CURZON, LORD GEORGE

CURZON, LORD GEORGE (1859–1925), governor-general of India (1899–1905) and British foreign secretary (1919–1924). The son of Lord and Lady Scarsdale, George Curzon was born on 11 January 1859 at Kedleston, the vast family estate in Derbyshire. He believed, as he wrote in the dedication to his book, Problems of the Far East, that Great Britain had been chosen by Providence to be "the greatest instrument for good the world has ever seen." Elected to parliament as a Conservative in 1886, in 1887 he began to travel to Asia with the intention of making himself the country's leading expert on Asian affairs. In his personal life, Curzon was known for his many affairs with prominent women, but these seem to have ended with his first marriage in 1895 to a wealthy, beautiful young American, Mary Leiter.

When he was appointed governor-general of India, Queen Victoria wrote to him that he should not, like many British officials in India, be "overbearing and offensive" toward Indians; these qualities, however, were often attributed to him regarding his manner of dealing with not only Indians but British officials as well (Gilmour, p. 137). Curzon's main objectives, carried out with extraordinary energy, were to reform what he regarded as an inefficient British administration, to rule for the good of the people of India, and to preserve British power, rejecting with contempt the idea that Indians might some day rule their own country. Foreign affairs were a special concern for him, and he forged new links with the Afghan ruler to prevent Russian influence. In internal affairs, he reformed the selection and training of police officers. Confronted by massive famines, he ordered the construction of new irrigation works, and to encourage agriculture and industry, as well to facilitate troop movements, his administration added 6,000 miles of railways to the existing 27,000 miles. He regarded the Indian universities, which had been established in the middle of the nineteenth century, as badly in need of reform; this was carried out under the Universities Act of 1904, but it aroused great animosity because it replaced Indians with government appointees in administrative posts. One of Curzon's lasting achievements during this period was the preservation of Indian monuments, especially the Taj Mahal and other buildings at Agra, through the Department of Archaeology.

When Curzon's first term ended in 1904, he was reappointed, but two momentous problems confronted him. One was his decision to partition Bengal into two provinces, East and West Bengal (one with a Muslim, the other with a Hindu majority); the partition was fiercely denounced by Indian nationalists as a measure designed to foment conflict between the two groups. He insisted that the change had been made strictly for administrative convenience. The other problem was a quarrel with the commander-in-chief of the Indian army, Lord Kitchener, over civil versus military control. Kitchener was supported by the British government, and Curzon resigned in anger in 1905. He served as foreign secretary from 1919 to 1924, but he was bitterly disappointed when he was not appointed prime minister.

Ainslie T. Embree

See alsoBengal ; British Crown Raj

BIBLIOGRAPHY

George N. Curzon, Problems of the Far East (London: Longman, 1894), gives his views of Britain's place in the world. Ian Gilmour, Curzon (London: John Murray, 1994), is the most complete biography. David Dilks, Curzon in India, 2 vols. (New York: Taplingar, 1970), provides a detailed study of his policies.