ABSTRACT
Lord Minto’s viceroyalty began badly. On 17 November 1905, Lord and Lady Minto’s ship arrived in Bombay several hours late and the official landing ceremony was cancelled. When the Mintos eventually arrived at Government House, Lady Curzon greeted them at the top of the steps, but Curzon himself was not there, as custom and precedent stipulated, and he only appeared – wearing casual dress – after they entered the house. On the following morning, Curzon drove to the harbour with a viceregal escort of troops and formally said goodbye to Minto, who officially arrived on Indian soil at that point. Afterwards, Minto was taken by the governor of Bombay to the secretariat, where a few members of the viceroy’s council, including A. T. Arundel, the Home member, had convened to hear Risley read out the royal warrant of appointment. This ceremony, too, was ‘quite as painful’ as those preceding it, according to James Dunlop Smith, Minto’s private secretary. Rightly or wrongly, Minto came to believe that Curzon had deliberately insulted him by departing from normal protocol in Bombay, which only served to fuel his animosity against his predecessor’s legacy and the ‘Curzonians’ remaining in his government. 1
