As Lt. Governor of the Punjab from 1865 to 1870, McLeod used his patronage to boost vernacular education, primary health care, and agricultural innovation. He founded the university college of Lahore, and established over 300 native municipalities, the most extensive and unniggardly of the early experiments in local self-government. He had a reputation for indiscriminate courtesy and gentility and, far from handicapping him politically, his devoutness actually raised his standing among some Indians. During his time in office, cheap coloured lithographs circulated in Lahore showing him seated as a holy man being venerated by Sikh ascetic.
Watercolour on paper