The Right Kind of “Native”

The British could never have run India without the help of many Indians—but only in subordinate and menial positions, never with any authority. The civil service examinations, entry to the elite Indian Civil Service after 1854, were open to all, but the British in charge did not want to admit educated exam-crammers (whom they dismissed as "Bengali baboos"), and so, in 1876, they lowered the examination age limit from 21 to 19, to create a further obstacle for Indians. At the same time the viceroy, Lord Robert Lytton, set up a new statutory civil service, to which he could appoint aristocratic young men who won his favor—preferably the sons of maharajahs and other traditional rulers. This reduced the number of jobs available to the regular appointees, but also to those of the subordinate services, career opportunities for India-domiciled Europeans and Eurasians, who had few respectable alternatives. As a result, these socio-ethnic groups struggled for influence, and their alienation from the British Raj increased.