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Cutch Agency

political agency of British India

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ16828652
Source-derived summary

The Cutch Agency was one of the agencies of British India. The appointed Political Agent looked after only one territory, that of the princely state of Cutch, which had a surface of 19,725 square kilometres (7,616 sq mi), not including the Rann of Kutch.

The agency's headquarters were at Bhuj, where the Political Agent used to reside. He reported to the Political Department office at Bombay, Bombay Presidency.

History

The agency was formed in 1819 when Cutch State became a British protectorate.

Captain James MacMurdo was first appointed Political Agent, as Collector and Resident of Cutch. He worked from his office

at Anjar while the capital of Cutch State was located away at Bhuj.

The progressive prosperity of Cutch was devastated by the famine of 1899-1900, which was felt everywhere with extreme severity; between 1891 and 1901 the population of the state of Cutch decreased from 558,415 inhabitants in 1891 to 488,022 in 1901, owing to the famine.

On 10 October 1924 the Cutch Agency was abolished and merged into the Western India States Agency.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Cutch Agency” is political agency of British India. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Cutch, Agency and political, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1819, 1899, 1900, 1891—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1819. For this dossier, Cutch, Agency and political is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “political agency of British India” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16828652. Authority coordinates are 23.900, 70.367. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1819, 1899, 1900 and 1891.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Cutch Agency”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Cutch Agency primary sources, Cutch Agency archive and Cutch research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Cutch Agency”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Cutch Agency” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.