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Victor Alexander John Hope Linlithgow, 2d marquess of

Victor Alexander John Hope Linlithgow, 2d marquess of , 1887-1952, British statesman, viceroy of India. Linlithgow was civil lord of the admiralty (1922-24) and held numerous other public positions. As chairman of the committee on Indian constitutional reform (1933), he helped formulate the Government of India Act of 1935, and in 1936 he was appointed viceroy of India. In the first elections held (1937) under the act, the Indian National Congress party won in 7 of the 11 provinces, and Linlithgow persuaded its leaders to take office in spite of their reservations about certain aspects of the act. At the outbreak (1939) of World War II, however, the viceroy, without consulting the Indian parties, declared that India was at war with Germany, and the Congress provincial ministries resigned in protest. In 1942, when Congress mounted a massive civil disobedience campaign at a time when India was threatened by Japanese invasion, he interned the Congress leaders. Linlithgow was succeeded as viceroy in 1943 by Lord Wavell.