John Beames - Controversy

Controversy

John Beames was not well known for his progressive views. A staunch representative of reactionary Anglo-Indian opinion, he sincerely believed that officers of a certain rank, not higher than District Magistrate and Collector, and belonging to the native population, should not be given salaries on par with salaries given to British officials in the ICS. This he clearly stated in a deposition to the Aitchison Committee which looked into the possibility of equalising the salaries of all officials, British and Indian, in the ICS at the time of the Ilbert Bill controversy in 1883. Beames was a die-hard conservative who also allowed his personal preferences to colour his judgements and interactions with his Indian juniors in the ICS. For example, while deposing before the Aitchison Committee, he insisted that one of his junior colleague in ICS, Brajendranath De, esq., then a Joint Magistrate of Hooghly, under the (Acting) Commissionership of Beames, should be told not to sit in his and other British committee members' presence. Beames' demand was not met by the committee members, and he was asked to leave the room while De, fully seated, was questioned by the members of the committee. Later De's views were also heeded in the committee's report.