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{{Short description|British colonial administrator (1863–1950)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
'''Sir Edward Albert Gait''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCSI|CIE}} (1863–1950) was an administrator in the [[Indian Civil Service]] who rose to serve as [[Lieutenant-Governor]] of the [[Bihar and Orissa Province]] in the [[Bengal Presidency]] of [[British India]]. He held that office for the years 1915–1920, with a brief absence during April–July 1918 when [[Edward Vere Levinge]] officially acted in the position.<ref name=ODNB>{{ODNBweb|id=93241|title=Colonial administrators and post-independence leaders in India (1616–2000)}}</ref>

== Life and career ==
Gait graduated from [[University College, London|University College]], London. He sat the [[competitive examination]] for the Indian Civil Service in 1882 and was subsequently appointed, arriving in India on 11 December of that year. He served as assistant commissioner in [[Assam]], and then from 1890 as provincial superintendent for the 1891 census in that region. He wrote the official report for that region's census, which formed a part of the national census undertaken in that year.<ref name=IndiaList1905>{{cite book |title=The India List and Office List |publisher=India Office |year=1905 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_3VQTAAAAYAAJ |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_3VQTAAAAYAAJ/page/n503 499] |access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=India Against Itself: Assam and the Politics of Nationality |first=Sanjib |last=Baruah |location=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8122-3491-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8k-irMMTnywC |page=181 |access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref>

After various other roles in the administration, Gait was appointed as a magistrate and [[District collector]] in November 1897.<ref name=IndiaList1905/> In April 1900 he became superintendent of census operations in [[Bengal]],<ref name=IndiaList1905/> where he worked with [[Herbert Hope Risley]], the [[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India|Census Commissioner]], to produce the official report of the 1901 [[Census of India]].<ref name=Crooke1915>{{cite book|last=Risley |first=Sir Herbert Hope |author-link=Herbert Hope Risley |editor-last=Crooke |editor-first=William |editor-link=William Crooke |title=The People of India |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924024114773 |access-date=11 November 2011 |year=1915 |orig-date=1908 |publisher=Thacker, Spink |location=Calcutta|edition=Memorial }}</ref> He was himself Census Commissioner from 1902 until after the census of 1911.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Census Administration Under The Raj and After |first=Shriram |last=Maheshwari |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1996 |isbn=978-81-7022-585-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2RP04HHopkC |page=78 |access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref>

Official recognition of his work came with the award of [[Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire]] (CIE) in 1907.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27981 |date=1 January 1907 |page=1 |supp=y }}</ref> In 1912 he became a [[Order of the Star of India|Companion of the Star of India]] (CSI),<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28617 |date=11 June 1912 |pages=4298–4299 }}</ref> and in 1915 he was raised to the rank of Knight Commander (KCSI) in the same Order.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29180 |date=1 June 1915 |page=5327 }}</ref> In 1917 he was appointed a [[Knight of Grace]] of [[Venerable Order of Saint John|The Grand Priory of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in England]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30255 |date=28 August 1917 |page=8890 }}</ref>

He was Lt.-Governor of [[Bihar]] and [[Odisha|Orissa]] during 1915 and 1920. He also founded Bihar and Orissa Research Society in 1915 which was devoted to explore more about Indology and anthropology. The society published a journal with title of ''Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society''. Lt. Gait acted as president of the society from 1915 to 1920 while he was taking his office in Patna.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Roy|first=S.C.|date=March 1921|title=ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN INDIA|journal=Man in India|volume=1 |number=1 |page=19 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.108391/page/n27/mode/2up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

Amrendra Thakur has said that with the publication of ''A History of Assam'' "historical research in North East India entered into a new age. Truly speaking Gait's was the first full-length history of the province. The book is freely used by scholars as an authentic source material."<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Re-assessing Researches into History of North-East India |first=Amrendra Kr. |last=Thakur |page=102 |title=Tribal Studies – Emerging Frontiers of Knowledge: Festschrift for Annada Charan Bhagabati |editor-first=Tamo |editor-last=Mibang |publisher=Mittal Publications |year=2007 |isbn=978-81-8324-215-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FFHggw8rGgC |access-date=12 November 2011}}</ref>

==Publications==
Aside from co-editing the official Reports of the 1901 census of India, Gait wrote other publications. These include:
*{{cite book |title=Manual of local rules and orders under enactments applying to Assam |first=Edward Albert |last=Gait |location=India |publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India |year=1893 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=06x9NwAACAAJ |access-date=11 November 2011}}
*{{cite book |title=Manual of executive rules and orders in force in Assam |first=Edward Albert |last=Gait |location=India |publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India |year=1893 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n1x_NwAACAAJ |access-date=11 November 2011}}
*{{cite book |title=The Assam immigration manual |first=Edward Albert |last=Gait |location=India |publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India |year=1893 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjOyNwAACAAJ |access-date=11 November 2011}}
*{{cite book |title=A History of Assam |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryassam01gaitgoog |first=Edward Albert |last=Gait |year=1906 |location=Calcutta |publisher=[[Thacker, Spink & Company|Thacker, Spink & Co.]] |access-date=11 November 2011}}
*{{cite book |title=North Eastern India (Geography, archaeology, forests, flora, religion and races) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fLDMYgEACAAJ |first=Edward Albert |last=Gait |year=1929 |publisher=Sumit Pub. |access-date=11 November 2011}}

==See also==
*[[Census of India prior to independence]]
*[[List of governors of Bihar and Orissa Province]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gait, Edward Albert}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:People from the Bengal Presidency]]
[[Category:British historians]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College London]]
[[Category:British civil servants in British India]]
[[Category:20th-century British civil servants]]
[[Category:Historians from British India]]

Edward Gait - Revision history

DilKhus at 12:30, 11 January 2026