1866 in India

← 1865 1864 1863 1866 in India → 1867 1868 1869
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See also:	List of years in India Timeline of Indian history

Events in the year 1866 in India.

Incumbents

• Sir John Lawrence, Governor-General of India, 12 January 1864-12 January 1869
• Colonel Edmund Haythorne, Adjutant-General of India, 22 June 1860–January 1866
• Colonel Henry Errington Longden, Adjutant-General of India, January 1866–March 1869
• Lord Napier, Governor of Madras, 1866-1872
• Ram Singh II, Maharao of Kota State, 20 July 1828 – 27 March 1866
• Chhatar Sal Singh II, Maharao of Kota State, 27 March 1866 – 11 June 1889
• Sagramji II Devaji (Sagramji Bhanabhai), Thakur of Gondal State, 1851-14 December 1869
• Bham Pratap Singh, Raja and Maharajah of Bijawar State, 23 November 1847-15 September 1899
• Shri Singh, Raja of Chamba State, 1844-1870
• Ranmalsinhji Amarsinhji, Raj Sahib of Dhrangadhra State, 9 April 1843-16 October 1869
• Madan Pal, Maharaja of Karauli State, 4 March 1854-16 August 1869
• Hiravajra Singh Deo, Maharajah of Patna, 1848-August 1866
• Pratap Singh Deo, Maharajah of Patna, 1866-1878
• Cecil Beadon, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, 1862-1866
• Afzal ad-Dawlah, Asaf Jah V, Nizam of Hyderabad, 16 May 1857-26 February 1869
• Robert Milman, consecrated bishop of Trichy-Tanjore Diocese of the Church of South India
• Charles Pelly, revenue member of the Madras Legislative Council, 1862-1866
• William Reierson Arbuthnot, member of the Madras Legislative Council, 1866-1870

Events

• 47 million people were affected by the Orissa famine of 1866
• Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi established the Darul Uloom Deoband on 31 May 1866, founding the Deobandi movement
• Nanotvi founded Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur in November
• Khursheed Ali Khan established Jamia-e-Imania on 15 December in Varanasi
• Brahmoism split into the new Sadharan Brahmo Samaj sect
• India Military Funds Act 1866 was passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Indian Prize Money Act 1866 was passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom
• The Third Pre-Independence Law Commission passed the Draft Contract Law
• The Viceroy's Executive Council, Sir Henry Maine and Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, passed the Indian Companies Act
• The Viceroy's Executive Council passed the Native Converts Marriage Dissolution Act
• The Viceroy's Executive Council passed the Trustees Act
• The Viceroy's Executive Council passed the Trustees and Mortgage Powers Act
• Allahabad High Court was established as the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces at Agra on 17 March
• Naga Hills was given district status^[1]
• British Indian administration established a post at Samaguting to end intertribal warfare and tribal raids on property and personnel in Nagaland
• Government Victoria College, Palakkad was established in Kerala
• Gossner Theological College Seminary was established in Jharkhand
• St. Mary's Convent Inter College was established in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
• Harish Chandra Postgraduate College opened on 1 April in Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh
• Christ Church College, Kanpur opened in Kanpur as part of the University of Calcutta
• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay published Kapalkundala, a Bengali novel
• Nandshankar Tuljashankar Mehta published Karan Ghelo in Gujarati
• Edward John Waring published Pharmacopoeia of India
• Calcutta Police Act, 1866 and the Calcutta Suburban Police Act, 1866 create the Kolkata Police Force
• Bajaur Scouts were created
• Scinde Dawk stamps, the first adhesive stamps used in Asia, were discontinued in June
• British Raj acquired Dalhousie Cantonment and Bakloh for 5,000 rupees as a convalescent depot for European troops
• Douglas Hamilton published Report on the High Ranges of the Annamullay Mountains in Madras
• Commercial Bank of India of Bombay, founded in 1845, failed in the Panic of 1866
• United Bank of India was established
• Grand Chord and the Howrah–Delhi main line were opened, connecting Delhi and Kolkata while the Kalka Mail entered into service
• Sahibganj Loop was opened, connecting Khana Junction and Kiul Junction
• Mughalsarai–Kanpur section was opened, connecting Mughalsarai Junction and Kanpur Central
• Nasik Road railway station was opened in Nashik
• Manmad Junction railway station was opened in Nashik
• Khandwa Junction railway station was opened
• Mathura-Vadodara Section was opened
• Barharwa Junction railway station was opened
• Kanpur–Delhi section was opened, connecting Kanpur Central and Delhi
• Mokama–Barauni section, connecting Mokama Junction and Barauni in Bihar
• Ghaziabad railway station opened
• Laksar Junction opened in Laksar, Uttarakhand
• Order of the Star of India was expanded to three classes
• A supplement, the Pioneer Mail, consisting of "48 quarto-size pages," mostly of advertisements, was added to The Pioneer^[2]
• HMS Malabar (1866), designed to carry troops between the United Kingdom and British India, is launched on 8 December
• The meteorite Jamkheir fell in Maharashtra on 5 October
• Madurai was constituted as a municipality.^[3]
• Coimbatore was constituted as a municipality.^[4]
• Machilipatnam Municipal Corporation was constituted as a municipality^[5][6]
• Kumbakonam was constituted as a municipality
• Indian soldiers were first allowed promotions beyond subedar

Births

• Gopal Krishna Gokhale, social and political leader in the Indian independence movement, on 9 May in Kothluk, Ratnagiri District, Bombay Presidency
• Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, Nizam of Hyderabad, on 17 August 1866 in Purani Haveli, Hyderabad
• Sham Singh, Raja of Chamba State from 1873-1904
• Raja of Panagal, zamindar of Kalahasti, born on 9 July
• Khengarji III, Maharajah of Cutch State, born on 23 August
• Syamadas Mukhopadhyaya, Indian mathematician who introduced the four-vertex theorem and Mukhopadhyaya's theorem in plane geometry, born on 22 June
• Hiralal Sen, photographer who is generally considered one of India's first filmmakers

Deaths

• Ram Singh II, Maharao of Kota State, on 27 March 1866
• Hiravajra Singh Deo, Maharajah of Patna, August 1866
• George Cotton, English educator and clergyman, known for his connections with British India and the public school system, on 6 October in Kushtia

References

1. Inato Yekheto Shikhu (2007). A Re-discovery and Re-building of Naga Cultural Values. Daya Books. pp. 53–55. ISBN 978-81-89233-55-6.
2. Das Gupta, Uma. 1977. "The Indian Press 1870-1880: A Small World of Journalism", Modern Asian Studies, 11(2):213-235. pp 233-234.
3. Madurai Corporation Citizen's Charter
4. "Namma Kovai". The Hindu. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
5. "Masula, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram upgraded into corporations". The Hindu (Vijayawada). 10 December 2015. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
6. "Population Glitch for Masula to Turn into Corporation". Machilipatnam. 20 February 2015. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.