Edward Albert Gait

Who was Edward Albert Gait?

Sir Edward Albert Gait KCSI CIE was an administrator in the Indian Civil Service who rose to serve as Lieutenant-Governor of the British Raj Province known as Bihar and Orissa. He held that office for the years 1915–1920, with a brief absence during April–July 1918 when Edward Vere Levinge officially acted in the position.

Gait graduated from University College, London. He sat the competitive examination for the Indian Civil Service in 1882 and was subsequently appointed, arriving in India on 11 December of that year. He served as assistant commissioner in Assam, and then from 1890 as provincial superintendent for the 1891 census in that region. He wrote the official report for that region's census, which formed a part of the national census undertaken in that year.

After various other roles in the administration, Gait was appointed as a magistrate and District collector in November 1897. In April 1900 he became superintendent of census operations in Bengal, where he worked with Herbert Hope Risley, the Census Commissioner, to produce the official report of the 1901 Census of India. He was himself Census Commissioner from 1902 until after the census of 1911.