John Deane

John Deane served as the President of province of Bengal in British India for 2 separate terms, from the year 1723 to 1726 and again from 1728 to 1732. He was one of the most prominent Colonial administrators of the British East India Company. Deane was also a reputed colonial administrator of the British East India Company. John Deane appointed for the first time as the President of Bengal Presidency on 17 January 1723. He was preceded by Samuel Flake as the President of the Bengal province.

The Bengal Presidency was one of the 3 major Presidencies in British India, along with Bombay Presidency and Madras Presidency. It was 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. The Bengal Presidency proper was formed with the signing of the treaties of 1765 between the Nawab of Oudh, the Mughal Emperor and the authorities of the British East India Company. As a result of this the regions of Orissa, Bihar, Meghalaya and Bengal were placed under the administrative control of the British East India Company.

Unlike the British Provinces of Bombay and Madras, Bengal Presidency included the British territories located towards the north of the Central Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh), from the openings of the river Brahmaputra and the Ganges River. It also incorporated areas in British Punjab and the Himalayas as well.

John Deane served in office as the President of the province till 30 January 1726 and was succeeded by Henry Frankland, who acted as Bengal`s President from 30 January 1726 to 17 September 1728. Deane was assigned as the President of Bengal for a second term on 18 September 1728. He was preceded by Edward Stephenson, who was also a well known British administrator and served in the designation for a brief period from 17 September 1728 to 18 September 1728. Deane retired from the position on 25 February 1732 and was succeeded by John Stackhouse who acted as the president of Bengal Province till 29 January 1739.