1739–1746: Thomas Broddyll
  Thomas Broddyll
  Thomas Broddyll was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the eighteenth century.Thomas Broddyll was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the eighteenth century.Thomas Broddyll was an administrator...
  
  
• 1746–1748: John Forster
  John Forster (colonial administrator)
  John Forster was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the eighteenth century.John Forster was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the eighteenth century.John Forster was an administrator of the...
  
  
• 1748–1749: William Barwell
  William Barwell
  William Barwell was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the eighteenth century.He was a director of the East India Company between 1758 and 1766....
  
  
• 1749–1752: Adam Dawson
  Adam Dawson
  Adam Dawson was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the mid-eighteenth century.Adam Dawson was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the mid-eighteenth century.Adam Dawson was an administrator of...
  
  
• 1752: William Fytche
  William Fytche
  William Fytche was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the mid-eighteenth century. He was one of the last administrators before the Battle of Plassey allowed the company to firmly establish its rule in India....
  
  
• 1752–1756: Roger Drake
  Roger Drake
  Roger Drake was an administrator of the English East India Company. He served as President of Bengal in the mid-eighteenth century. He abandoned Fort William in Calcutta as it was under attack by Siraj Ud Daulah. The people who remained behind in the Fort were then thrown into the Black Hole of...
  
  

Under the leadership of Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive

Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive

Major-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, KB , also known as Clive of India, was a British officer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal. He is credited with securing India, and the wealth that followed, for the British crown...

, British troops and their local allies defeated the nawab on 23 June 1757 at the Battle of Plassey

Battle of Plassey

The Battle of Plassey , 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years...

. The nawab was assassinated in Murshidabad, and the British installed their own replacement. Clive became governor.

Governors, 1757-1854

• 1757–1760: Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive
  Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive
  Major-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, KB , also known as Clive of India, was a British officer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal. He is credited with securing India, and the wealth that followed, for the British crown...
  
  
• 1760–1764: Henry Vansittart
  Henry Vansittart
  Henry Vansittart was the English Governor of Bengal from 1759 to 1764.Vansittart was born in Bloomsbury in Middlesex, the third son of Arthur van Sittart . His father and his grandfather, Peter van Sittart , were both wealthy merchants and directors of the Russia Company...
  
  
• 1765–1766: Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive
  Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive
  Major-General Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, KB , also known as Clive of India, was a British officer who established the military and political supremacy of the East India Company in Bengal. He is credited with securing India, and the wealth that followed, for the British crown...
  
  
• 1767–1769: Harry Verelst
• 1769–1772: John Cartier
  John Cartier
  John Cartier was a British colonial governor in India. He served as Governor of Bengal from 1769 to 1772.- Early career :...
  
   http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/C_0052.htm
• 1772–1774: Warren Hastings
  Warren Hastings
  Warren Hastings PC was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.-Early life:...
  
  
• 1774–1786:
• 1786–1793: Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Earl Cornwallis
  Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
  Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG , styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator...
  
  
• 1797–1805: Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley
  Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley
  Richard Colley Wesley, later Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, KG, PC, PC , styled Viscount Wellesley from birth until 1781, was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator....
  
  
• 1805: Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
  Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
  Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG , styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator...
  
  
• 1848–1854: James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie
  James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie
  James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie KT, PC was a Scottish statesman, and a colonial administrator in British India....
  
  

Under the Charter Act 1853 the Governor General of India was relieved of his concurrent duties as Governor of Bengal and empowered to appoint a lieutenant-governor from 1854.

Lieutenant-Governors 1854-1912

• 1854–1859: Frederick James Halliday
  Frederick James Halliday
  Sir Frederick James Halliday KCB was a British civil servant and the first Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.Halliday was born on Christmas Day in 1806, the son of Thomas Halliday and Maria Margaretha Morrice, of Ewell, Surrey. He was educated at St. Paul's School, Rugby, and the East India College,...
  
  
• 1859–1862: John Grant
• 1862–1866: Sir Cecil Beadon
• 1866–1871: Sir William Grey
• 1871–1874: George Campbell
  George Campbell (1824-1892)
  Sir George Campbell was educated at Hamilton Academy and was a Scottish Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy Burghs from 1875 to 1892....
  
  
• 1874–1877: Sir Richard Temple
  Sir Richard Temple, 1st Baronet
  Sir Richard Temple, 1st Baronet, FRS, GCSI, CIE, PC was an administrator in British India and a British politician.-Career:...
  
  
• 1877–1879: Sir Ashley Eden
  Ashley Eden
  The Hon. Sir Ashley Eden KCSI CIE was an official and diplomat in British India.Eden was the third son of Robert John Eden, 3rd Lord Auckland and bishop of Bath and Wells. His uncle was George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland...
  
