GK Quiz on British Rule in India
GK Quiz on British Rule in India – One of the Major Topics in Indian History. Check out how well you know about Indian History.
GK Quiz on British Rule in India
1.Who was the Viceroy of India at the time of Jallianwala Bagh massacre?
a) Lord Lytton
b) Lord Irwin
c) Lord Chelmsford
d) None of these
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Answer c) Lord Chelmsford
In a telegram sent to Dyer, British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael O’Dwyer wrote: “Your action is correct. Lieutenant Governor approves.” O’Dwyer asked for martial law to be imposed upon Amritsar and other areas; this was allowed by the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, after the massacre.
2. Who introduced subsidiary Alliance?
a) John Shore
b) Lord Wellesley
c) Alured Clarke
d) None of these
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Answer b) Lord Wellesley
The doctrine of subsidiary alliance was introduced by Lord Wellesley, British Governor-General in India from 1798 to 1805. Early in his governorship Wellesley adopted a policy of non-intervention in the princely states, but he later adopted the policy of forming subsidiary alliances.
3. Which of the following was the first state to come under the grip of Subsidiary Alliance?
a) Awadh
b) Mysore
c) Hyderabad
d) None of these
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Answer c) Hyderabad
The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to enter into such an alliance. Tipu Sultan of Mysore refused to do so, but after the British victory in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, Mysore was forced to become a subsidiary state. The Nawab of Awadh was the next to accept the Subsidiary Alliance, in 1801.
4. When was the Regulating Act passed?
a) 1773
b) 1743
c) 1783
d) None of these
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Answer a) 1773
Regulating Act. Regulating Act, (1773), legislation passed by the British Parliament for the regulation of the British East India Company’s Indian territories, mainly in Bengal.
5. Where was the Supreme Court established by the Regulating Act of 1773?
a) Madras
b) Calcutta
c) New Delhi
d) None of these
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Answer b) Calcutta
The Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William, Calcutta (Kolkata) was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1774. It replaced the Mayor’s Court of Calcutta and was British India’s highest court from 1774 until 1862, when the High Court of Calcutta was established.
6. Where was the first English factory setup in India?
a) Madras
b) Calcutta
c) Surat
d) None of these
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Answer c) Surat
William Hawkins was the caption of ship. For The first time he started his journey to entered in india on 1603. He set up his first factory at Surat in 1613 by taking permission from Jahangir in 1608.
7. Who translated Bhagavad Gita into English?
a) John Macpherson
b) Charles Wilkins
c) Warren Hastings
d) None of these
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Answer b) Charles Wilkins
The earliest translations of this work from Sanskrit into English were made around 1785 CE by Sir Charles Wilkins. The name Bhagavad Gita means “the song of the Lord”.
8. Which of the following governor introduced Permanent Settlement in Bengal and Bihar?
a) Lord Cornwallis
b) John Shore
c) Sir George Barlow
d) None of these
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Answer a) Lord Cornwallis
Lord Cornwallis was the first Governor-General who paid his attention to the revenue reforms and achieved marvelous success. It was the permanent land settlement of Bengal, Bihar and Oriss in 1793. He reorganized the Board of Revenue which had the power of supervising the works of the revenue collectors.
9. Who established Free India Society in England?
a) Dadabhai Naoroji
b) Shyamji Krishna Varma
c) Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
d) None of these
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Answer c) Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
The Free India Society was a political organization of Indian students in England, committed to obtaining the independence of India from British rule. It was founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1906.
10. Who is usually known as the Father of civil services in India?
a) Lord William Bentinck
b) Charles Cornwallis
c) Charles Metcalfe
d) None of these
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Answer b) Charles Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis is known as the ‘Father of Civil Service in India’. He introduced Covenanted Civil Services (Higher Civil Services) and Uncovenanted Civil Services (Lower Civil Services).
11. Who was the first British Governor General in India?
a) Warren Hastings
b) John Shore
c) Lord Dalhousie.
d) None of these
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Answer a) Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings became the first Governor General of Fort Williams by Regulating Act of 1773 by which the the governor of Madras and Bombay presidencies became subordinatecto him. The first Governor General of India was William Benetick by Charter Act of 1833 but continued to hold as the governor general of Bengal.
12. When did Ranjit Singh sign a treaty of perpetual friendship with British at Amritsar?
a) 1809
b) 1805
c) 1816
d) None of these
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Answer a) 1809
Treaty of Amritsar, (April 25, 1809), pact concluded between Charles T. Metcalfe, representing the British East India Company, and Ranjit Singh, head of the Sikh kingdom of Punjab. The treaty settled Indo-Sikh relations for a generation.
13. Who was the Governor General of the East India Company during the period of Anglo Nepal war?
a) John Adam
b) Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings
c) The Lord Minto
d) None of these
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Answer b) Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings. The Battle of Nalapani was the first battle of the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–1816, fought between the forces of the British East India Company and Nepal, then ruled by the House of Gorkha. Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, British Governor-General of India, declared war on the Gurkhas of Nepal.
