Chelmsford, Frederic John Napier Thesiger, 3d Baron and 1st Viscount

Chelmsford, Frederic John Napier Thesiger, 3d Baron and 1st Viscount (nā`pēər, thĕs`ĭjər, chĕlms`fərd), 1868–1933, British colonial administrator. After serving as governor of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia (1905–13), he went to India, becoming viceroy in 1916. His regime was noteworthy for the Montagu-Chelmsford Report (1918), produced in collaboration with Edwin Montagu, secretary of state for India, which recommended a large measure of self-government for the Indians. The ensuing reforms were limited, however, dividing responsibility so as to make government difficult, and were opposed by Mohandas Gandhi. Before the reforms were implemented, growing disorders led to the massacre at Amritsar (1919). Chelmsford returned to England in 1921 and was created a viscount. He served as first lord of the admiralty in the Labour government of 1924.