the Star of India (C.S.I.). In 1889, he became Chief Commissioner of Burma; in 1890, Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces; and in 1893, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, becoming a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council. In 1893 he was also appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI). In 1895, MacDonnell became Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (later known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh). Here, in 1896, he was once again faced with famine; his efforts in the management of the famine were recognised when he was made a Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India (GCSI) in 1898. In that same year, the viceroy, Lord Elgin, requested that MacDonnell again take charge of Bengal as Lieutenant-Governor, an offer he declined due to fatigue and the frail health of his wife. He became President of the Indian Famine Commission in 1901. In that year, due to his own ill-health and that of his wife, he resigned office and left India to return to London. MacDonnell is acknowledged as one of the ablest men to work in the Indian Civil Service, particularly in dealing with famine relief. His policies on the management of famine conditions are credited with preventing the loss of million of lives. His concern for the rights of tenants and smallholders led to the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885, a piece of progressive legislation which protected tenant farmers from rack-rents and arbitrary eviction; a similar measure was introduced to the Northwest Provinces during his lieutenant-governorship there. However it would appear that MacDonnell was not liked within the upper echelons of the service he came to occupy. His position had been achieved through intellectual ability and dedication to each task set before him, yet he was looked down upon as his background was certainly not that of a 'gentleman,' lacking the familial connections of this contemporaries. He did, however, have a powerful friend in Lord Curzon the Viceroy. Curzon admired MacDonnell's tenacious capabilities when faced with drastic problems, qualities that were gravely lacking within Curzon himself. A further insight on MacDonnell's isolation was Curzon's somewhat cutting reference to MacDonnell as "singularly lacking any human emotion." Nevertheless, Sir Antony MacDonnell rose to some of the highest civilian offices within the British Raj. His strength and tenacity earned MacDonnell the soubriquet "The Bengal Tiger"; a colleague observed: "If Antony and