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Thomas Baring, Lord Northbrook

Also known as 1872-1876

Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook, was a British Liberal politician who served as Viceroy of India from 1872 to 1876, a term marked by an effective famine-relief effort in Bihar and his eventual resignation over a policy dispute with London on Afghanistan.

Appointment

Northbrook, a member of the Baring banking family and a Liberal politician who had earlier served at the India Office and War Office under Lord Palmerston and William Gladstone, was appointed Viceroy of India in 1872 following the assassination of his predecessor, Lord Mayo, by a convict in the Andaman Islands. His appointment came at a time when the government in London, having taken direct control of India from the East India Company in 1858, was still working out the practical shape of Crown administration.

Famine relief and the Prince of Wales's visit

The most significant episode of Northbrook's viceroyalty was the Bihar famine of 1873-1874, triggered by poor rains and crop failure. His administration organised a substantial relief programme, including large-scale grain imports and public works employment, which is generally credited with keeping mortality relatively low compared with the far more severe famines that followed later in the decade under his successor, Lord Lytton — a contrast frequently cited in assessments of contemporary British famine policy. Northbrook's term also included the state visit of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) to India in 1875-1876.

Resignation

Northbrook resigned in 1876 after disagreeing with the Conservative government of Benjamin Disraeli over its "forward policy" toward Afghanistan, which sought a more assertive British presence there, including a permanent diplomatic mission in Kabul, to counter perceived Russian influence in Central Asia; Northbrook favoured a more cautious approach that avoided direct intervention in Afghan affairs. He was replaced by Lord Lytton, whose more aggressive Afghan policy contributed to the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878. Northbrook continued to hold senior public roles in Britain after his return, including as First Lord of the Admiralty.

Further reading

  • Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company. Bloomsbury, 2019
  • Bayly, C. A. Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press, 1988
  • Metcalf, Barbara D. A Concise History of Modern India. Cambridge University Press, 2012
  • Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India. Oxford University Press, 2009

See also

This entry was last revised on 31 August 2026.