East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act was an act of Parliament, passed in 1874, that formally dissolved the British East India Company.

By the time of the Act's passing, the Company had been effectively dissolved anyway, as the Crown assumed all governmental responsibilities held by the company due to the Act for the Better Government of India passed in 1856. Its 24,000-man military force had also been incorporated into the British army, leaving it with only a shadow of the power it had wielded years earlier.

Queen Victoria was the ruling monarch at the time, and thanks to her new authority over India, became the first monarch to use the title Empress of India.