3 Review(s)

About The Book : The author went out to India impressed with the dignity of our service, an impression derived from some of my European finds whose lives had been spent in India, from my intercourse with Indian gentlemen who were my fellow- probationers, and from reading about the life and work of those who had been employed in the making and maintenance of our Indian Empire. The author found myself in a novel atmosphere and among strange and unaccustomed surroundings. The book consists of the following topics namely, Early days; European officers of my province; More about central provinces officers; Indian officer or my province; Judicial and executive functions of our officers; Some Indian friends; The Indian peoples; Indian ladies; Grain riots in the Nagpur district; The khond rising in the kalahandi. About The Author : Sir Andrew Henderson Leith Fraser KCSI (14 November 1848–26 February 1919) was a British officer of the Indian Civil Service and the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal between 1903 and 1908. Fraser was educated at the Edinburgh Academy before being called to the Bar at the Middle Temple. He was a son of Rev. Alexander Garden Fraser (1814–1904) and Joanna Maria Shaw (1823–1864). He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1871, serving in the Central Provinces for nearly thirty years. During his service he rose to be the Chief Commissioner of Central Provinces in 1899. In late 1902, he was announced as the successor to Sir John Woodburn as Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, and he took up the position early the following year. He was elected President of The Asiatic Society for 1905–07.Fraser retained the position of Governor of the Western province of Bengal following the 1905 Partition of Bengal. However, his role in the planning of partition of Bengal, earned him notoriety among nationalist agitators, with a notable assassination attempt in 1907 which attempted to derail his train. Another assassination attempt in November 1908 involved a pistol which failed to go off, the would-be assassin later declaring that he wanted to show Bengalis that even the Lieutenant-Governor was not invincible. In 1897, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI), and he was knighted with the KCSI in the 1903 Durbar Honours.