The Cutch Agency was one of the

agencies of British India An agency of British India was an internally autonomous or semi-autonomous subdivision of India whose external affairs were governed by an agent designated by the Viceroy of India.Great Britain India Office. '' The Imperial Gazetteer of India' ...

. The appointed Political Agent looked after only one territory, that of the princely state of Cutch, which had a surface of , not including the

Rann of Kutch The Rann of Kutch (alternately spelled as Kuchchh) is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. It is located in Gujarat (primarily the Kutch district), India, and in Sindh, Pakistan. It is divided into ...

. The agency's headquarters were at

Bhuj Bhuj () is a Municipality and District Headquarters of Kutch District in the state of Gujarat, India. Etymology According to legend, Kutch was ruled by the Nāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to Kin ...

, where the Political Agent used to reside. He reported to the Political Department office at

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

, Bombay Presidency.

History

The agency was formed in 1819 when

Cutch State Cutch, also spelled Kutch or Kachchh and also historically known as the Kingdom of Kutch, was a kingdom in the Kutch region from 1147 to 1819 and a princely state under British rule from 1819 to 1947. Its territories covered the present day K ...

became a British protectorate. Captain

James MacMurdo Captain James MacMurdo was the first political resident of British East India Company to Cutch State. He played important role in bringing kutchh under British suzerainty. Biography MacMurdo was born on 30 November 1785 in Dumfriesshire in Scotl ...

was first appointed Political Agent, as Collector and Resident of Cutch. He worked from his office at Anjar while the capital of

was located away at

. The progressive prosperity of Cutch was devastated by the

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...

of 1899-1900, which was felt everywhere with extreme severity; between 1891 and 1901 the population of the state of Cutch decreased from 558,415 inhabitants in 1891 to 488,022 in 1901, owing to the famine. On 10 October 1924 the Cutch Agency was abolished and merged into the

Western India States Agency The Western India States Agency (WISA) was one of the agencies of British India. This agency was formed on 10 October 1924 as a part of the implementation of the Montague Chelmsford report on constitutional reforms. It was formed by merging the ...

.The Indian Year Book, Volume 11 by Bennett, Coleman & Company, 1924,pp:151-152

References

{{coord, 23, 54, N, 70, 22, E, region:IN_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title Agencies of British India History of Gujarat 1924 disestablishments in India 1819 establishments in India History of Kutch

History

See also

References