Which of the following pairs of years and historical events is correctly matched?
- (a)1878 : Second Anglo-Afghan War
- (b)1885 : Ilbert Bill Controversy
- (c)1785 : Fox’s India Bill
- (d)1898 : Lord Curzon becomes the Viceroy
Correct — A, 1878 : Second Anglo-Afghan War. Lytton's forward policy in Afghanistan came to a head in 1878: Amir Sher Ali received a Russian mission at Kabul but turned back the British mission under Sir Neville Chamberlain at Ali Masjid, and British columns crossed the frontier in November 1878. The war ran from 1878 to 1880, through the Treaty of Gandamak of May 1879, the killing of the British Resident Cavagnari at Kabul, and the settlement that put Abdur Rahman Khan on the throne as Amir. Each of the other three pairs is off by a definite margin: the Ilbert Bill belongs to 1883, Fox's India Bill to 1783, and Curzon's arrival as Viceroy to January 1899.
- (b)1885 : Ilbert Bill Controversy — The Ilbert Bill was introduced in the Imperial Legislative Council in February 1883 under Lord Ripon and enacted in a diluted form in 1884. The year 1885 belongs to the founding of the Indian National Congress, which the European agitation against the Bill helped provoke.
- (c)1785 : Fox’s India Bill — Charles James Fox's India Bill was brought in during November 1783 and thrown out by the Lords in December of that year, bringing down the Fox-North coalition. Pitt's India Act of 1784 replaced it, so nothing of the sort happened in 1785.
- (d)1898 : Lord Curzon becomes the Viceroy — Curzon was appointed in 1898 but took charge as Viceroy on 6 January 1899, and his term ran to 1905. The pairing as printed places the event a year before it happened.
The item is a date test over four unrelated landmarks of British Indian administration: an imperial war on the north-western frontier, a controversy over the criminal jurisdiction of Indian judges, an eighteenth-century attempt to reform Company government from Westminster, and a viceregal appointment. Nothing links them except that all four are standard modern-history anchors, which is exactly why examiners like to shuffle their years.
The safest route is to fix each event to something else you already know rather than to recall a bare number. The Second Anglo-Afghan War sits inside Lytton's viceroyalty, alongside the Vernacular Press Act and the Indian Arms Act of the same year. The Ilbert Bill sits inside Ripon's, two years before the Congress was founded. Fox's India Bill sits a year before Pitt's India Act of 1784, and it is the failure of Fox's Bill that made Pitt's necessary. Curzon's arrival sits at the turn of the century, six years before the Partition of Bengal in 1905. Only the first pair as printed survives that check.
- Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-1880, launched under Lord Lytton; the Treaty of Gandamak was signed in May 1879.
- The Ilbert Bill was introduced in February 1883 under Lord Ripon and sought to let senior Indian judges try European British subjects.
- Fox's India Bill was defeated in the House of Lords in December 1783; Pitt's India Act followed in 1784.
- Lord Curzon took office as Viceroy on 6 January 1899 and served until 1905.
- The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, the year misprinted against the Ilbert Bill in option (b).
- 1783 — Fox's India Bill is introduced and defeated in the Lords; option (c) dates it to 1785
- 1784 — Pitt's India Act carries the reform that Fox's Bill failed to make
- 1878 — the Second Anglo-Afghan War begins under Lytton; the only pair printed correctly
- 1883 — the Ilbert Bill is introduced under Ripon; option (b) dates it to 1885
- 1885 — the Indian National Congress is founded, which is what 1885 actually marks
- 1899 — Curzon takes charge as Viceroy on 6 January; option (d) dates it to 1898
Three of the four pairs are near misses of one to two years, which is the whole difficulty of the item.
- Attaching the Ilbert Bill to 1885 because the Congress was founded that year; the Bill came two years earlier.
- Confusing Fox's India Bill of 1783 with Pitt's India Act of 1784, and shifting both a year or two.
- Treating the year a Viceroy was appointed as the year he took charge. Curzon was named in 1898 and arrived in January 1899.
As a correctly-matched or incorrectly-matched pair set, as a chronological ordering of Viceroys, or as a single-event date question.
The Ilbert Bill controversy was related to the
- (a) imposition of certain restrictions to carry arms by the Indians
- (b) imposition of restrictions on newspapers and magazines published in Indian languages
- (c) removal of disqualifications imposed on the Indian magistrates with regard to the trial of the Europeans
- (d) removal of a duty on imported cotton cloth
Answer(c) removal of disqualifications imposed on the Indian magistrates with regard to the trial of the Europeans
The subject of option (b) here, asked on its own. Knowing what the Ilbert Bill was for also fixes when it was — a measure of Ripon's liberal viceroyalty in 1883, not of 1885.
Consider the following Viceroys of India during the British rule: 1. Lord Curzon 2. Lord Chelmsford 3. Lord Hardinge 4. Lord Irwin. Which one of the following is the correct chronological order of their tenure?
- (a) 1 ‑ 3 ‑ 2 ‑ 4
- (b) 2 ‑ 4 ‑ 1 ‑ 3
- (c) 1 ‑ 4 ‑ 2 ‑ 3
- (d) 2 ‑ 3 ‑ 1 ‑ 4
Answer(a) 1 ‑ 3 ‑ 2 ‑ 4
The same dating skill in its other common shape. Option (d) here turns on Curzon's arrival in January 1899, which is also where that ordering item starts.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Treaty of Gandamak, signed in 1879, belongs to which conflict?
- (a)First Anglo-Afghan War
- (b)Second Anglo-Afghan War
- (c)Second Anglo-Sikh War
- (d)Third Anglo-Burmese War
Answer(b) Second Anglo-Afghan War — Gandamak was signed in May 1879, midway through the war that began in 1878.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which Act of the British Parliament replaced the measure that Charles James Fox had failed to carry in 1783?
- (a)The Regulating Act, 1773
- (b)Pitt's India Act, 1784
- (c)The Charter Act, 1793
- (d)The Charter Act, 1813
Answer(b) Pitt's India Act, 1784 — brought in after Fox's India Bill was thrown out by the Lords in December 1783.