John Lawrence
Sir John Lawrence’s real name was John Laird Mair Lawrence. He was born in Ireland in 1811, then, at the age of sixteen, he joined the East India College and became a civil servant. He successfully mastered Bengali, Persian, and Urdu. After that, he was appointed as a magistrate in Delhi. After the second Anglo- Sikh war in 1849, Punjab was captured by the British. John Lawrence was appointed as a member of the Board of Administration of Punjab. He did many public works. He rebuilt the Grand Trunk Road and extended it from Islamabad to Peshawar. He also constructed a road from Multan to Lahore. He served as Governor-General or Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869 after Viscount Canning.
Bhutan war:
In the nineteenth century, Bhutan was governed by the Druk Desi system. It was a dual system of governance; one was the religious group (Buddhism), and another was a secular group. In 1864 due to civil war in Bhutan, the Secular group came into power. After this, the British tried to make a Peace treaty with the new Bhutan government, but Bhutan rejected it because the British had previously captured the area of Bhutan. After this, British declared the war in 1864. Initially, the British army was defeated, but later British became victorious. After this, a treaty was signed is called the “Treaty of Punakha”. This treaty remained effective until 1947 after this new bilateral treaty was signed between Bhutan and the British, making Bhutan an independent country in 1949.
Shimla
Established of shimla as India’s summer Capital:
Sir John Lawrence formally proclaimed Shimla the summer capital of the British domain in 1864. Shimla was built on the top of seven hills. It also remained the capital of Eastern Punjab after the independence of India
Establishment of Allahabad high Court in 1869:
In 1866 High Court was established in Agra, but in 1869 it was shifted to Allahabad by John Lawrence under the 1861 act. Walter Morgan was appointed its first Chief Justice.
He was succeeded by Earl of Mayo.
