Bihar and Orissa was a province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, which included the present-day Indian states of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

, and parts of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

. The territories were conquered by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were governed by the then

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 ...

of the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

, the largest

administrative subdivision Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

in British India. On 22 March 1912, both Bihar and Orissa divisions were separated from the Bengal Presidency as Bihar and Orissa Province. On 1 April 1936, the province was partitioned into

and the

Orissa Province Orissa Province was a province of British India created in April 1936 by the partitioning of the Bihar and Orissa Province and adding parts of Madras Presidency and Central Provinces. Its territory corresponds with the present-day state of Odi ...

History

In 1756, Bihar was part of the

Bengal Subah The Bengal Subah (Bengali language, Bengali: সুবাহ বাংলা, ), also referred to as Mughal Bengal and Bengal State (after 1717), was one of the puppet states and the largest subah, subdivision of The Mughal India, Mughal Emp ...

and while Orissa was part of the

Nagpur kingdom The Kingdom of Nagpur was a kingdom within the Maratha Confederacy in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was ruled by the Maratha Bhonsle dynasty in the mid-18th century. The city of Nagpur was the capital of the state. After the Third Anglo-Mar ...

within the

Maratha Confederacy The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent Maratha states under the nominal leadership of the former. ...

. The Treaty of Allahabad was signed on 16 August 1765, between the Mughal Emperor

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power w ...

, son of the late Emperor

Alamgir II Mirza Aziz-ud-Din Muhammad (June 6, 1699 – November 29, 1759), better known by his regnal name Alamgir II, was the fifteenth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor from 1754 to 1759. He was the son of Jahandar Shah. Born Mirza Aziz-ud-Din, the secon ...

, and Robert, Lord Clive, of the East India Company, as a result of the

Battle of Buxar The Battle of Buxar was fought between 22 and 23 October 1764, between the forces of the British East India Company, under the command of Major Hector Munro, against the combined armies of Balwant Singh, Maharaja of the Benaras State; Mir Qa ...

of 22 October 1764. The Treaty marks the political and constitutional involvement and the beginning of British rule in India. Based on the terms of the agreement, Alam granted the East India Company Diwani rights, or the right to collect taxes on behalf of the Emperor from the eastern province of Bengal-Bihar-Orissa. Bihar was acquired through annexation of

, while Orissa was annexed by the British following the defeat of the Marathas in the Anglo-Maratha Wars. Bihar and Orissa was separated from

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

on 1 April 1912, with

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

as capital. A number of princely states, including the

Orissa Tributary States The Orissa Tributary States, also known as the Gadajats (ଗଡ଼ଜାତ) or the Orissa Feudatory States, were a group of princely states of British India now part of the present-day Indian state of Odisha. The Orissa Tributary States were ...

, were under the authority of the provincial governor.

Dyarchy (1921–1937)

The

Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms or more concisely the Mont–Ford Reforms, were introduced by the colonial government to introduce self-governing institutions gradually in British India. The reforms take their name from Edwin Montagu, the Sec ...

enacted through the

Government of India Act 1919 The Government of India Act 1919 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 101) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The act embodied the reforms recommended in the report ...

expanded the Bihar & Orissa Legislative Council from 43 to 103 members. The Legislative Council now consisted of 2 ex-officio Executive Councillors, 25 nominated members (12 official, 13 non-official) and 76 elected members (48 Non-Muslim, 18 Muslim, 1 European, 3 Commerce & Industry, 5 Landholders and 1 University constituencies). The reforms also introduced the principle of

dyarchy Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally spelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate. is a form of government charact ...

, whereby certain responsibilities such as agriculture, health, education, and local government, were transferred to elected ministers.

Division

On 1 April 1936, the province was divided into

Bihar Province Bihar Province was a province of British India, created in 1936 by the partition of the Bihar and Orissa Province. History In 1756, Bihar was part of Bengal. On 14 October 1803, Orissa was occupied by the British Raj. On 22 March 1912, both Bih ...

(which included present-day

and

states) and

, and the Odia speaking princely states placed under the authority of the

Eastern States Agency The Eastern States Agency was an agency or grouping of princely states in eastern India, during the latter years of the British Raj. It was created in 1933, by the unification of the former Chhattisgarh States Agency and the Orissa States Agenc ...

Governors of Bihar and Orissa

From 1912 to 1920, the province had a lieutenant governor heading the provincial government. This post was upgraded to governor in 1920, when

Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha, KCSI, PC, KC, (24 March 1863 – 4 March 1928) was a prominent British Indian lawyer and statesman. He was the first Governor of Bihar and Orissa, first Indian Advocate-General of Bengal, firs ...

was appointed to fill it.

Lieutenant governors

* 1 April 1912 – 19 November 1915 Sir Charles Stuart Bayley (b. 1854 – d. 1935) *19 Nov 1915 – 5 April 1918 Sir Edward Albert Gait (1st term) (b. 1863 – d. 1950) * 5 April 1918 – 12 July 1918 Sir Edward Vere Levinge (acting) (b. 1867 – d. 1954) *12 Jul 1918 – 29 December 1920 Sir Edward Albert Gait (2nd term) (s.a.)

Governors

*29 Dec 1920 – 29 November 1921

(b. 1864 – d. 1928) *29 Nov 1921 – 12 April 1922 Havilland Le Mesurier (acting) (b. 1866 – d. 1931) *12 Apr 1922 – 7 April 1927

Sir Henry Wheeler Sir Henry Wheeler, (2 June 1870 – 2 June 1950) was the Governor of Bihar and Orissa from 12 April 1922 to 6 April 1927. He was a member of the Imperial Civil Service appointed in 1889 and served in Bengal. He was also a member of Council of I ...

(b. 1870 – d. 1950) * 7 April 1927 – 7 April 1932 Sir Hugh Lansdowne Stephenson (b. 1871 – d. 1950) * 7 April 1932 – 1 April 1936

Sir James David Sifton Sir James David Sifton, KCSI, KCIE (17 April 1878 – 1952) was a British civil servant who was the Governor of Bihar and Orissa from 7 April 1932 to 31 March 1936 and then Governor of Bihar from 1 April 1936 to 10 March 1937. He was the fir ...

(b. 1878 – d. 1952)

References

External links

* {{coord, 21.00, N, 86.30, E, region:IN_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title History of Bihar Provinces of British India History of Odisha History of Jharkhand Bengal Presidency 1912 establishments in India 1936 disestablishments in India