Sir Malcolm Hailey

Sir William Malcolm Hailey, later Lord Hailey (15 February 1872 to 1 June 1969), was a senior officer of the Indian Civil Service. He was Governor of the Punjab from 1924 to 1928, the years in which the Akali movement ended in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. His biographer John W. Cell gives one chapter of his book the title "Governor of the Punjab: the Sikhs, 1924 to 1925".

Career. Born at Newport Pagnell, Hailey was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was the first chief commissioner of Delhi (1912 to 1918), then Finance Member (1919 to 1922) and Home Member (1922 to 1924) of the Viceroy's Council, Governor of the Punjab (1924 to 1928) and Governor of the United Provinces (1928 to 1934). He was made Baron Hailey, of Shahpur in the Punjab and Newport Pagnell, in 1936, and after India directed the African Survey (1938). Cell's study of him is titled Hailey: A Study in British Imperialism.

Hailey and the Akalis. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Hailey arrived as Governor in May 1924 and that "the government began to relent". Before the settlement the Punjab government, acting on a directive from the Secretary of State to put an effective stop to the Akali agitation, had declared the SGPC and the Akali Dal unlawful and arrested all 60 members of the SGPC's interim committee. Jathas had been stopped at the Nabha border, beaten and left in distant deserts without food or water.

• May 1924: arrives as Governor.
• 1924: sets up parallel Sudhar Committees of moderate and pro-government Sikhs, which the Encyclopaedia says was an attempt to split the community. The government agreed to talk through Madan Mohan Malaviya and Bhai Jodh Singh about the akhand path at Jaito, but refused to restore the deposed Maharaja of Nabha.
• 1924 to 1925: talks open with the Akali leaders held in Lahore Fort on charges of conspiracy to wage war against the King.
• 7 May 1925: the Sikh Gurdwaras Bill is moved in the Punjab Legislative Council. It passes on 7 July and comes into force on 1 November 1925.
• After the bill passed: Hailey announces that the Nabha administrator will let pilgrim bands go to Gurdwara Gangsar at Jaito. Most Akali prisoners are released, and the Akalis finish a series of 101 akhand paths on 6 August 1925.

Remembered for: being the governor under whom the government turned from suppression to settlement. The Encyclopaedia says the Akali agitation ceased with the Act. Cell's publisher describes him as often regarded as the most distinguished Indian Civil Service officer of the twentieth century. Hailey died at Putney, and his ashes were taken to Simla.