Victor Alexander John Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow (24 September 1887 – 5 January 1952) was a British Unionist politician and statesman, agriculturalist, and colonial administrator. He served as Governor-General and Viceroy of India from 1936 to 1943. He also served as vice president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh and Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Biography[]
Linlithgow served as an officer on the Western Front during World War I, ending the war with the rank of Colonel. He was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire. After the war, he worked in lower posts in Conservative governments during the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1922 and 1924 he served as Civil Lord of the Admiralty. In the mid-1930s, he declined the post of Governor of Madras shortly before becoming Viceroy of India. He was appointed to the post on April 18, 1936, succeeding Lord Willingdon. Linlithgow implemented the self-government plans included in the Government Act of 1935, which allowed the Congress Party to rule in 5 of the 11 provinces. With the outbreak of World War II, Linlithgow's call for unity led to the resignation of Congress ministers. Disputes between the British administration and the Congress Party led to mass civil disobedience in 1942, unrest that Linlithgow dealt with by arresting the Party leaders. Linligthgow became, upon his retirement in 1943, the longest-serving Governor in the history of the Raj. The Marquis of Linligthgow died in 1952 in South Queensferry.