The Duke who built a canal to feed 839,000 people

Wars & Conflicts · Published 17 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In the late 1870s, the Madras Presidency faced a catastrophic famine affecting over 18 million people. Amidst this humanitarian crisis, the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos orchestrated a massive relief effort that combined international fundraising with large-scale infrastructure engineering to save lives.

Serving as Governor of Madras from 1875 to 1880, Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville faced the Great Famine of 1876–1878. The disaster was exacerbated by failed rains in parts of Madras and Mysore, leading to a dire socio-economic collapse. To combat the crisis, Buckingham appealed for aid from across the British Empire and beyond. His efforts were successful; at his suggestion, the Lord Mayor of London collected relief funds totaling £475,000 (equivalent to approximately £47.9 million today) in 1877.

To facilitate logistics, Buckingham initiated a tactical engineering project involving building a waterway connecting Madras city to the northern presidency. This was designed to ensure that transportation of supplies to the interior would remain viable during future emergencies. The project employed more than 715,000 laborers in Madras. Upon its opening in 1878, it was named the Buckingham Canal.

While his administrative tenure was marked by significant humanitarian success—distributing relief to hundreds of thousands across three districts—it was not without friction. He faced a major rebellion in 1879 sparked by stringent British taxation schemes. Furthermore, his political career was defined by high-level service, including roles as Secretary of State for the Colonies and Lord President of the Council, reflecting a life of significant administrative weight before his death from diabetes in 1889.

Buckingham's legacy is one of complex colonial governance. He successfully navigated the transition from political stagnation to influential leadership, managing both the British North America Act and the relief of millions. His work left physical marks on the landscape, including the Buckingham Canal and streets named in his honor by Tamil laborers during the colonial period.

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