Lord Kimberley : Wodehouse, John (1826-1902), succeeded his grandfather as 3rd Baron, created First Earl of Kimberley in 1866: educated at Eton & Christ Church, Oxford, 1st class Honours 1847: Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1852, & for India Apr-Nov. 1864; Lord Privy Seal, 1868-70; Colonial Secretary 1870-74, 1880-82; Secretary of State for India in 1882-85, 1886, 1892-94; & Foreign Secretary, 1894-96. [Buckland] ― Sri Aurobindo passed the Final exam of the ICS Board of Studies in July 1892, but until 4th November did not pass the Riding Test or send his University Certificate so the remaining allowance of £150/- was not paid to him. On 24th an internal Memo of India Office noted, “It should not be forgotten that Mr Ghose has passed all his examinations & that no selected candidate had yet been rejected on account of the Riding Examination.” On 1st December, Undersecretary Russell wrote to Secretary of State Kimberley: “The candi¬date seems to me a remarkably deserving man, & I can quite believe that poverty was the cause of his failures to appear” at the Riding Test. To which Kimberley on 2nd Dec.: “I cannot take [such] a compassionate view.... If the Secretary of State sets a precedent of interfering with the [Civil Service] Commissioners’ discretion, nothing but confusion can result…. I must add however as an ‘obiter dictum’ that I should much doubt whether Mr Ghose would be a desirable addition to the Service – & if Mr Prothero or anyone else is under the impression that a Hindu ought to have a special exemption from the requirement of being able to ride, the sooner he is disabused of such an absurd notion the better.” Kimberley was evidently primed by John Arthur Godley, Private Secretary to Prime Minister Gladstone in 1872-4 & 1882-3, & Kimberley’s Undersecretary (1883-1909), during which tenure Godley took all the key decisions regarding Indian matters. He was knighted in 1893 – the last feather in his cap being the Sri Aurobindo’s rejection by Kimberley. While Kimberley himself drew as salary “a sum which represents one year’s average income of 90,000 Indians”, he sanctioned the £150 of the ICS stipend due to Sri Aurobindo in July on passing the Final exam, only after Undersecretary Arthur Godley recommended it. Actually, candidates failing the Riding Test had been appointed & allowed to pass it later. The real reason for Kimberley to reject Sri Aurobindo was his speeches at the Indian Majlis of which he had been a member & some time Secretary.
... already told me), and was also informed that his only possible hope lay in an appeal to the Secretary of State. I have therefore instructed him to present a petition without delay to Lord Kimberley, setting out all the circumstances, acknowledging the justice of his rejection, and begging that, if possible, he may be allowed yet one more chance. As you may know, Mr Ghose was ... the Statutory Certificate, he cannot interfere – unless he is disposed to ask the Commissioners as a matter of grace to give Mr Ghose a further chance. Orders are solicited. Lord Kimberley, I do not think that it would be at all advisable to attempt to interfere with the discretion of the Civil Service Commission in the matter of this certificate. It is for them to award... am rather in the dark on the point. If I can write more definitely in the course of the day I will do so. Very truly yours E. A. Collier Page 334 XIX Lord Kimberley, You know that I fully share your views as to the importance of Riding. In this case, I should give the candidate another chance of qualifying. The Commissioners are not very emphatic against ...
... mandatory test in horse-riding. According to his own retrospective account, he had developed a distaste for Civil Service work and was delighted to be rejected on these trivial grounds. To Lord Kimberley. [1] 21 November 1892 . After he was rejected from the I.C.S., Sri Aurobindo was advised that his only hope, if he wished to remain in the service, was to write directly to the Secretary of... was trying to pull strings to get the rejection overturned (see A. B. Purani, The Life of Sri Aurobindo [1978], pp. 326 - 33). [2] 12 December 1892. Sri Aurobindo wrote this letter after Lord Kimberley refused his request to grant him another chance to Page 571 take the riding test. As a candidate who had successfully completed all the requirements but riding, he was due... and the Spiritual Life" and "Letters and Telegrams to Political and Professional Associates" came out in Champaklal's Treasures (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1976). The letters to Lord Kimberley were first printed in A. B. Purani's Life of Sri Aurobindo (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1957). The letter to Morarji Desai was published in Desai's The Story of My Life in 1978. Most ...
... Letters on Personal, Practical and Political Matters (1890-1926) Autobiographical Notes To Lord Kimberley [1] To the Right Hon the Earl of Kimberley Secretary of State for India. 6 Burlington Rd Bayswater W Monday. Nov. 21. 1892 May it please your Lordship I was selected as a probationer for the Indian Civil Service in 1890, and ...
... might be given another chance for qualifying and added that "the candidate seems to me a remarkably deserving man, and I can quite believe that poverty was the cause of his; failures to appear". Lord Kimberley took the opposite view: "I am sorry that I cannot take a compassionate view as Mr. Russell suggests.... I should much doubt whether Mr. Ghose would be a desirable addition to the Service." 40 ...
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