Francis Slacke, also known as Francis Alexander Slack CSI, served as one of the Lieutenant Governors of Bengal Presidency from the year 1906 to 1908, in undivided India under the supremacy of the British administration. Slacke was born on 6 June 1853 in the parish of Saint Saviour in Jersey. He completed his education Blundell`s School in Tiverton, University College in Oxford and later from St John`s College in Cambridge. In the year 1874, he joined the British Indian Civil Service (ICS), which was the civil service of the Government of India during the era of the rule of British Empire in India. The members of the civil service were appointed under Section XXXII of the Government of India Act, 1858 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. After the year 1886, the Indian Civil Service was officially known as Imperial Civil Service.
Career of Francis Slacke
After he became a British Indian Civil Servant, Francis Slacke was admitted at the Inner Temple on 27 May 1875. Eventually he rose to the ranks of Magistrate and Collector in the year 1892. Later he was appointed as the Secretary to the Board of Revenue in 1896. Francis Alexander Slack also served as the Secretary to the Government of Bengal (Revenue and General Department) from 1900 and became Commissioner in the year 1903. Francis Alexander Slack CSI acted as Major, Calcutta Light Horse from 1905 to 1908 and later became a Member of Board of Revenue in 1906.
Sir Francis Slacke CSI was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal in 1906. The Bengal Presidency originally comprised east and west Bengal and was a colonial region of the British Empire in India. The region included the territories of undivided Bengal like West Bengal, Tripura, Orissa, Meghalaya, Bihar, Assam and modern Bangladesh.He was preceded by Sir Lancelot Hare as the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal Presidency. Slacke served in office till the year 1908 and was succeeded by Sir Edward Baker.
Francis Alexander Slack also served as the Vice President of Bengal Legislative Council in 1910 and as the Vice President of Bengal Executive Council in 1911. In the following year, he retired from the British Indian Civil Service and was consequently appointed as the Fellow of University of Calcutta and as the President of Fisheries Advisory Committee. He was knighted with the Companion of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (CSI).
Personal Life of Francis Slacke
Francis Slacke CSI was married with Caroline Elizabeth Cave on 19 November 1879. She was the 2nd daughter of Thomas Cave, MP and the sister of Viscount Cave. He died on 8 August 1940.
