5 British monarchs of India & 4 coins

S. BALAKRISHNAN

As a retired person I had to kill the time somehow; else the time would kill me. So I decided to indulge myself in the long-pending sorting of my numismatic collection of currency notes and coins. Then I noticed a handful of pre-independent coins with British Monarchs on them. I wondered which all British Monarchs had ruled over the colonial India sitting in the far-off London and if I had coins of all of them. Yes, luckily, I had the coins of four British monarchs though five had ruled over India. Who are they and why no coin of the missing one! My search forced me to write this ‘interesting’ (his)story for the benefit of all!

It was in 1876 that colonial India first came under the direct British Crown rule during the reign of the British monarch Queen Victoria. Till then it was the East India Company, a business company that came for trading with India that was ruling India. Shaken terribly by the 1^st War of Indian Independence in 1857, the British decided to bring India under the direct crown rule. Thus in 1876 Queen Victoria became the first British Monarch (Empress) of India, a country that was hailed as the ‘Jewel in the Crown’, and the legacy continued until 14/15 August 1947 when India at last gained independence. Queen Victoria was followed by Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, and finally George VI, during whose rule India attained independence.

Queen Victoria: Born on 24^th May 1819 in London as the only child of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent & Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria, she ascended the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1837 at her 18^th year after the deaths of her father, grandfather and her father’s three elder brothers who had no surviving legitimate issues. Five deaths and lo, she becomes the Queen! How lucky, indeed! During her rule she had to accept, for the sake of preserving the British monarchy, the transformation of the sovereign’s political role into a ceremonial one, though unwillingly and unwittingly. After the 1857 Indian revolution, Lord Canning [Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning, a British statesman who was India's first Viceroy (1858-1862) and Governor-General (1856-1862)] proclaimed the victory of British army in the 1857 war. On August 2, 1858, less than a month after Canning’s proclamation, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act with an aim to transferring British power over India from East India Company to the crown; the company was blamed for its inept attitude that caused the ‘mutiny’. Further to this, in 1876, at the prompting of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Queen Victoria added the title Empress of India to her regality. Thus India came under the direct crown rule formally in 1876 and it lasted for nearly 70 years, until 1947. When Queen Victoria, the first British monarch (Empress) of India, died on January 22, 1901, aged 82 years, the British Empire and its worldwide power were at their peak. In 1840 she married her cousin Albert and they had nine children, 40 grand-children and 37 great-grandchildren, scattered all over Europe. Her husband, Prince Albert, had predeceased her in 1861 itself. The widow Queen Victoria ruled the vast empire for another 40 long years after Prince Albert’s death. But during her 64 years of rule she never visited the Jewel in the Crown. Her era was called the Victorian Era.

The Queen Victoria coin – The round British India ¼ anna Copper coin was minted at various mints in India, like Calcutta, Mumbai and Madras. It weighs 6 grams approx. and has a diameter of 2.5 mm± and toothed rim. This ¼ anna (1/64 of Indian rupee) coin was perhaps issued since 1862. The front side (obverse) of the coin shows a Crowned head of Queen Victoria facing left. The engraver was William Wyon.  The reverse has the denomination “One Quarter Anna”  and “India” in words, and year 1876 within a beaded inner circle that is surrounded by a wreath of leaves of oak tree. One of these 1/4 anna coins was minted in 1876, the year she became Empress, but mentions her only as Queen, perhaps having been minted before she took the Empress title. But the other, minted in 1887, declares her as Empress. Both these coins have her image smoothened out due to wear & tear. But the tiny round copper coin clearly shows not only her image but also the crown, her beaded necklace and the embellished dress.  Minted in 1901, its denomination is 1/12 ANN (the final ‘A’ is missing, making it a very rare coin; hence I imagine that its value could range up to one lakh rupees!). 1/12 Anna was equivalent to 1/192 of the Indian rupee. Weighs 2.1 gms approx.; diameter 1.7mm; and minted in Calcutta Mint.