14. Who earned the epithet ‘Liberator of the Indian Press’ Title?
a) Lord Amhers
b) William Butterworth Bayley
c) Charles Metcalfe
d) None of these
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Answer c) Charles Metcalfe
Charles Metcalfe is governor general is known as liberator of press.
15. Who introduced Ryotwari system in Madras?
a) Lord Dalhousie
b) Warren Hastings
c) Thomas Munro
d) None of these
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Answer c) Thomas Munro
In the East India Company territories, the Ryotwari system was introduced by Thomas Munroe and Captain Reed first in Madras presidency. It was later extended to Bombay, Parts of Bengal, Assam, Coorg etc. This system was exactly opposite to the Zamindari system.
16. When was the Calcutta Hindu College (now Presidency University) established?
a) 1809
b) 1817
c) 1825
d) None of these
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Answer b) 1817
It was established as Hindu College, on January 20, 1817 in Calcutta. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the great social reformer, headed its foundation committee. It was later renamed as Presidency College in 1855. It was placed under the control of the University of Calcutta in 1857.
17. Who was the first Indian to qualify for the Indian Civil Services?
a) Dwarkanath Tagore
b) Debendranath Tagore
c) Satyendranath Tagore
d) None of these
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Answer c) Satyendranath Tagore
Satyendranath Tagore was the first Indian ICS officer. Indian Civil Services Act of 1870 went for the Indianisation of the Civil Services.
18. Who stopped sati system in India?
a) Lord William Bentinck
b) John Adam
c) Lord Auckland
d) None of these
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Answer a) Lord William Bentinck
The Bengal Sati Regulation which banned the Sati practice in all jurisdictions of British India was passed on December 4, 1829 by the then Governor-General Lord William Bentinck. The regulation described the practice of Sati as revolting to the feelings of human nature.
19. Who established Tattvabodhini Sabha?
a) Hemendranath Tagore
b) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
c) Debendranath Tagore
d) None of these
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Answer c) Debendranath Tagore
On 6 October 1839 Debendranath Tagore established Tattvaranjini Sabha which was shortly thereafter renamed the Tattwabodhini (Truth-seekers) Sabha. Initially confined to immediate members of the Tagore family, in 2 years it mustered over 500 members.
20. Who founded Indian Home Rule Society London?
a) Raja Rammohan Roy
b) Shyamji Krishna Varma
c) Manmohan Ghosh
d) None of these
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Answer b) Shyamji Krishna Varma
The organisation was founded by Shyamji Krishna Varma, with support from a number of prominent Indian nationalists in Britain in 1905 , including Bhikaji Cama, Dadabhai Naoroji and S.R.Rana.
21. Who started the first newspaper in India?
a) Lord William Bentinck
b) Ram Mohan Roy
c) James Augustus Hicky
d) None of these
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Answer c) James Augustus Hicky
Hickey’s Bengal Gazette was an English newspaper published from Kolkata (then Calcutta), India. It was the first major newspaper in India, started in 1780. It was published for two years. Founded by James Augustus Hicky, a highly eccentric Irishman who had previously spent two years in Jail for debt.
22. Which Viceroy was known as ‘The Father of Local Self-Government’?
a) Charles Metcalfe
b) Lord Ripon
c) Lord Ellenborough
d) None of these
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Answer b) Lord Ripon
Lord Ripon is known to have granted the Indians first taste of freedom by introducing the Local Self Government in 1882.
23. Who introduced doctrine of lapse in India?
a) Lord Dalhousie
b) Charles Metcalfe
c) John Adam
d) None of these
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Answer a) Lord Dalhousie
The doctrine of lapse was an annexation policy purportedly devised by Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor General for the East India Company in India between 1848 and 1856.
24.When was Shimla made summer capital?
a) 1872
b) 1864
c) 1856
d) None of these
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Answer b) 1864
In 1864 Shimla was declared as the summer capital of India. After Independence, Shimla became the capital of Punjab and was later named the capital of Himachal Pradesh. In 1903 a rail line was constructed between Kalka and Shimla.
25. In which year, the Hindu Widow Remarriage Act passed?
a) 1856
b) 1872
c) 1862
d) None of these
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Answer a) 1856
The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856, also Act XV, 1856, enacted on 26 July 1856, legalised the remarriage of Hindu widows in all jurisdictions of India under East India Company rule.
26. Where did the Revolt of 1857 first break out?
a) Jhansi
b) Meerut Cantonment
c) Lucknow
d) None of these
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Answer b) Meerut Cantonment
It was on May 10, 1857 that the Indian soldiers at the Meerut cantonment in modern UP revolted against the British. May 10, 1857.
27. In which year Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras University were established?
a) 1857
b) 1899
c) 1852
d) None of these
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Answer a) 1857
In 1857 CE, following the recommendations of a committee established by the British Indian government, the Acts incorporating Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were passed.
