Sir George Townsend Boag KCIE CSI (1884–1969) was a British Indian civil servant, statistician and administrator who served as the Acting

Governor of Odisha The governor of Odisha is the head of state and representative of the president of India in the Indian state of Odisha. The governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the President of India at centr ...

from 11 August 1938 to 8 December 1938.

Early life

George Townsend Boag was born on 12 November 1884 to Rev. George Boag, the

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Winster Winster is a village in the English Derbyshire Dales about from Matlock and from Bakewell at an altitude of approximately . It was formerly a centre for the lead mining industry. The village lies within the Peak District National Park and The ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

. He gained admission to

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

on 21 January 1897 and studied at the school from 1897 to 1903. He was a Mure Scholar for the year 1901. He obtained his

baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to: * ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification * Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree * English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...

and master's degrees from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. In 1907, he passed the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

examinations and was allotted to the Madras Presidency.

In India

Madras Presidency

Boag arrived in India in 1908 and served as a special settlement officer from 1912 to 1918. He was appointed to the Indian Nutrition Board and served as the Collector of Transtuffs from 1912 to 1918. From 1920 to 1922, Boag served as Superintendent of Census Operations for the Presidency succeeding J. C. Molony. Boag served as the Municipal Commissioner for Madras from 1923 to 1925. He was the Chief Secretary of Madras Presidency from 1925 to 1928 and 1934 to 1938. Boag served as the District Collector of West Godavari in 1930 before being appointed the Superintendent of the Madras Presidency Archives succeeding A. V. Venkatarama Ayyar on 19 August 1930. Boag served as a member of the Indian Tariff Board from 1931 to 1933.

Odisha

On 11 August 1938 the Governor of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, Sir John Austen Hubback proceeded on a leave. Boag was appointed Acting Governor of Odisha in his stead and served from 11 August 1938 to 8 December 1938. As the Acting Governor of Odisha, he inaugurated the opening session of the

Odisha Legislative Assembly The Odisha Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Odisha state in India. The seat of the Legislative Assembly is at Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state. The Legislative Assembly comprises 147 Members of Legislative Ass ...

on 29 August 1938. On 12 September 1938 severe agitations broke out in the princely state of Dhenkanal demanding the abolition of stringent taxes. The situation turned violent as the agitations intensified. The

Eastern States Agency The Eastern States Agency was an agency or grouping of princely states in eastern India, during the latter years of the Indian Empire. It was created in 1933, by the unification of the former Chhattisgarh States Agency and the Orissa States Agen ...

, a federation of princely states of which Dhenkanal formed a part, resorted to police action. Large scale arrests were carried out and there was police firing in some areas. As a result of the disturbances in the neighbouring Dhenkanal, a large number of refugees poured into Odisha. Boag kept the Viceroy of India regularly updated with the events at Dhenkanal. The influx of refugees reached such alarming proportions that refugee camps had to be established along the border towns. On 8 December 1938 Sir John Austen Hubback returned from leave and resumed his duties as Governor of Odisha. Boag was transferred back to Madras Presidency where he served as a member of the Special Advisory Council during Governor's rule and was given charge of the public, finance and revenue departments. He served in the Council from 1939 to 1943. On 1943, he was appointed Diwan of Cochin and served from 1943 to 1944.

Honours

George Townsend Boag was made a

Companion 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 appo ...

in 1928 and a Companion of the Star of India in 1936. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1941.

Boag's residence

Boag's official residence in Madras city was located at

T. Nagar Thyagaraya Nagar, commonly known as T. Nagar, and historically known as East Mambalam, is a very affluent commercial and residential neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Nungambakkam in the North, Teynampet in the Ea ...

. The street in which it was situated was named Boag Road in his honour. The house was later purchased by

Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu Rao Bahadur Sir Kurma Venkatareddy Naidu KCSI (1875–1942) was an Indian lawyer, professor, politician and Justice Party leader who served as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 1 April 1937 to 14 July 1937. He was the last Chief Min ...

. In 1959, it was bought by Tamil film actor

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

who renamed it ''Annai Illam''. Today, the house is owned by the actor's family who continue to reside here.

Works

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boag, G.T. 1884 births 1969 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Companions of the Order of the Star of India Governors of Odisha People from Westmorland Diwans of Cochin