Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning

Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning , KG , GCB , KSI , PC (born December 14, 1812 in Brompton near London , † June 17, 1862 in London) was a British statesman.

He was Governor General of British India from 1857 during the Sepoy Uprising in Hindustan and the first British Viceroy of India from 1858 to 1862 . During Canning's tenure, the transfer of the English Empire in India from the possession of the East India Company to the Crown took place on September 1, 1858 .

Life

Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning

Charles John Canning was the youngest child of future British Prime Minister George Canning . He studied at Oxford and graduated in 1833. In 1836 he came to Warwick in the British House of Commons , but in 1837 he inherited his mother's peer status, entered the House of Lords as Viscount Canning of Kilbrahan and joined the moderately conservative party.

In the Ministry of Peel he was from 1841 to January 1846 under the Earl of Aberdeen State Secretary of Foreign Affairs ( under-secretary of state for foreign affair ), then for a few months Commissioner of Woods and Forests . As an opponent of protectionist ideas, he refused entry into the cabinet to be formed by Lord Stanley (February 1851).

At the World Industrial Exhibition of 1851, Canning served as president of the jury. In December 1852 he became postmaster-general in the Coalition Ministry of Aberdeen , joined the Privy Council for Popular Education as a committee member in February 1855 and was appointed Governor General of British India in March 1856 and Viceroy in 1858 as successor to Lord Dalhousie .

Canning faced the sepoys uprising in Hindustan (1857) with caution and energy, but also with moderation and forgiveness, and waited in his difficult post despite the undeserved reprimand given by Lord Ellenborough for his stern but highly statesmanlike intervention in Awadh off until calm was restored.

The city of Calcutta decided to erect his statue, and both houses of parliament expressed their thanks unanimously. Long ailing, he returned to England in April 1862 and died in London on June 17th that year.

On September 5, 1835, he had married Charlotte Stuart (1817–1861), a daughter of Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay . The marriage remained childless.

The former fortress Fort Canning and today's Fort Canning Park in Singapore are named after him.

literature

• Canning, Charles John . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 5 : Calhoun - Chatelaine . London 1910, p. 185 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

predecessor	Office	successor
James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie	Governor General / Viceroy of India 1856–1862	James Bruce, Earl of Elgin
Joan Canning	Earl Canning 1859-1862	Title expired
New title created	Viscount Canning 1837-1862	Title expired