28. When did the high courts in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay established?
a) 1860
b) 1858
c) 1862
d) None of these
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Answer c) 1862
British India’s three presidency towns of Madras (Chennai), Bombay (Mumbai), and Calcutta (Kolkata) were each granted a High Court by letters patent dated 26 June 1862. The letters patent were issued by Queen Victoria under the authority of the British parliament’s Indian High Courts Act 1861.
29. Who founded the Indian Reform Association in 1870?
a) Keshub Chandra Sen
b) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
c) Ram Mohan Roy
d) None of these
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Answer a) Keshub Chandra Sen
The Indian Reform Association was formed on 29 October 1870 with Keshub Chunder Sen as president. It represented the secular side of the Brahmo Samaj and included many who did not belong to the Brahmo Samaj.
30. When was the Satya Shodhak Samaj founded?
a) 1844
b) 1875
c) 1873
d) None of these
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Answer c) 1873
Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth-seekers’ Society) is a social reform society founded by Jyotirao Phule in Pune, India, on 24 September 1873. Its purpose was to liberate the less privileged in the then prevailing society such as women, Shudra, and Dalit from exploitation and oppression.
31. When did the British government conducted the first All India Census?
a) 1951
b) 1881
c) 1872
d) None of these
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Answer b) 1881
A systematic and modern population census, in its present form was conducted non synchronously between 1865 and 1872 in different parts of the country. This effort culminating in 1872 has been popularly labeled as the first population census of India However, the first synchronous census in India was held in 1881.
32. When was the Vernacular Press Act passed?
a) 1878
b) 1861
c) 1872
d) None of these
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Answer a) 1878
Vernacular Press Act. Vernacular Press Act, in British India, law enacted in 1878 to curtail the freedom of the Indian-language (i.e., non-English) press.
33. When was the Durand line established?
a) 1914
b) 1893
c) 1944
d) None of these
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Answer b) 1893
The Durand Line was a frontier boundary between Afghanistan and British India. It was established after an 1893 memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Mortimer Durand of British India and Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan.
34. Who founded several Vedanta societies in the West?
a) Ramakrishn Paramhansa
b) Rabindranath Tagore
c) Swami Vivekananda
d) None of these
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Answer c) Swami Vivekananda
The first Vedanta Society, the Vedanta Society of New York, was founded by Swami Vivekananda in November 1894. Vivekananda later on asked Swami Abhedananda to lead the organization in 1897.
35. Who led to the introduction of English education in India?
a) Thomas Babington Macaulay
b) Lord Curzon
c) Lord Chelmsford
d) None of these
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Answer a) Thomas Babington Macaulay
In India Thomas Babington Macaulay is fully credited with the official introduction of English education, though the necessary order on the subject was issued by Bentinck, the Governor-General of India, on 7 March 1835 after going through a long rhetorical minute written by the former on 2 February 1835 at the latter’s request.
36. Who among the following is remembered for the annulment of the partition of Bengal?
a) Viscount Wavell
b) Lord Chelmsford
c) Lord Curzon
d) None of these
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Answer c) Lord Curzon
The decision to effect the Partition of Bengal was announced on 19 July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took place on 16 October 1905 and separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas.
37. In which year the Indian councils act commonly known morley-minto reforms passed ?
a) 1909
b) 1911
c) 1908
d) None of these
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Answer a) 1909
The Indian Councils Act 1909 or Morley-Minto Reforms or Minto-Morley Reforms was passed by British Parliament in 1909 in an attempt to widen the scope of legislative councils, placate the demands of moderates in Indian National Congress and to increase the participation of Indians the governance.
38. When did the British capital of India shifted from Kolkata to Delhi?
a) 1920
b) 1911
c) 1921
d) None of these
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Answer b) 1911
During the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, George V, then Emperor of India, along with Queen Mary, his consort, made the announcement that the capital of the Raj was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi, while laying the foundation stone for the Viceroy’s residence in the Coronation Park, Kingsway Camp.
39. Who was the viceroy of India when the Rowlatt act 1919 was passed?
a) Lord Irwin
b) Wavell
c) Lord Chelmsford
d) None of these
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Answer – c) Lord Chelmsford
Lord Chelmsford served as Governor General and Viceroy of India from 1916 to 1921. Important events during his tenure included Lucknow Pact (1916), Khilafat Movement, Emergence of Gandhi as national leader, passing of Rowlatt Act and Jallianwalla Bagh Tragedy (1919), Non-Cooperation Movement, Third Afghan War and Treaty of Rawalpindi, August Declaration (1917), Montague-Chelmsford Reforms (1919).
40. When was Indian Independence Act 1947 passed?
a) August 5, 1947
b) July 5, 1947
c) August 15, 1947
d) None of these
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Answer b) July 5, 1947
The Indian Independence Act, which was based on the Mountbatten plan of June 3, was passed by the British parliament on July 5, 1947 and received royal assent or approval on July 18, 1947.
