Global InformationMadras Presidency information
Presidency of Fort St George 1684–1935 Province of Madras 1935–1950 | |||||||||
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| 1652–1950 | |||||||||
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 Coat of arms
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 The Madras Presidency in 1913 | |||||||||
| Capital | Madras Ooty (summer capital) | ||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||
• 1785–1786 (first) | George McCartney | ||||||||
• 1948–1950 (last) | Krishna Bhavsinhji | ||||||||
| Premier | |||||||||
• 1920–1921 (first) | A. Subbarayalu Reddiar | ||||||||
• 1949–1950 (last) | P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja | ||||||||
| Legislature | Madras Provincial Legislature | ||||||||
• Upper house | Madras Legislative Council (1861–1947) | ||||||||
• Lower house | Madras Legislative Assembly (1935–1947) | ||||||||
| Historical era | New Imperialism | ||||||||
• Fort St. George elevated to a Presidency | 1652 | ||||||||
• Madras becomes a province of India but retains title of "Presidency" | 1833 | ||||||||
• Renamed as Province of Madras | 1935 | ||||||||
• Madras becomes a state of India and renamed as State of Madras | 1950 | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1941 estimate | 49,341,810 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | India | ||||||||
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Portuguese India (1505–1961) | ||||||||||||||
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British India (1600–1947) | ||||||||||||||
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The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including all of present-day Andhra Pradesh, almost all of Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana in the modern day. The city of Madras was the winter capital of the presidency and Ooty was the summer capital.
The Madras Presidency was neighboured by the Kingdom of Mysore to the northwest, the Kingdoms of Cochin and Travancore to the southwest, the Kingdom of Pudukkottai in the center, and the Nizam's Dominions of Hyderabad and Berar to the north. Some parts of the presidency were also flanked by Bombay Presidency (Konkan) and Central Provinces and Berar (modern Madhya Pradesh).
In 1639, the English East India Company purchased the village of Madraspatnam and one year later it established the Agency of Fort St George, precursor of the Madras Presidency, although there had been Company factories at Machilipatnam and Armagon since the very early 1600s. The agency was upgraded to a Presidency in 1652 before once more reverting to its previous status in 1655. In 1684, it was re-elevated to a Presidency and Elihu Yale was appointed as president. In 1785, under the provisions of Pitt's India Act, Madras became one of three presidencies established by the East India Company. Thereafter, the head of the area was styled "Governor" rather than "President" and became subordinate to the Governor-General in Calcutta, with Madras' titulature that would persist until 1950. Judicial, legislative and executive powers rested with the Governor who was assisted by a Council whose constitution was modified by reforms enacted in 1861, 1909, 1919 and 1935. Regular elections were conducted in Madras up to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1938. By 1908, the province comprised twenty-two districts, each under a District Collector, and it was further sub-divided into taluks and firqas with villages making up the smallest unit of administration.
Following the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms of 1917, Madras was the first province of India to implement a system of dyarchy, and thereafter its Governor ruled alongside a prime minister. In the early decades of the 20th century, many significant contributors to the Indian independence movement came from Madras. Madras was later admitted as Madras State, a state of the Indian Union at the inauguration of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950.