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See also:	List of years in India Timeline of Indian history

Events in the year 1866 in India.

Incumbents

• Sir John Lawrence, Governor-General of India, 12 January 1864 – 12 January 1869
• Colonel Edmund Haythorne, Adjutant-General of India, 22 June 1860–January 1866
• Colonel Henry Errington Longden, Adjutant-General of India, January 1866–March 1869
• Lord Napier, Governor of Madras, 1866-1872
• Ram Singh II, Maharao of Kota State, 20 July 1828 – 27 March 1866
• Chhatar Sal Singh II, Maharao of Kota State, 27 March 1866 – 11 June 1889
• Sagramji II Devaji (Sagramji Bhanabhai), Thakur of Gondal State, 1851-14 December 1869
• Bham Pratap Singh, Raja and Maharajah of Bijawar State, 23 November 1847 – 15 September 1899
• Shri Singh, Raja of Chamba State, 1844-1870
• Ranmalsinhji Amarsinhji, Raj Sahib of Dhrangadhra State, 9 April 1843 – 16 October 1869
• Madan Pal, Maharaja of Karauli State, 4 March 1854 – 16 August 1869
• Hiravajra Singh Deo, Maharajah of Patna, 1848-August 1866
• Pratap Singh Deo, Maharajah of Patna, 1866-1878
• Cecil Beadon, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, 1862-1866
• Afzal ad-Dawlah, Asaf Jah V, Nizam of Hyderabad, 16 May 1857 – 26 February 1869
• Robert Milman, consecrated bishop of Trichy-Tanjore Diocese of the Church of South India
• Charles Pelly, revenue member of the Madras Legislative Council, 1862-1866
• William Reierson Arbuthnot, member of the Madras Legislative Council, 1866-1870

Events

• East India Association, founded by Dadabhai Naoroji
• 47 million people were affected by the Orissa famine of 1866
• Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi established the Darul Uloom Deoband on 31 May 1866, founding the Deobandi movement
• Nanotvi founded Mazahir Uloom Saharanpur in November
• Khursheed Ali Khan established Jamia-e-Imania on 15 December in Varanasi
• Brahmoism split into the new Sadharan Brahmo Samaj sect
• Allahabad High Court was established as the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces at Agra on 17 March
• Naga Hills was given district status^[1]
• British Indian administration established a post at Samaguting to end intertribal warfare and tribal raids on property and personnel in Nagaland
• Government Victoria College, Palakkad was established in Kerala
• Gossner Theological College Seminary was established in Jharkhand
• St. Mary's Convent Inter College was established in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
• Harish Chandra Postgraduate College opened on 1 April in Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh
• Christ Church College, Kanpur opened in Kanpur as part of the University of Calcutta
• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay published Kapalkundala, a Bengali novel
• Nandshankar Tuljashankar Mehta published Karan Ghelo in Gujarati
• Edward John Waring published Pharmacopoeia of India
• Bajaur Scouts were created
• Scinde Dawk stamps, the first adhesive stamps used in Asia, were discontinued in June
• British Raj acquired Dalhousie Cantonment and Bakloh for 5,000 rupees as a convalescent depot for European troops
• Douglas Hamilton published Report on the High Ranges of the Annamullay Mountains in Madras
• Commercial Bank of India of Bombay, founded in 1845, failed in the Panic of 1866
• United Bank of India was established
• Grand Chord and the Howrah–Delhi main line were opened, connecting Delhi and Kolkata while the Kalka Mail entered into service
• Sahibganj loop was opened, connecting Khana Junction and Kiul Junction
• Mughalsarai–Kanpur section was opened, connecting Mughalsarai Junction and Kanpur Central
• Nasik Road railway station was opened in Nashik
• Manmad Junction railway station was opened in Nashik
• Khandwa Junction railway station was opened
• Mathura–Vadodara section was opened
• Barharwa Junction railway station was opened
• Kanpur–Delhi section was opened, connecting Kanpur Central and Delhi
• Mokama–Barauni section, connecting Mokama Junction and Barauni in Bihar
• Ghaziabad railway station opened
• Laksar Junction opened in Laksar, Uttarakhand
• A supplement, the Pioneer Mail, consisting of "48 quarto-size pages," mostly of advertisements, was added to The Pioneer^[2]
• HMS Malabar, designed to carry troops between the United Kingdom and British India, is launched on 8 December
• The meteorite Jamkheir fell in Maharashtra on 5 October
• Madurai was constituted as a municipality.^[3]
• Coimbatore was constituted as a municipality.^[4]
• Machilipatnam Municipal Corporation was constituted as a municipality^[5][6]
• Kumbakonam was constituted as a municipality
• Indian soldiers were first allowed promotions beyond subedar

Law

• Indian Post Office Act
• The India Military Funds Act 1866 was passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom
• The Indian Prize Money Act 1866 was passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Naval Discipline Act (British statute)
• Straits Settlements Act (British statute)
• The Third Pre-Independence Law Commission passed the Draft Contract Law
• The Viceroy's Executive Council, Sir Henry Maine and Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, passed the Indian Companies Act
• The Viceroy's Executive Council passed the Native Converts Marriage Dissolution Act
• The Viceroy's Executive Council passed the Trustees Act
• The Viceroy's Executive Council passed the Trustees and Mortgage Powers Act
• Calcutta Police Act, 1866 and the Calcutta Suburban Police Act, 1866 create the Kolkata Police Force
• Order of the Star of India was expanded to three classes

Births

• Gopal Krishna Gokhale, social and political leader in the Indian independence movement, on 9 May in Kothluk, Ratnagiri District, Bombay Presidency
• Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, Nizam of Hyderabad, on 17 August 1866 in Purani Haveli, Hyderabad
• Sham Singh, Raja of Chamba State from 1873-1904
• Raja of Panagal, zamindar of Kalahasti, born on 9 July
• Khengarji III, Maharajah of Cutch State, born on 23 August
• Syamadas Mukhopadhyaya, Indian mathematician who introduced the four-vertex theorem and Mukhopadhyaya's theorem in plane geometry, born on 22 June
• Hiralal Sen, photographer who is generally considered one of India's first filmmakers

Deaths

• Ram Singh II, Maharao of Kota State, on 27 March 1866
• Hiravajra Singh Deo, Maharajah of Patna, August 1866
• George Cotton, English educator and clergyman, known for his connections with British India and the public school system, on 6 October in Kushtia