Sir john shore biography template

SHORE, SIR JOHN (1751–1834), governor-general of India (1793–1798). John Shore was born on 8 October 1751. Appointed a writer, the clerical entry level, in the East India Company, he arrived in Bengal in 1769, just as the great trading company was taking over the collection of the land revenues, the key to political control of India.

In the next twenty years Shore, through his mastery of how the revenue and judicial systems of Bengal worked, persuaded his superiors that British control of India would only be possible through a just and stable settlement of the land revenue.

For Shore, there were three great revenue issues. One was to find out who were the actual owners of the land; the second was to decide how much tax the peasants could reasonably be expected to pay; and third, what kind of revenue system the British should establish in Bengal to ensure the continuance of their rule.

After sixteen years in Bengal, Shore returned to England in 1785; in 1786 he