DellaPugh3766180 at 10:21, 18 April 2026

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{{Short description|Member of the Indian Civil Service}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Sir Hawthorne Lewis
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image_size =
| order3 = 2nd [[Governor of Odisha]]
| term_start3 = 1 April 1941
| term_end3 = 31 March 1946
| predecessor3 = [[John Austen Hubback]]
| successor3 = [[Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi]]
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| party =
| alma_mater =
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}}

'''Sir (William) Hawthorne Lewis''', [[Order of the Star of India|KCSI]], [[Order of the Indian Empire|KCIE]] (29 June 1888 – 19 October 1970) was a member of the [[Indian Civil Service]] who served as the Governor of [[Odisha]] from 1941 to 1946.<ref name="Lewis1954">{{cite book|author=Sir Hawthorne Lewis|title=Speeches Delivered by His Excellency Sir Hawthorne Lewis, ..., Governor of Orissa, 1941-1946|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDTU2NdUOTgC|accessdate=26 May 2018|date=1954|publisher=Government of Orissa|page=27}}</ref> Born to Thomas Crompton Lewis at [[Kasauli]], Shimla.

Educated at [[Oundle School]] and [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]], Lewis entered the Indian Civil Service by examination in 1911 and served Orissa in various capacities beginning as Assistant Magistrate and Collector.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raghavan |first=Srinath |date=2010 |title=War and Peace in Modern India |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230277519 |pages=438 |doi=10.1057/9780230277519 |isbn=978-1-349-58988-3 }}</ref>

He married Alice Margaret Rose Hewitt in 1929 who a widow of Lieutenant Ronald Erskine Hewitt (who perished in the First World War) a resident of 7 Hastings Road, New Delhi, which today is the designated home for the Chief Justice of India.<ref>{{Citation |title=Barton, Richard, (25 May 1850–1 Sept. 1927), late Superintendent of Demands, Stationery Office (retired, 1913) |date=2007-12-01 |work=Who Was Who |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u193224 |access-date=2025-09-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u193224 |url-access=subscription }} Page 141</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Abhba |date=1854-03-11 |title=Thom's Irish Almanac and official directory for 1854 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s1-ix.228.219d |journal=Notes and Queries |volume=s1-IX |issue=228 |pages=282 |doi=10.1093/nq/s1-ix.228.219d |issn=1471-6941|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Alice was the daughter of George Edgar Woodhouse, Nordon, Blanford, Dorset.<ref>{{Citation |title=Perchard, Colin William, (born 19 Oct. 1940), Minister (Cultural Affairs), India, British Council, 1993–2000 |date=2007-12-01 |work=Who's Who |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.30551 |access-date=2025-09-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.30551 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=October 1943 |title=The 1942 year book of pediatrics: I. A. Abt and A. F. Abt |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02753024 |journal=The Indian Journal of Pediatrics |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=180 |doi=10.1007/bf02753024 |issn=0019-5456|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He later married Geraldine Susan Maud de Montmorency.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1903-01-03 |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage, and Companionage |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s9-xi.262.20a |journal=Notes and Queries |volume=s9-XI |issue=262 |pages=642 |doi=10.1093/nq/s9-xi.262.20a |issn=1471-6941|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 1927 he was appointed as an officer (Joint Secretary) on special duty in the Reforms Office, which considered amendments to the Constitution and Government of India Act 1919. During his [[1931 New Year Honours|tenure]] the Reforms Office was very vocal towards temerity of laws pertaining to an existence of an 'emergency' during a Governmental or Governor General invoked ordnance. So as to deter decision makers and not use state sponsored violence as allowed in a statute which would in turn allow the Governor General of India to do as he pleased. During his tenure in the Reforms Office, he was also boss to [[V. P. Menon|V.P Menon]].<ref>{{Cite journal |publisher=Bureau of Public Information |date=1941 |title=Indian Information Series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ThQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA367 |journal=India Information Series |volume=8-9 |issue= |pages=571 |doi= |issn=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jain |first1=Charul |last2=Dave |first2=Parth |date=2022-12-31 |title=Singing the Unsung: Understanding the Making of Modern India in Narayani Basu's V. P. Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India |url=https://doi.org/10.37867/te1404132 |journal=Towards Excellence |pages=1458–1466 |doi=10.37867/te1404132 |issn=0974-035X|doi-access=free }}</ref>

He laid the foundation stone for the [[Hirakud Dam]] in 1946.<ref name="D'Souza2002">{{cite book|author=Dilip D'Souza|title=The Narmada Dammed: An Inquiry Into the Politics of Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=irPygOKl5xYC&pg=PA95|year=2002|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-302865-9|pages=95–}}</ref><ref name="Nanda2016">{{cite book|first1=M.N. |last1=Das |first2=C.P. |last2=Nanda|title=Harekrushna Mahtab|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SR7iDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT71|accessdate=26 May 2018|date=22 August 2016|publisher=Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting|isbn=978-81-230-2325-0|pages=71–}}</ref><ref name="Hogg2013">{{cite book|author=Dorothy Hogg|title=India - A Plea For Understanding|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dfx9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT259|accessdate=26 May 2018|date=16 April 2013|publisher=Read Books Limited|isbn=978-1-4733-8511-5|pages=259–}}</ref> One of the other major contributions of Hawthorne as Governor of Orissa is that he gave assent to act of legislation which sanctioned for the foundation of the [[Utkal University]] on 27 November 1943 being inaugurated on 1 November 1944 under a proposal from the cabinet of the then Prime Minister of Orissa, [[Krushna Chandra Gajapati]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Köhl |first=Torvald |date=1900-04-01 |title=Astronomical Observations in 1899 |url=https://doi.org/10.1086/121364 |journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |volume=12 |issue=73 |pages=119 |doi=10.1086/121364 |bibcode=1900PASP...12...56K |issn=0004-6280|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Lewis, Sir (William) Hawthorne, (29 June 1888–19 Oct. 1970) |date=2007-12-01 |work=Who Was Who |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u54624 |access-date=2025-09-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u54624 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ziring |first=Lawrence |date=February 1979 |title=North West Frontier Province Legislature and Freedom Struggle, 1932–47. By Amit Kumar Gupta. New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research, 1976. xv, 239 pp. Appendix, Bibliography, Index. Rs. 30.00. |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021911800142159 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=398–399 |doi=10.1017/s0021911800142159 |issn=0021-9118|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

At the mid-term of governorship of Odisha province, there were only five colleges in the province as per a report by the Statesman published in 1945.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=June 1961 |title=Book Reviews: The Statesman's Year-Book 1960-61. Edited by S. H. Steinberg. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1960. Pp. xxvi, 1677. $9.50.) |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/106591296101400245 |journal=Western Political Quarterly |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=158 |doi=10.1177/106591296101400245 |issn=0043-4078|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Lewis died in 1970 at Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.

{{s-start}}
{{succession box|title=[[Governor of Odisha]]|before=[[John Austen Hubback]]|after=[[Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi]]|years=1 April 1941 – 31 March 1946}}
{{s-end}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* {{NPG name|78745|Sir (William) Hawthorne Lewis}}
{{Governor of Odisha}}

[[Category:Governors of Odisha]]
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:People educated at Oundle School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]

Hawthorne Lewis - Revision history

DellaPugh3766180 at 10:21, 18 April 2026