Thomas Holderness

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Sir Thomas William Holderness, 1st Baronet, GCB, KCSI (11 June 184916 September 1924) was the first and only former member of the Indian Civil Service to be appointed to the post of Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India (although Sir George Russell Clerk had previously been a member of the East India Company Civil Service).

Holderness was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, although his parents returned to their native England shortly after his birth. He was educated at Cheltenham College and University College, Oxford and joined the Indian Civil Service in 1872. He served in the North-West Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) until 1881, when he was appointed Under-Secretary to the Revenue Department of the Government of India. In 1885, he became head of Pilibhit District, and in 1888 Director of Land Records and Agriculture of the North-West Provinces, later becoming Secretary to the Government of the North-West Provinces. In 1898, he was appointed Secretary to the Revenue and Agricultural Department of the Government of India.

On retirement from the ICS in 1901, he joined the India Office in Whitehall as Secretary of the Revenue, Statistics and Commerce Department. On the death of Sir Richmond Ritchie in 1912, he became the Permanent Under-Secretary, continuing to occupy the post until his retirement in 1919.

Holderness was appointed Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) in 1898 and knighted as Knight Commander (KCSI) in 1907. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1914, raised to Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in 1917, and created a Baronet in the 1920 New Year Honours.

He was succeeded by his only son, Ernest, a British international golfer.

[edit] Writings

  • Narrative of the Indian Famine, 1897.
  • People and Problems of India
  • Editor, 4th edition of Sir John Strachey's India, 1911.

[edit] References

Government offices
Preceded by
Sir Richmond Ritchie
Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India
1912–1920
Succeeded by
William Duke
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New creation
Baronet
(of Tadworth)
1920–1924
Succeeded by
Ernest William Elsmie Holderness

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