List of governors of Tamil Nadu

{{See also|Governors of India#Powers and functions}}

The governor enjoys many different types of powers:

• Executive powers related to administration, appointments and removals,
• Legislative powers related to lawmaking and the state legislature, that is Vidhan Sabha or Vidhan Parishad, and
• Discretionary powers to be carried out according to the discretion of the Governor.

This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947.

In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized between the factors of the Masulipatnam (now Machilipatnam) factory (trading post), represented by Francis Day, and the Raja of Chandragiri. In 1640, Andrew Cogan, the chief of the Masulipatnam factory, made his way to Madras in the company of Francis Day and the English and Indian employees of the Masulipatnam factory. The Agency of Madras was established on 1 March 1640 and Cogan was made the first Agent. The official title was 'Governor of Fort St George' and the Governor was usually referred to as Agent. Cogan served in the post for three years and was succeeded by Francis Day. After four agents had served their terms, Madras was upgraded to a Presidency during the time of Aaron Baker. However financial considerations forced the company to revert to an agency soon after Aaron Baker had served his term. The Agency survived until 1684 when Madras was made a Presidency once and for all. Streynsham Master is the best remembered and most renowned of the Agents of Madras.

Madras was elevated to a presidency in 1684 and remained so until 12 February 1785 when new rules and regulations brought by the Pitt's India Act reformed the administration of the East India Company with the exception of a three-year period of French rule from 1746 to 1749 when Madras was a governorship.

Subsequently, Elihu Yale who took charge on 8 August 1684 was the First President of Madras. Elihu Yale, Thomas Pitt and George Macartney are some of the well-known Presidents of Madras.

In 1746, Dupleix's deputy, La Bordannais laid siege to Madras and captured the city. For the next three years, Madras remained under French Governors, until 1749, when Madras was handed to the British as per the Treaty of Aix-la-Chappele. The illustrious Mahe de la Bordannais served as acting Governor for a few months until the appointment of Governor Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil, who served until 1749 when Madras reverted to British rule.

During the period between 1746 and 1749, when Madras was under French rule, the British ran a provisional government from Fort St. David, near modern-day Porto Novo. In 1752, when Madras had been returned to the British, the then President of Madras, John Saunders, shifted the seat of government from Fort David to Madras. The British gained a lot of territory during the mid-18th century, so that by the time the French military power was crushed at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1761, the territory under the Presidency of Madras had increased manyfold. In 1785, the Province of Madras was created and the President became the Governor of Madras.

Headquartered in Fort St. George, Madras Presidency was a province of British India. It comprised present-day Tamil Nadu, the Malabar region of North Kerala, the coastal and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, and the Bellary, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi districts of Karnataka. It was established in 1653 to be the headquarters of the English settlements on the Coromandel Coast. After India's independence in 1947, Madras State, the precursor to the present day state of Tamil Nadu, was carved out of Madras Presidency. It comprised present-day Tamil Nadu and parts of present-day Karnataka and Kerala.[http://www.tn.gov.in/misc/histn.htm Tamil Nadu Secretariat — Brief History] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070106185926/http://www.tn.gov.in/misc/histn.htm |date=2007-01-06 }} (Government of Tamil Nadu, 17 September 2008)

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from:1946 till:1948 color:PA text:"Sir Archibald Edward Nye (1946 – 1948)"

from:1948 till:1952 color:PA text:"Maharaja Krishna Kumarasingh Bhavasingh (1948 – 1952)"

from:1952 till:1956 color:PA text:"Sri Prakasa (1952 – 1956)"

from:1956 till:1958 color:PA text:"A. J. John, Anaparambil (1956 – 1958)"

from:1958 till:1958 color:GP text:"Dr. Pakala Venkata Rajamannar (1958 – 1958)"

from:1958 till:1964 color:PA text:"Bhishnuram Medhi (1958 – 1964)"

from:1964 till:1964 color:PA text:"Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Bahadur of Mysore (1964 – 1964)"

from:1964 till:1965 color:GP text:"P. Chandra Reddy (1964 – 1965)"

from:1965 till:1966 color:PA text:"Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Bahadur of Mysore (1965 – 1966)"

from:1966 till:1969 color:PA text:"Sardar Ujjal Singh (1966 – 1969)"

Madras State was renamed as Tamil Nadu (Tamil for Tamil country) on 14 January 1969. Governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the President of India at the Central government level. The Governor acts as the nominal head of the state while the Chief Ministers of the states and the Chief Minister's Council of Ministers are invested with most executive powers.

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from: 14/01/1969 till: 25/05/1971 color:PA text:"Sardar Ujjal Singh"

from: 26/05/1971 till: 15/06/1976 color:PA text:"Kodardas Kalidas Shah"

from: 16/06/1976 till: 08/04/1977 color:PA text:"Mohan Lal Sukhadia"

from: 09/04/1977 till: 26/04/1977 color:GP text:"P. Govindan Nair"

from: 27/04/1977 till: 26/10/1980 color:PA text:"Prabhudas Patwari"

from: 27/10/1980 till: 03/11/1980 color:GP text:"M. M. Ismail"

from: 04/11/1980 till: 02/09/1982 color:PA text:"Sadiq Ali"

from: 03/09/1982 till: 16/02/1988 color:PA text:"Sundar Lal Khurana"

from: 17/02/1988 till: 23/05/1990 color:PA text:"P. C. Alexander"

from: 24/05/1990 till: 14/02/1991 color:PA text:"Surjit Singh Barnala"

from: 15/02/1991 till: 30/05/1993 color:PA text:"Bhishma Narain Singh"

from: 31/05/1993 till: 02/12/1996 color:PA text:"Marri Chenna Reddy"

from: 02/12/1996 till: 24/01/1997 color:GP text:"Krishan Kant"

from: 25/01/1997 till: 02/07/2001 color:PA text:"M. Fathima Beevi"

from: 03/07/2001 till: 17/01/2002 color:GP text:"C. Rangarajan"

from: 18/01/2002 till: 02/11/2004 color:PA text:"P. S. Ramamohan Rao"

from: 03/11/2004 till: 30/08/2011 color:PA text:"Surjit Singh Barnala"

from: 31/08/2011 till: 01/09/2016 color:PA text:"Konijeti Rosaiah"

from: 02/09/2016 till: 05/10/2017 color:GP text:"C. Vidyasagar Rao"

from: 06/10/2017 till: 17/09/2021 color:PA text:"Banwarilal Purohit"

from: 18/09/2021 till: {{#time:d/m/Y}} color:PA text:"R. N. Ravi"

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• Surjit Singh Barnala is the only appointed Governor to have served two terms in office (24 May 1990–15 February 1991 and 3 November 2004–31 August 2011).
• The longest term in office was that of Surjit Singh Barnala who served as the Governor for a period of almost six and a half years (3 November 2004–31 August 2011).
• The shortest term in office was that of M. M. Ismail who served as the acting Governor for a period of nine days (27 October 1980–4 November 1980).
• The longest term in office as additional in-charge was that of C. Vidyasagar Rao for a period of 1 year 1 month and 4 days (2 September 2016– 6 October 2017).

• Governors of India
• History of Tamil Nadu
• List of chief ministers of Tamil Nadu
• List of colonial governors and presidents of Madras Presidency

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.tnrajbhavan.gov.in Official website of the Governor of Tamil Nadu]

{{Governors_and_Lt_Governors_of_Indian_States}}

{{Governors of Tamil Nadu}}

Tamil Nadu

Governors