Lieutenant-General Sir Mark Cubbon KCB (23 August 1775 – 23 April 1861) was a British army officer with the East India Company who was the Chief Commissioner of Mysore 1834 to 1861.

During his tenure, he established a law and order system, introduced judicial and economic reforms and through action in all spheres of governance helped develop the economy of Mysore.

He was reappointed in 1810 in the Commissariat Department initially under Col. Close in central India during the Pindari War[3] and then under Colonel Philip Meadows Taylor in Kurnool.

The commission which included Major-General Hawker, William Morison, John Macleod, and Mark Cubbon made a report which showed extreme misgovernance.

Prior to his actions, murders to settle disputes were extremely common in the towns and villages and Cubbon was disturbed by its apparent acceptance in society.

Cubbon improved the system of Silladars or native horsemen who would provide services to the government for a fixed monthly charge.

The unarmed peons or khalihaths (literally "empty hands") were to help in the repair of roads, irrigation tanks and follow other orders.

He set up nine departments or kacheris:[14] Prior to Cubbon, government documents were written in Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Kannada or Marathi and this led to difficulties and corruption.

[15] As part of financial reforms record keeping of all revenues collected was made stringent and all spending was controlled.

[16] Cubbon supported educational institutions run mainly by missionaries and also worked on healthcare, establishing hospitals and homes for lepers.

[19] Agriculture had been particularly hit by anarchy, with money lenders and revenue officials causing great trouble to farmers.

In 1836 he wrote that "great public benefit may be expected to arise from this institution, not only in regard to objects merely horticultural and the extension of botanical knowledge, but in the promotion of the agricultural interest of the country, by introductions suited to the climate, amongst which may be enumerated varieties of sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco far superior to any produced in Mysore, and by affording the people the means of obtaining gratuitous instruction in improved modes of cultivation.

[29] Edward Washburn Hopkins wrote in 1901 that one of the solutions to India's famines was to cubbonize its administration (i.e. to use native government).

[1] In 1859, when orders were issued to transfer the superintendence of Mysore affairs from the Governor-General to the government of Madras, Cubbon submitted his resignation, as he held it to be impolitic and contrary to the declaration made by the Honourable Court of Directors in 1838.

[33] Mark Cubbon also financially supported the printing and publication of the first Canarese - English dictionary, which was compiled by William Reeve, edited by Daniel Sanderson and published in 1858, by the Wesleyan Mission Press.

He did not visit church and made jokes on the inconsistencies of religious professors but he enforced the closure of all offices on Sundays.

(The Story of Two Noble Lives, by A. J. C. Hare[37])Cubbon died at Suez on 23 April 1861 while returning to England in the company of his physician, Dr. Campbell.

All flags were flown at half mast and on 17 May his body was interred in the Maughold Churchyard amid a large gathering.

[39] An equestrian statue by Baron Marochetti was unveiled on 16 March 1866 in a large gathering and addressed by Lewin Bentham Bowring, Cubbon's successor as Commissioner of Mysore.

The statue was initially placed in the parade ground at Bangalore but moved later in front of the main government buildings (the Attara Kacheri now housing the Karnataka High Court).

A medallion portrait of Cubbon is found on the ceiling at the west end of the Central Hall in the Karnataka High Court building.

This celebration was however opposed by Vatal Nagaraj who considered it a shame that British statues were still standing in public spaces suggesting that they be moved into museums.