Sir James Broadwood Lyall (4 March 1838 – 4 December 1916) was a British administrator in the

Imperial 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 p ...

who served as Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab between 1887 and 1892.

Background

James Lyall was born on 4 March 1838. He was a son of Alfred Lyall and Mary Drummond. His elder brother was

Alfred Comyn Lyall Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall (4 January 1835 – 10 April 1911) was a British civil servant, literary historian and poet. Early life He was born at Coulsdon in Surrey, the second son of Alfred Lyall and Mary Drummond Broadwood, daughter of James S ...

, and his paternal uncles included a

Dean of Canterbury The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The current office of Dean originated after the English Reformation, although Deans had also existed before this time; its immediate prec ...

William Rowe Lyall William Rowe Lyall (11 February 1788 – 17 February 1857) was an English churchman, Dean of Canterbury from 1845 to 1857. Life He was born in Stepney, Middlesex, the fifth son of John Lyall and Jane Comyn. He was educated at Trinity College, C ...

, and a chairman of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, George Lyall. He was educated first at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

and then at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia **Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an international ...

Imperial Civil Service

Career

He joined the Bengal Civil Service in 1857, arriving in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

the following year. He served with the

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

commission until the end of 1859 and went on to serve as the financial commissioner of the Punjab. He was the first

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

, a post to which he was appointed in October 1882. Between 1883 and 1887, Lyall served in southern India as the Resident in

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude o ...

and

Chief Commissioner A chief commissioner is a commissioner of a high rank, usually in chief of several commissioners or similarly styled officers. Colonial In British India the gubernatorial style was chief commissioner in various (not all) provinces (often after be ...

Coorg Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State. It occupies ...

. From 1887 to1892, Lyall was

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of the Punjab. He was appointed as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in 1888. On 5 March 1892 he laid the foundation stone of the Khalsa College. Lyall rejected calls by some of its founders to name it Lyall Khalsa College in honour of his contribution in establishing the college.

Canal Colonies

From 1882 Lyall was instrumental in formulating what would become known as the Triple Project, a bold plan to transform of desert into agricultural land through the development of canal colonies. As Lieutenant Governor he helped establish

Lyallpur Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...

, one of the first planned cities in British India, as the headquarters of the Chenab Colony and which was named in his honour. Later a new district was created in the Colony, also named in his honour - Lyallpur district.Douie, J. (1914). THE PUNJAB CANAL COLONIES. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 62(3210), 611-623. Retrieved March 5, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41341616

Later life

Lyall was appointed as Knight Grand Commander of the Indian Empire in May 1892, after ending his tenure in the Punjab. In 1893, he was appointed to the

Royal Commission on Opium The Royal Commission on Opium was a British Royal Commission that investigated the opium trade in British India in 1893–1895, particularly focusing on the medical impacts of opium consumption within India. Set up by Prime Minister William Gl ...

, which he thought was an official attempt to procrastinate in order to silence opposition to opium use and its trade. Lyall believed there was nothing untoward about moderate use of opium. In 1898, he served as President of the Indian Famine Commission. He died on 4 December 1916 in

Eastry Eastry is a civil parish in Kent, England, around southwest of Sandwich. It was voted "Kent Village of the Year 2005". The name is derived from the Old English ''Ēast- rige'', meaning "eastern province" (c.f. '' Sūþ-rige'' "southern provin ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and is buried in the local churchyard.

Publications

Lyall contributed a chapter on the Punjab to ''The British Empire'' series, published in 1899.

References

External links

* (Preserved Lyall papers in the records of the

India Office The India Office was a British government department established in London in 1858 to oversee the administration, through a Viceroy and other officials, of the Provinces of India. These territories comprised most of the modern-day nations of I ...

.) Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India 1838 births 1916 deaths People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Vice-Chancellors of the University of the Punjab Governors of Punjab (British India) 19th-century English writers Lyall family City founders {{UK-gov-bio-stub