Sir Norman Edward Marjoribanks (16 October 1872 – August 1939) was a British magistrate and civil servant of British origin who served as the acting

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...

from 29 June 1929 to 11 November 1929. Marjoribanks was born in 1872 into a Scottish family and was educated in India and the United Kingdom, where he spent most of his childhood. In 1891, he passed the Indian Civil Service exam and was allocated to the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

. He served as the home member of the Governor's executive council in the 1920s and as the acting Governor of Madras until the arrival of Governor-designate,

George Frederick Stanley Sir George Frederick Stanley (14 October 1872 – 1 July 1938) was a British soldier and Conservative Party politician who served as a member of the UK Parliament for Preston and later, Willesden East. He also served the Governor of Madras from ...

from England. Marjoribanks also served in the committee which investigated the problems of Tamil indentured labourers in Sri Lanka.

Early life

Norman Marjoribanks was born in India on 16 October 1872 and received his early education at Bishop Cotton's School and College,

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. He received his higher education from Belfast Royal Academy, Royal University of Ireland and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He passed his Indian Civil Service examinations in 1891 and was appointed as Assistant Collector and magistrate.

In the Civil Service

Marjoribanks served in Madras as Assistant Collector and Magistrate from 29 October 1893 to July 1901. In March 1900, he was appointed Officiating Under-Secretary of the Revenue Department. He served as a member on the Board of Revue and the Commissioner of Salt and Excise, Madras. He also served as the Home member in the executive council of the Governor of Madras, under

George Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen George Joachim Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen, (15 October 1866 – 24 July 1952), was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament for East Grinstead from 1895 to 1906 and as Governor of Madras from 1924 to 1929. In 1929 he was appo ...

. When Goschen's tenure came to an end, Marjoribanks was appointed acting Governor until the arrival of

Commission on the situation of Plantation Tamils of Ceylon

Following protests against indentured labour by activists of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

aPpointed a commission under

Charles George Todhunter Sir Charles George Todhunter (16 February 1869 – 1 March 1949) was a British civil servant in British India. Todhunter was of New Zealand background and educated in England at Aldenham School and King's College, Cambridge. He joined the India ...

to investigate the condition of the plantation Tamils of Ceylon. Plantation Tamils of Ceylon, Pg 111 On 22 October 1916, the Government of Madras overruled the decision of the Indian Government and replaced Todhunter with Marjoribanks. Plantation Tamils of Ceylon, Pg 110 C. E. Low, the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, complained to Sir George Barnes over the "bad behaviour" of the Madras Government. He suspected the abilities of Marjoribanks, saying "he is not quite class enough, socially and from the point of personality, to do us well". Barnes then conveyed his strong opposition to 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 ...

. However, the Governor of Madras, Lord Pentland gave Marjoribanks his full support: The Emigration Bench examined his service record and approved his candidature saying that "his record looks as if he is a pretty good man". Eventually, a delegation comprising Marjoribanks and A. K. G. Ahmad Thambi Marakkayar left for Ceylon on 19 November 1916 and spent six months gathering information from the planters and the Government of Ceylon. Plantation Tamils of Ceylon, Pg 113 The team prepared a report which was submitted at a conference held at London in May 1917. In the final report, the team pointed out the defects of the existing ''kangani'' system. But strangely, the report did not examine indentured labour on the whole. As a result, when the report was made public, it was criticized by Indian nationalists.

As Acting Governor of Madras

Marjoribanks served as the Home member in the Executive Council of Governor George Goschen. When Goschen's term came to an end in July 1929, Marjoribanks was appointed as acting Governor of Madras until the arrival of governor-designate, George Frederick Stanley from England. Marjoribanks served as Acting Governor of Madras from 29 June 1929 to 11 November 1929.

Later life

On the expiry of his term, Marjoribanks retired to Ootacamund, the summer residence of the Madras government. He died in 1939.

Honours

Marjoribanks was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1919 and later promoted to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Star of India in 1922.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marjoribanks, Norman 1872 births 1939 deaths Indian people of Scottish descent Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Governors of Madras Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Companions of the Order of the Star of India Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Bishop Cotton Boys' School alumni British people in colonial India