Today India prides itself on its meritorious civil service chosen through a super-competitive exam procedure It is well known that this is a legacy of the British Raj’s Indian Civil service (ICS) But the inspiration for the ICS was not British at all But the Chinese bureaucracy. In early Victorian England, the best way to get into influential posts in government was through patronage and “knowing the right people” Not through competitive exams at all. This is evident both in literature and in memoirs of the period. Anthony Trollope the great author who was hired by the British Post Office in 1834 wrote about his “selection”:
“I was asked to copy some lines from the Times newspaper with an old quill pen, and at once made a series of blots and false spellings… (The next day) I was seated at a desk without any further reference to my competency.”
This is also evident in literary evidence - the character of Lord Decimus Tite Barnacle in Charles Dickens’s Little Dorrit published in 1855 - A bureaucrat who hired mostly his relations and was legendary for his incompetence.
So the inspiration for the “legendary” Indian Civil service was NOT Britain But China. Known for its remarkable bureaucracy chosen meticulously through a rigorous examination, A process that had lasted for 1000+ years spanning dynasties. Some mid-Victorians in 1850s took note of Chinese history and the Chinese method And felt - hey…we can do better than the present approach of hiring best buddies and relatives! A key figure was Charles Trevelyan - Permanent secretary to the Treasury in 1850s. It was his report - “The Organisation of the Permanent Civil Service” published in 1853 which laid the foundations for a merit based civil service selection system taking inspiration from Ancient China.
This was NOT rolled out in Britain exactly. But was first tested in India! Till 1853, the East India company officials were nominated. Post 1853, the age of Indian civil service began Competitive exams for EIC were held in London in August each year. So India became this “testing ground” for a merit based civil service Which was not prevalent in England yet. And yes, this was based on the Chinese model. The parallels b/w Chinese bureaucracy and the nascent ICS were strong. At the lowest level we had the district magistrates (zhexian) in China and “Collectors” in India. Both with similar duties, who combined being heads of local govt, revenue collectors AND magistrates.
Britain did not have something like ICS for a few more decades. Even as late as 1870, it was possible to purchase an officer position in the British Army, and even appointments to ministerial positions were recommendation-based. It was only post 1870s, that Britian started doing aptitude tests for top ministerial positions Something that India had been doing from 1853!!
Postscript : The thread is kind of triggered by a brief discussion on Indian civil service in the magisterial work - “Transformation of the World - A Global history of Nineteenth century” - by Jurgen Osterhammel.