[balti]

known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British soldier and statesman.

He served as Governor-General of India from 1828 to 1835. He has been credited for significant social and educational reforms in India including abolishing Sati, the suppression of female infanticide and human sacrifices, and ending lawlessness by eliminating Thuggee with the aid of his chief captain, William Henry Sleeman, which had existed for over 450 years. He along with Thomas Babington Macaulay introduced English as the language of instruction in India.


In 1783, at the age of 9, he was given the sinecure of Clerk of the Pipe for life.

Bentinck joined the Coldstream Guards on 28 January 1791 at the age of 16, purchasing an ensign's commission.[9] He was promoted to captain-lieutenant (lieutenant) in the 2nd Regiment of Dragoons on 4 August 1792,[10] and to captain in the 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons on 6 April 1793.

He was promoted to major in the 28th Foot on 29 March 1794 and to lieutenant-colonel in the 24th Dragoons that July.

On 9 January 1798, Bentinck was promoted to colonel.[14] In 1803 he was, to some surprise, appointed Governor of Madras, and was promoted to major-general on 1 January 1805.

Although his tenure was moderately successful, it was brought to an end by the Vellore Mutiny in 1806, prompted by Bentinck's order that the native troops be forbidden to wear their traditional attire. Only after serious violence was order restored and the offending policy rescinded, and Bentinck was recalled in 1807.

After service in the Peninsular War, Bentinck was appointed commander of British troops in Sicily. He was brevetted to lieutenant-general on 3 March 1811.

A Whig, Bentinck used this position to meddle in internal Sicilian affairs, effecting the withdrawal from government of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies in favour of his son, Francis I of the Two Sicilies, the reactionary Queen's disgrace, and an attempt to devise a constitutional government for the troubled island, all of which ultimately ended in failure. In 1814, Bentinck landed with British and Sicilian troops at Genoa, and commenced to make liberal proclamations of a new order in Italy which embarrassed the British government (which intended to give much of Italy to Austria), and led, once again, to his recall in 1815.

Lord William Bentick was the first governor general of British India . Everyone else before him was the governor of Bengal (Fort William) On his return to England, Bentinck served in the House of Commons for some years before being appointed Governor-General of Bengal in 1828. His principal concern was to turn around the loss-making East India Company, to ensure that its charter would be renewed by the British government.


Lady William Cavendish-Bentinck (c 1783–1843) (Ellen Sharples)
Bentinck engaged in an extensive range of cost-cutting measures, earning the lasting enmity of many military men whose wages were cut. Although historians emphasise his more efficient financial management, his modernising projects also included a policy of westernisation, influenced by the Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham and James Mill, which was more controversial. He reformed the court system

Bentinck made major educational reforms he made English the medium of instruction after passing the English Education Act 1835, English replaced Persian, as the language of the higher courts and encouraged western-style education for Indians to provide more educated Indians for service in the British bureaucracy.[32][33] He founded the Calcutta Medical college after the committee appointed by him found that "The Native Medical Institution established in 1822 , The Committee headed by Dr John Grant as president and J C C Sutherland, C E Trevelyan, Thomas Spens, Ram Comul Sen and M J Bramley as members found the education, examination system, training and lack of practical anatomy clearly below standards" and recommended its closure, which Bentinck accepted and he opened the Calcutta Medical college which offered western medical education and opening of this college is seen as Introduction of Western Science into India.It was the first western medical college in Asia and it was open to all without distinction of caste or creed. James Ranald Martin compares the creation of this college to Bentinck's other acclaimed act of abolishing Sati