George Edward Campbell Wakefield (16 April 1873 – 9 March 1944) was an

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...

civil servant who served as Prime Minister of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

between 1929 and 1931.

Biography

Wakefield was born in

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the List ...

, Bengal, British India to George Edward Wakefield and his second wife, Adelaide ("Ada") Ruth Mary Allsop. His paternal grandmother was Indian or Bengali and converted to Christianity, taking the name Maria Suffolk. He joined the British Indian Civil Service and served as an Assistant Engineer in the Irrigation Department of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

from 1892; held various posts in

Udaipur Udaipur () (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic capit ...

from 1903 to 1909; served in the government of the

Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

from 1910 to 1921 as irrigation settlement officer, deputy Director General of Revenue, as director general of Commerce and Industries and then as personal secretary to the Nizam. Wakefield was awarded the

Kaisar-i-Hind Medal The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India was a medal awarded by the Emperor/Empress of India between 1900 and 1947, to "any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex ... who shall have distinguished himself (o ...

of the British Raj for public service in India in 1901. From 1921 Wakefield served in the government of Jammu and Kashmir and was Prime Minister between 1929 and 1931. He was replaced by Hari Kishan Kaul under controversial circumstances. In 1931, nearing retirement, Wakefield established a citrus orchard at Khanpur,

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

, importing plants from Florida, California, South Africa and Australia. In December 2016 the orchard was being advertised as a prestige development under the name "Wakefield Gardens". In 1942 he published a memoir, ''Recollections : 50 years in the service of India'' (Lahore: Civil and Military Gazette). He died in Rawalpindi, aged 70.

Honours

Wakefield was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the

1918 Birthday Honours The 1918 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, 3 June a ...

, being described in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' when he was Director-General of Revenue, His Exalted Highness the Nizam's Government, Hyderabad, Deccan. He was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

(CIE) in the

1928 Birthday Honours The 1928 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were p ...

, when he was described as Police and Public Works Minister, Jammu and Kashmir State.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakefield, G. E. C. 1871 births 1944 deaths Administrators in British India Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state) Officers of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal People from Multan British people of Indian descent G. E. C.