Mayo

Mayo, RICHARD SOUTHWELL BOURKE, EARL OF, Indian statesman, was born in Dublin on 21st February 1822, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative in 1847, and was appointed Chief-secretary of Ireland by Lord Derby in 1852, 1858, and 1866. In 1868 he was sent out to succeed Lord Lawrence as Viceroy of India. He discharged the duties of his office with earnest zeal and uniform courtesy, maintained friendly relations with the neighbouring states, treated the feudatory princes and the native people with impartial justice tempered by great kindness, and effected considerable improvements in the economic management of the Indian government, in gaol discipline, in irrigation works, and in providing educational facilities for the native Mohammedan population. Whilst inspecting the convict settlement at Port Blair on the Andaman Islands, on 8th February 1872, he was fatally stabbed by a Punjab fanatic. See Life by Sir W. W. Hunter (2 vols. 1875).