An agency of British India was an internally autonomous or semi-autonomous subdivision of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

whose external affairs were governed by an agent designated by the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

.Great Britain India Office. ''

The Imperial Gazetteer of India ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' was a gazetteer of the British Indian Empire, and is now a historical reference work. It was first published in 1881. Sir William Wilson Hunter made the original plans of the book, starting in 1869.< ...

''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.

Description

The agencies varied in character from fully autonomous self-governing dependencies such as

princely states A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

, where the agent functioned mainly as a representative of the Viceroy, to tribal tracts which were integral parts of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

and where the agent was completely in charge of law and order. The agent of a protected tract or princely state usually lived outside the territory in his charge, as opposed to a Resident who usually lived within his confines and was frequently the

District Collector A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...

of the adjoining British district. Civil and criminal justice in agencies were usually administered through locally made laws, and the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established in ...

was not applicable by default in these agencies.

List of agencies in 1947

Former Agencies before 1947

*Aden Agency (1839 – 1859) *

Bagelkhand Agency The Bagelkhand Agency was a British political unit which managed the relations of the British with a number of autonomous princely states existing outside British India, namely Rewa and 11 minor states, of which the most prominent were Maihar, Nag ...

March 1871 / 1933 *

Banas Kantha Agency Palanpur Agency, also spelled Pahlunpore Agency, was a political agency or collection of princely states in British India, within the Gujarat Division of Bombay Presidency. In 1933, the native states of the Mahi Kantha Agency, except for Danta Stat ...

* Baroda Agency *Baroda and Gujarat Agency * Bengal States Agency *

Bhopal Agency The Bhopal Agency was a section of British India's colonial Central India Agency, a British political unit which managed the relations of the British with a number of autonomous princely states existing outside British India.Great Britain India ...

1818 / 1947-08-15 *

Bhopawar Agency Bhopawar Agency was a sub-agency of the Central India Agency in British India with the headquarters at the town of Bhopawar, so the name. Bhopawar Agency was created in 1882 from a number of princely states in the Western Nimar and Southern Malwa ...

1882 / 1925 (merged with Malwa to form Malwa and Bhopawar Agency) *

Bundelkhand Agency The Bundelkhand Agency was a political agency of the British Raj, managing the relations of the British government with the protected princely states of the Bundelkhand region. History Historical background The Marathas ceded parts of Bu ...

1811 *Chhattisgarh Agency *

Cutch Agency The Cutch Agency was one of the agencies of British India. The appointed Political Agent looked after only one territory, that of the princely state of Cutch, which had a surface of , not including the Rann of Kutch. The agency's headquarters ...

* Ganjam Hill Tracts Agency (Madras Presidency) *Haraoti Agency *

Kaira Agency Cambay, Kambay or Khambhat was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The City of Khambat (Cambay) in present-day Gujarat was its capital. The state was bounded in the north by the Kaira district and in the south by the Gulf of Cam ...

Kathiawar Agency The Kathiawar Agency, on the Kathiawar peninsula in the western part of the Indian subcontinent, was a political unit of some 200 small princely states under the suzerainty of the Bombay Presidency of British India. The agency's headquarters wer ...

(Bombay Presidency) *

Kolaba Agency The Deccan States Agency, also known as the Deccan States Agency and Kolhapur Residency, was a political agency of British India, managing the relations of the British government of the Bombay Presidency with a collection of princely states an ...

*Kolhapur Agency *

Mahi Kantha Agency Mahi Kantha was a political agency or collection of princely states in British India, within the Gujarat Division of Bombay Presidency. In 1933, the states of the Mahi Kantha Agency, except for Danta, were included in the Western India States ...

(Bombay Presidency) *Malwa and Bhopawar Agency 1925 / 1927 rename to Malwa and Southern States Agency *Malwa and Southern States Agency 1927 renamed from Malwa and Bhopawar Agency / 1934 renamed to Malwa *

Nasik Agency Surgana State was a princely state of the Bombay Presidency during the era of the British Raj. It was the only state belonging to the Nasik Agency. Its capital was Surgana in Nashik District of present-day Maharashtra. It was ruled by Kolis of ...

*Orissa Agency 1905 *

Palanpur Agency Palanpur Agency, also spelled Pahlunpore Agency, was a political agency or collection of princely states in British India, within the Gujarat Division of Bombay Presidency. In 1933, the native states of the Mahi Kantha Agency, except for Danta, we ...

1819 (belong to Bombay Presidency, merged 10 October 1924 in WISA) *

Rewa Kantha Agency Rewa Kantha was a political agency of British India, managing the relations (indirect rule) of the British government's Bombay Presidency with a collection of princely states. It stretched for about 150 miles between the plain of Gujarat and ...

(Bombay Presidency) * Sabar Kantha Agency *

Surat Agency The Surat Agency was one of the agencies of British India in the Bombay Presidency. History This agency was formed in the 19th century as the Khandesh Agency, after the region of Khandesh, becoming the Surat Agency in 1880.''The Indian Year B ...

Thana Agency The Jawhar State was a princely state in India. As a princely state, it became a part of Bombay Presidency during the British Raj. It was the only state belonging to the Thana Agency. The last Koli Ruler of Jawhar at Indian independence w ...

Vizagapatam Hill Tracts Agency The Vizagapatam Hill Tracts Agency was an Agencies of British India, agency in the Madras Presidency of British India. The agency was autonomous and supervised by an Agent (law), agent subordinate to the District Collector of Vizagapatnam Distric ...

(Madras Presidency) *

Western India States Agency The Western India States Agency (WISA) was one of the agencies of British India. This agency was formed on 10 October 1924 as a part of the implementation of the Montague Chelmsford report on constitutional reforms. It was formed by merging the ...

(WISA)

References

Sources and external links

IPS Index, First Edition – Princely States Report
Subdivisions of British India {{India-hist-stub

Description

List of agencies in 1947

Former Agencies before 1947

See also

References

Sources and external links