Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians trace back urban settlement to the late 17th century after the British secured the seven islands from the Portuguese to establish a secure base in the region. The islands provided the British with a sheltered harbour for trade, in addition to a relatively sequestered location that reduced the chances of land-based attacks. Over the next two centuries, the British dominated the region, first securing the archipelago from the Portuguese, and later defeating the Marathas to secure the hinterland.
Bombay Presidency was one of the three Presidencies of British India; the other two being Madras Presidency, and Bengal Presidency. It was in the centre-west of the Indian subcontinent on the Arabian Sea. It was bordered to the north-west, north, and north-east by Baluchistan province, Punjab province, and Rajputana Agency; to the east by Central India Agency, the Central Provinces and Berar and Hyderabad State; and to the south by Madras Presidency and Mysore State. The Presidency was established in the late 17th century and named after Bombay, the capital city and the island on which it was built. By 1906, the area under the jurisdiction of Bombay Presidency stretched from North Canara in the south to Sindh in the north, encompassing the now-Pakistani province of Sindh, some parts of the present-day state of Gujarat, northwestern part of Karnataka state, the British Aden protectorate in Yemen, and the western two-thirds of modern-day Maharashtra.
During British rule, a Governor was the chief administrative and political officer of Bombay. The executive Government of the Presidency was administered by the Governor. He had the same power and right in the Presidency as the Governor-General of India, and observed the same order and course in their proceedings. Governors of Bombay and Madras Presidencies, who were appointed by the East India Company before 1858 and the British Crown subsequently, were the most important officials after the Viceroy. Bombay Castle was the official residence of the governor of Bombay until the 1770s, when it was moved to Parel; a century later, in 1883, it was moved to Malabar Hill.
Abraham Shipman was appointed the first Royal Governor of Bombay in 1662. Beginning in 1668, Charles II leased the islands to the East India Company—George Oxenden was appointed the first Company Governor of Bombay on 23 September 1668. In 1687, the Company relocated its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. Retrieved on 9 November 2008. In 1858, the British Crown took formal repossession of the territory after the company was disbanded. After India's independence in 1947, the territory was restructured into Bombay State. The area of Bombay State increased, after several erstwhile princely states that acceded to the Indian union were integrated into Bombay State. Raja Maharaj Singh was the first Indian Governor of Bombay after independence. On 1 May 1960, Bombay State was restructured on linguistic lines—Gujarati-speaking areas were partitioned into the state of Gujarat, and Marathi-speaking areas of Bombay State, Central Provinces and Berar, and Hyderabad State were integrated as the state of Maharashtra. The last person to hold the title of "Governor of Bombay" was Sri Prakasa in 1960.
Royal governors (1662–1668)
The marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza that concluded on 8 May 1661 incorporated Bombay into the English colonial empire- the territory was part of Catherine's dowry. On 19 March 1662, Abraham Shipman was appointed the first Governor and General of the city, and his fleet arrived in Bombay in September and October 1662. On being asked to hand over Bombay and Salsette to the English, the Portuguese governor contended that the Bombay Island alone had been ceded, and alleging irregularity in the patent, he refused to give up even Bombay Island. The Portuguese Viceroy declined to interfere and Shipman was prevented from landing in Bombay. He was forced to retire to the island of Anjediva in North Canara and died there in October 1664. In November 1664, Shipman's successor Humphrey Cooke agreed to accept Bombay Island without its dependencies. The first four governors held Bombay for the Crown.
Name Assumed office Left officeYears in office Remarks1Abraham Shipman19 March 1662October 166422Humphrey CookeFebruary 16655 November 16661Acting3Gervase Lucas5 November 166621 May 166714Henry Gary22 May 166723 September 16681Acting Sources: The India List and India Office List and Origin of Bombay
Company governors (1668–1862)
On 21 September 1668, the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668 led to the transfer of Bombay from Charles II to the English East India Company for an annual rent of £10 (equivalent retail price index of £1,226 in 2007). The islands were handed over to the company on 23 September 1668. Upon the transfer, Bombay was made subordinate to the company's settlement in Surat. During 1668–87, the Governors of Bombay, who were also presidents of Surat Council, spent most of their time in Surat. During this time, Bombay was administered by a Deputy Governor.
In 1687, the Company shifted its main holdings from Surat to Bombay, which had become the administrative centre of all the west coast settlements. Following the transfer, Bombay was placed at the head of all the company's establishments in India. However, the onset of plague and cholera delayed implementation, and the headquarters was not actually moved to Bombay until 1708. During the Governorships of John Gayer, Sir Nicholas Waite, and William Aislabie (1694–1715), the Bombay governors also held the title of "General". Their main title, meanwhile, continued to be "President", with governor of Bombay being a supplementary title and role.
