Question

Lord William Bentinck is famous for his ______.
a. Appearance
b. Wars
c. Reforms
d. Diplomacy

Answer 1

Hint:
Lord William Bentinck was known for his difference of opinion with his council which led him to terminate his position of governor of Madras after a revolt at Vellore. In July 1806, native troops held riots against the officers when they were forbidden from wearing beards and turbans and all this further resulted in Lord William to have lost his position in 1807.

Complete step by step solution:
Lord William Bentinck was born on 14th September 1774 in a wealthy family withholding rank in the society. He started working at the age of 17 and soon became a lieutenant colonel. If not outstanding, then, he was considered to be promising at his job. At the age of 29, he was appointed as the governor of Madras (now Chennai) in India which was surprising for everyone.

Lord William Bentinck was a man of varied interests who had sympathy for various ideas such as philosophy, liberty, humanity, etc. and made several remarks during his service in India. He was behind many important financial, educational, social reforms in the land of India. All of these ideas were led from the mutiny happened in 1807 which had caused loss to lives of several and termination of his position of governor of Madras, so, he had decided to spend the next 20 years to serve for the people of India in the making of fine land for people to have better financial state, education, and society.

In 1827, after his appointment as the governor-general of Bengal, he worked on the following acts of reforms which can be described below:

- He corrected the financial deficits in India and soon turned it into profits. These efforts finally led him to become the first governor-general of the East India Company in India.
- He, next, shifted his focus on creating more administrative and judicial positions for Indians and to improve the living status of the Indian Judges at that time.
- He also successfully managed to provide financial aid to the educational institutions who agreed to adapt to the Western models where he made English the language of higher courts.
- He abolished the practice of Sati and also suppressed the thugs.


Hence, the correct answer is option C.

Note:
Lord William Bentinck achieved great things for India and his ideas and knowledge behind all of them were referred from his philosophical and educational masters from whom he had borrowed useful elements and combined them into practices for the betterment of India.