Edward VII - On Empress Victoria’s death, her second child and eldest son Albert Edward (nicknamed Bertie, born on 9 November 1841) ascended the throne on 22 January 1901.  He had an elder sister Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa but he was the first male child. He came to power only at his 60^th year of age in 1901 and ruled just for nine years until his death in 1910. His period was called the Edwardian era. He married Alexandria of Denmark. Edward was succeeded by his only surviving son, George V.

The Edward VII Coin – The two coins of Edward VII belong to 1908 and 1910; the obverse has the bald-headed bust of the King with words “Edward VII” and “King & Emperor”. The British India round copper coin’s denomination is “One Quarter Anna” (1/4 Anna = 1/16 of a rupee). It has a diameter of 2.5mm, and the design on the reverse is same as Victorian coin.

George V – The second son but the only surviving son of Edward VII & Alexandria was the third ruler of British India from 1910 to 1936. In 1893 he married Princess Mary of Teck, his dead brother’s fiancée. The First World War 1914-1918 broke out during his reign. His latter years were spent on worrying over the Prince of Wales’ infatuation with Mrs. Simpson (see below). A standing statue of George V still stands in Chennai’s George Town area.

The George V Coin – The ¼ anna round coin could be of copper or bronze. It follows the standard design and size, as above. The coin carries the crowned bust of George V, King & Emperor, facing left.  They are from 1931 and 1936. The ¼ anna coin was primarily minted in Calcutta and also in Bombay.

Edward VIII - The fourth British King to rule British India was Edward VIII who ascended on January 20, 1936, upon the death of his father, George V. But his ruling period was just for 326 days, not even one full year. He abdicated the throne wanting to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who had been divorced and was seeking a second divorce also. In addition, both her former husbands were still alive. This was just unacceptable. The marriage was opposed by the Church of England (of which the king was the head), the British government, and the governments of the British Dominions. So he gave up the throne on December 10, 1936 to avoid constitutional crisis and, instead, was made Duke of Windsor. The British Parliament formalised his abdication the very next day itself. He married Wallis Simpson in France in 1937 and started living abroad.  He was to be crowned in May 1937.

The Edward VIII coin - While no official British India coins bearing Edward VIII's portrait were ever minted due to his short reign, coins featuring just his name did exist from certain Princely States like Kutch which issued silver 5 Kori coins with his name alongside the local ruler, Khengarji III, and the date 1936. Because of his short reign of just 326 days and eventual abdication, coins never entered circulation and remained only as pattern pieces. Edward VIII gold Sovereign coins are unarguably the rarest British coins in existence because only six of these coins exist. Naturally, they are in highdemand and one was sold at an auction in 2020 for the UK record-breaking sum of £1 million! This Sovereign coin is described as “the coinage that never was” by its creators, The Royal Mint.

King George VI – Edward's younger brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York, then became King George VI, the fifth and final to rule India from Britain. He ruled from 1936 (after his elder brother’s abdication) and until his death in 1952; but since India attained independence in 1947, he was India’s ruler only till 1947. George was a shy and nervous man with a very bad stutter which he overcame later. His wife was Elizabeth (not to be confused with his daughter Elizabeth II who later became queen after his death and ruled for 70 years from 1952 to 2022.) The II World War started in 1939 and he successfully managed it with the able Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The King George VI coin – The two coins are from 1946 and 1947, the year India attained independence. The front side has a left facing crowned bust of the king with the inscription “George V King Emperor”. The reverse features a roaring lion and “Half Rupee” “India” “1947” and ‘aadha rupiah’ in Hindi. Made of nickel, this coin weighs 5.83 gms. The dot at the bottom edge indicates the Bombay Mint.

Our interest in British monarchy ends with George VI, because India became a free nation. But I do have a few coins of Elizabeth II. She was succeeded by King Charles III in 2022. Prince of Wales, William (Born 1982), the elder son of King Charles III and late Diana, is now first in line to the throne after King Charles III. Waiting second in line to the monarch’s throne is Prince George Alexander Louis of Wales (Born: 2013), elder son of Prince William. Coins bearing the image of King Charles III have been in circulation in UK since 2022 but I don’t have even the 5 pence coin.   Like Selfie postal stamps is Selfie coins allowed?             

                     krishnanbala2004@yahoo.co.in / 9840917608 WhatsApp