Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
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Laurence John Lumley Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland KG GCSI GCIE PC (11 June 1876-6 February 1971), known as Lord Dundas from 1873 to 1892 and as the Earl of Ronaldshay from 1892 to 1929, was a British politician who served as Secretary of State for India in the late 1930s.
The 2nd Marquess's public career centred around India, first as Governor of Bengal during World War I, and subsequently as Secretary of State for India in the 1930s. Although a member of the Conservative Party, his belief was that Indians should be allowed to take ever-increasing responsibility for the government of the country, culminating in Dominion status (the status enjoyed by Canada, Australia, and other formally independent members of the British Empire). He played an important role in the protracted negotiations which led to the 1935 Government of India Act, which came as close as was possible, given the implacable opposition of Winston Churchill and the "diehards" to anything that might imperil direct British rule over India, to implementing these ideals, and was ideally placed as Secretary of State to implement them — although the two Viceroys with whom he served, Lords Willingdon and Linlithgow, were rather less idealistic than he. In the event Willingdon and Linlithgow were proved right when the Congress Party won the 1937 Provincial elections, much to the dismay of Zetland. Zetland's term as Secretary of State — and the experiment with democracy represented by the 1935 Act — came to an end with Churchill's assumption of the Prime Ministership in 1940: Zetland then offered his resignation, feeling that his ideas and Churchill's regarding India were so different that "I could only end by becoming an embarrassment to him."
Zetland was also a noted author: Rab Butler, who served under him in the India Office, records how, asking how he could understand better his chief's thinking about the future of India, received the answer: "Read my books!"
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles Barrington Balfour |
Member of Parliament for Hornsey 1907–1916 |
Succeeded by William Kennedy Jones |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Lord Carmichael |
Governor of Fort William 1917–1922 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Lytton |
| Preceded by Sir Samuel Hoare |
Secretary of State for India 1935–1937 |
Succeeded by Secretary of State for India and Burma |
| Preceded by New office |
Secretary of State for India and Burma 1937–1940 |
Succeeded by Leo Amery |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by The Lord Bolton |
Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire 1945–1951 |
Succeeded by Sir William Worsley, Bt |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Lawrence Dundas |
Marquess of Zetland 1929–1971 |
Succeeded by Lawrence Aldred Mervyn Dundas |
