The Famine Campaign in Southern India : Madras and Bombay Presidencies and Province of Mysore, 1876-1878

Digby was a Liberal who saw the famine in India of 1876–1878 first-hand and reviled the laissez-faire policies of the Famine Commission. Whilst preparations were being made for the proclamation of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain as Empress of India, and whilst the ceremonies were actually in progress, 65,000 died of starvation and the diseases caused by insufficient nourishment, in the Madras Presidency alone. It was complained, however, that sufficient information was not available regarding the actual state of things in Madras; it was further not concealed that a good deal of dissatisfaction was felt with the manner in which the disaster had so far been grappled with in the Southern Presidency. The death-rate in the Madras districts from October to December had increased greatly, as the returns from the various distressed districts testified.