On this day, soon after the Governor-General of India had announced British victory over the Indian forces taking part in the 1857 Uprising, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act. It transferred the governance of India from the British East India Company to the rown. The secretary of state for India, a minister in the British Cabinet, was appointed the topmost official in charge of India. He would be assisted by a Council of India. The Governor-General of India, the highest representative of British power in India, would now also be called the Viceroy, as one who represented a sovereign and could act in the sovereign’s name.