  
• 1879–1882: Steuart Bayley
  Steuart Bayley
  Sir Steuart Colvin Bayley GCSI, CIE was a British civil servant and Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal from 1879–1882.-Early life:...
  
  
• 1882–1885: Sir Augustus Thompson
• 1885–1887: Horace Cockerell
• 1887–1890: Sir Steuart Bayley
• 1890–1893: Sir Charles Elliot
• 1893–1895: Anthony MacDonnell
• 1895–1897: Alexander Mackenzie
• 1897–1898: Sir Charles Stevens
• 1898–1902: John Woodburn
  John Woodburn
  John Woodburn is a British road and time-trial cyclists and 2001 British Veteran on target time. He received his award from Eddy Merckx at the at the RTTC Champions Evening at Derby on 6 January 2001....
  
  
• 1902–1903: James Bourdillon
• 1903–1906: Sir Andrew Fraser
• 1906: Lancelot Hare
• 1906–1908: Francis Slacke
  Francis Slacke
  Francis Slacke, CSI was a senior officer in the Indian Civil Service and later became Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.-Early life:...
  
  
• 1908–1911: Sir Edward Baker
• 1911–1912: Sir William Duke
  William Duke
  Sir William Duke studied at Arbroath and then at University College London, before joining the Indian Civil Service, in the Bengal Cadre....
  
  

In 1912, the British reunited east and west Bengal to form a single province under a governor.

Governors 1912-1947

• 1912–1917: Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, 1st Baron Carmichael
  Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, 1st Baron Carmichael
  Thomas David Gibson-Carmichael, 1st Baron Carmichael GCSI, GCIE, KCMG, DL , known as Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, Bt, between 1891 and 1912, was a Scottish Liberal politician and colonial administrator....
  
  
• 1917–1922: Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
  Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
  Laurence John Lumley Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC, DL, JP , styled Lord Dundas until 1892 and Earl of Ronaldshay between 1892 and 1929, was a British Conservative politician...
  
   as Earl of Ronaldshay
• 1922–1927: Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton
  Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton
  Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC, DL , styled Viscount Knebworth until 1891, was a British politician and colonial administrator...
  
  
• 1927–1932: Sir Stanley Jackson
  Stanley Jackson
  Sir Francis Stanley Jackson, GCSI, GCIE, PC, KStJ , known as the Honourable Stanley Jackson during his playing career, was an English cricketer, soldier and Conservative Party politician.-Early life:...
  
  
• 1932–1937: Sir John Anderson
  John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley
  John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, PC, PC was a British civil servant then politician who served as a minister under Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill as Home Secretary, Lord President of the Council and Chancellor of the Exchequer...
  
  
• 1937–1939: Michael Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne
  Michael Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne
  Michael Herbert Rudolf Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne, GCSI, GCIE, MC was a British peer and soldier, the son of the 4th Baron Brabourne....
  
  
• 1939–1943: John Arthur Herbert
  John Arthur Herbert
  Sir John Arthur Herbert GCIE was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, and a colonial governor.He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the British Army in 1919. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Monmouth in Wales at a by-election in 1934. In that year, he was made an...
  
  
• 1944–1946: Richard Casey
  Richard Casey, Baron Casey
  Richard Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey KG GCMG CH DSO MC KStJ PC was an Australian politician, diplomat and the 16th Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...
  
  
• 1946–1947: Sir Frederick Burrows
  Frederick Burrows
  Sir Frederick John Burrows, GCSI, GCIE , was a British politician who served as the last British Governor of Bengal during British Raj in India.He was Governor of Bengal from 19 February 1946 to 14 August 1947.Sir Frederick Burrows was against the partition of Bengal...
  
  

Chief ministers

• 1937 - Feb 1943: A.K. Fazlul Huq
• Jul 1943 - Aug 1945: Khwaja Sir Nazimuddin
• Aug 1945 - Mar 1946: Governor's Rule
• Mar 1946 - 3 Jul 1947 : H S Suhrawardy

Chief minister of East Bengal

• 3 Jul 1947 - 14 Aug 1947: Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Chief minister of West Bengal

• 3 Jul 1947 - 14 Aug 1947: Prafulla Chandra Ghosh
  Prafulla Chandra Ghosh
  Dr. Prafulla Chandra Ghosh was the first Chief Minister of West Bengal, India. He was Chief Minister in three West Bengal governments, first in the Indian National Congress government from August 15, 1947 to August 14, 1948, then in the Progressive Democratic Alliance Front government from...
  
  

External links