During the 18th century, the Maratha Empire expanded rapidly, claiming Konkan and much of eastern Gujarat from the disintegrating Mughal Empire. In western Gujarat, including Kathiawar and Kutch, the loosening of Mughal control allowed numerous local rulers to create virtually independent states. In 1737, Salsette was captured by Baji Rao I of the Maratha Empire from the Portuguese, and the Portuguese province of Bassein was ceded to the Marathas in 1739. The growth of the Bengal provinces soon undermined Bombay's supremacy. In 1753, Bombay was made subordinate to Calcutta. Thereafter, Bengal always maintained much greater importance relative to Madras and Bombay. Bankot (Fort Victoria) in Konkan was incorporated into Bombay Presidency in 1756. The First Anglo-Maratha War began with the Treaty of Surat, which was signed on 6 March 1775, between Raghunathrao of the Maratha Empire and the British. According to the treaty, Raghunathrao ceded Salsette and Bassein to the British. The war ended when Salsette, Elephanta, Hog Island, and Karanja were formally ceded to the British by the Treaty of Salbai, signed on 17 May 1782. These territories were incorporated into the Bombay Presidency. Also according to the treaty, Bassein and its dependencies were restored to Raghunathrao, while Bharuch was ceded to the Maratha ruler Scindia. The British annexed Surat on 15 May 1800. The British received the districts of Ahmadabad, Bharuch and Kaira in 1803 after British victory in the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
The framework of the Presidency formed between 1803 and 1827. The districts of Ahmadabad, Bharuch, and Kaira in Gujarat were taken over by the Bombay Government in 1805 and enlarged in 1818. The numerous small states of Kathiawar and Mahikantha were organised into princely states under British suzerainty between 1807 and 1820. Baji Rao II, the last of the Maratha Peshwas, was defeated by the British in the Battle of Kirkee, which took place near Poona in the Deccan on 5 November 1817. Following his defeat, the whole of the Deccan (except Satara and Kolhapur), and certain parts of Gujarat, were included in the Presidency. The districts included were Khandesh, Belgaum, Dharwar, Ratnagiri, Kolaba (except Alibag taluka), Poona, Ahmadnagar, Nasik. Aden was incorporated in 1839. Alibag taluka was annexed in 1840 and added to the Presidency. Sind province, which included the districts of Karachi, Hyderabad, Shikarpur, Thar and Parkar, and Upper Sind Frontier, were annexed in 1847. In 1848, the districts of Satara and Bijapur were added to the Presidency. In 1853, Panch Mahals in Gujarat was leased from the Scindias. The Canara district, which was under Madras Presidency, was bifurcated into North Canara and South Canara in 1860. South Canara remained under Madras Presidency, while North Canara was transferred to Bombay Presidency in 1861. Between 1818 and 1858, certain princely states like Mandvi in Surat and some in Satara were lapsed to the Presidency.
Name Portrait Assumed office Left officeYears in office Remarks1George Oxenden23 September 166814 July 166912Gerald Aungier14 July 166930 June 167783Henry Oxenden30 June 167727 October 168144John Child27 October 16814 February 169085Richard Keigwin27 December 168319 November 16841Unofficial6Bartholomew Harris4 February 169010 May 169447Daniel Annesley10 May 169417 May 1694Acting8John Gayer17 May 1694November 1704109Nicholas WaiteNovember 1704September 1708410William AislabieSeptember 170811 October 1715711Stephen Strutt11 October 171526 December 1715Acting12Charles Boone26 December 17159 January 1722713William Phipps9 January 172210 January 1729714Robert Cowan10 January 172922 September 1734515John Horne22 September 17347 April 1739516Stephen Law7 April 173915 November 1742317John Geekie15 November 174226 November 1742Acting18William Wake26 November 174217 November 1750819Richard Bourchier17 November 175017601020Sir John Holkell176028 February 1760Acting21Charles Crommelin28 February 176027 January 1767722Thomas Hodges27 January 176723 February 1771423William Hornby26 February 17711 January 17841324Rawson Hart Boddam1 January 17849 January 1788425Andrew Ramsay9 January 17886 September 17881Acting26William Medows6 September 178821 January 1790227Robert Abercromby21 January 179026 November 1792228George Dick26 November 17929 November 17953Acting29John Griffith9 November 179527 December 1795Acting30Jonathan Duncan27 December 179511 August 18111631George Brown11 August 181112 August 18121Acting32Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet.12 August 18121 November 1819733Mountstuart Elphinstone1 November 18191 November 1827834Sir John Malcolm1 November 18271 December 1830335Sir Thomas Sidney Beckwith1 December 183015 January 18311Acting36John Romer17 January 183121 March 1831Acting37John FitzGibbon, 2nd Earl of Clare21 March 183117 March 1835438Sir Robert Grant17 March 18359 July 1838339James Farish11 July 183831 May 18391Acting40James Rivett-Carnac31 May 183927 April 1841241William Hay Macnaghten27 April 184128 April 1841Acting42George William Anderson28 April 18419 June 18421Acting43George Arthur9 June 18426 August 1846444Lestock Robert Reid6 August 184623 January 18471Acting45George Russell Clerk23 January 18471 May 18481Acting46Lucius Cary, 10th Viscount Falkland1 May 184826 December 1853547John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone26 December 185311 May 1860748George Russell Clerk11 May 186024 April 18622Acting Sources: The India List and India Office List and Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Deputy Governors of Bombay (1668–1690) The transfer of the headquarters of the company's power to Bombay largely eliminated the need for a Deputy Governor. In spite of the change, the title continued to be borne by the second member of the Executive Council of the Governor. It fell into disuse sometime between 1720 and 1758.