Sir Alexander Robert Loftus Tottenham CIE (31 July 1873 – 13 December 1946) was a British civil servant and administrator who served as the Diwan of

Pudukkottai state Pudukkottai was a kingdom and later a princely state in British India, which existed from 1680 until 1948. The Thondaman dynasty, Kingdom of Pudukkottai was founded in about 1680 as a feudatory of Ramnad estate, Ramnad and grew with subsequent ...

from 1934 to 1944.

Early life

Alexander Tottenham was born to British naval officer John Francis Tottenham and his wife Laura Ellen Dodd Janverin on 31 July 1873. Alexander graduated from Clifton College, Bristol"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p137: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948 and did his post-graduation from

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

Career

Alexander passed the 1896

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

examinations and arrived in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on 5 December 1897 where he served as District Collector and Assistant Magistrate in the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

. From 1923 to 1932, he was as a member of

's Central Board of Revenue. Alexander retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1933 at the age of sixty.

Pudukkottai

In 1934, Tottenham was appointed Diwan of

Pudukkottai Pudukkottai Municipal Corporation is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is one of the oldest Heritage city located on the banks of the Vellar River. It has been ruled, at different t ...

and he served until his death in 1946. Tottenham is regarded as one of the best administrators of Pudukkottai and promoted arts and industry. A portrait of Alexander Tottenham hangs in the Government Museum, Thirukokarnam.

Notes

Biographies

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tottenham, Alexander 1873 births 1946 deaths People educated at Clifton College Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Pudukkottai state Indian Civil Service (British India) officers British people in colonial India