President of the Board of Control

The President of the Board of Control was a British government official in the late 18th and early 19th centuries responsible for overseeing the British East India Company and generally serving as the chief official in London responsible for Indian affairs. The position was frequently a cabinet level one. The position was abolished in 1858 with the abolition of the East India Company. It was succeeded by the new position of Secretary of State for India.

President of the Board of Control
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
India Board
Member of	British Cabinet Privy Council
Seat	Westminster, London
Appointer	The British Monarch (on advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	East India Company Act 1784
Formation	4 September 1784
First holder	Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney
Final holder	Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby
Abolished	2 August 1858

List of presidents of the Board of Control

President of the Board of Control

Whig       Tory       Conservative
Portrait		Name Honorifics and constituency	Term of office		Party	Ministry
		Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney before 1789 Viscount Sydney after 1789	4 September 1784	6 March 1790	Whig	Pitt I
		William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville	6 March 1790	22 June 1793	Tory (Pittite)
		Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville MP for Edinburgh	22 June 1793	25 April 1801	Tory
		George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth	25 April 1801	2 July 1802	Tory	Addington
‍		Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh MP for Down before 1805 MP for Boroughbridge after 1806	2 July 1802	11 February 1806	Tory
						Pitt II
		Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto	11 February 1806	15 July 1806	Whig	All the Talents (Whig–Tory)
		Thomas Grenville MP for Buckingham	15 July 1806	30 September 1806	Whig
		George Tierney MP for Athlone	30 September 1806	6 April 1807	Whig
		Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville MP for Midlothian	6 April 1807	11 July 1809	Tory	Portland II
		Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby	11 July 1809	November 1809	Tory
						Perceval
		Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville MP for Midlothian before 1811 Viscount Melville after 1811	November 1809	4 April 1812	Tory
		Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire	4 April 1812	4 June 1816	Tory
						Liverpool
		George Canning MP for Liverpool	4 June 1816	June 1821	Tory
		Charles Bathurst MP for Harwich	June 1821	4 February 1822
		Charles Williams-Wynn (1775–1850) MP for Montgomeryshire	4 February 1822	4 February 1828	Tory
						Canning (Canningite–Whig)
						Goderich (Canningite–Whig)
						Wellington–Peel
		Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville	4 February 1828	17 September 1828	Tory
		Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough	17 September 1828	1 December 1830	Tory
		Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg MP for Inverness-shire	1 December 1830	18 September 1834	Whig	Grey
						Melbourne I
		Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough	18 September 1834	23 April 1835	Conservative	Peel I
		John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton MP for Nottingham	23 April 1835	30 August 1841	Whig	Melbourne II
		Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough	4 September 1841	23 October 1841	Conservative	Peel II
		William Vesey-FitzGerald, 2nd Baron FitzGerald and Vesey	23 October 1841	17 May 1843	Conservative
		F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich	17 May 1843	30 June 1846	Conservative
		John Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton MP for Nottingham before 1847 MP for Harwich after 1848	8 July 1846	5 February 1852	Whig	Russell
		Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie MP for Perth	5 February 1852	21 February 1852	Whig
		John Charles Herries MP for Stamford	28 February 1852	17 December 1852	Conservative	Who? Who?
		Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax MP for Halifax	30 December 1852	3 March 1855	Whig	Aberdeen (Peelite–Whig)
		Robert Vernon MP for Northampton	3 March 1855	21 February 1858	Whig	Palmerston I
		Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough	6 March 1858	5 June 1858	Conservative	Derby–Disraeli II
		Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby MP for King's Lynn	5 June 1858	2 August 1858	Conservative

Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby took up the new post of Secretary of State for India on 2 August 1858, upon the establishment of the British Raj.