List of governors of Bengal Presidency

In 1644, Gabriel Boughton procured privileges for the East India Company which permitted them to build a factory at Hughli, without fortifications.

Until then, the Governor-General of India in Council will be directed to appoint a Lieutenant Governor of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal.

In 1644 Gabriel Boughton, procured privileges for the East India Company which permitted them to build a factory at Hughli, without fortifications.

On 27 February 1657, the company resolved its holdings into four agencies:- Fort St. George, Bantam, Persia, and Hughli.

On 6 February 1661, the company reduced the Hughly agency under the Fort St. George, and then agent Trevisa was made the "Chief of Factories in the Bay of Bengal".

On 24 November 1681, William Hedges was appointed as the "Agent and Governor for the affairs of the East India Company in the Bay of Bengal".

On 21 December 1684, William Gyfford who was the President and Governor of Fort St. George was given the additional charge of Bengal due to increasing mismanagement.

The President or Chief in the Bay of Bengal for the English East India Company was Sir Edward Littleton in whose commission and instructions, dated 12 January 1698, it was also stated that power had been obtained from his Majesty to constitute him the "Minister or Consul for the English Nation" with all powers requisite thereunto.” Littleton was later deposed by the Court of Directors in 1703.

After the departure of John Beard to Madras, Ralph Sheldon assumed the position of Chief of Council, and his appointment was confirmed in a dispatch of 7 February 1706.

On 30 December 1709, Anthony Weldon was appointed as the "President in the Bay, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief for Fort William, in Bengal" for the United East India Company.

Since Sheldon had died by the time dispatch arrived in Bengal, John Russell was ordered to succeed as the Governor.

The partition stoked controversy among Indian nationalists, who described it as an attempt to "divide and rule" the Bengali homeland.