Papers of Lord William H. Cavendish Bentinck (1774-1839), soldier, politician and...

These papers and correspondence cover in detail the period during which Lord William Bentinck was Governor of Madras when one of the major issues was the system of landed tenures and revenue administration which should be applied to regions recently acquired following the death of Tippoo and the downfall of his dynasty. The government favoured extending the system of large landed proprietors - zemindars- adopted by Lord Cornwallis in Bengal but Colonel (later) Sir Thomas Munro favoured peasant proprietors - ryotwar - supported by Bentinck.

Bentinck was removed as Governor in 1807 by the Court of Directors of the East India Company as a result of the mutiny at Vellore in 1806, when the sepoys of the native regiments quartered there massacred thirteen British officers and a considerable number of men. Bentinck and the commander-in-chief, Sir John Cradock (later Caradoc), were blamed for enforcing over-harsh regulations on the sepoys - a charge that Bentinck strenuously denied.