<P> The Government of India Act 1858 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ( 21 & 22 Vict . c. 106 ) passed on August 2 , 1858 . Its provisions called for the liquidation of the British East India Company ( who had up to this point been ruling British India under the auspices of Parliament ) and the transference of its functions to the British Crown . Lord Palmerston , then - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , introduced a bill for the transfer of control of the Government of India from the East India Company to the Crown , referring to the grave defects in the existing system of the government of India . However , before this bill was to be passed , Palmerston was forced to resign on another issue . Later Edward Henry Stanley , 15th Earl of Derby ( who would later become the first Secretary of State for India ) introduced another bill which was originally titled as `` An Act for the Better Government of India '' and it was passed on August 2 , 1858 . This act provided that India was to be governed directly and in the name of the Crown . </P>
who became the first secretary of state for india after the revolt of 1857
Edward Henry Stanley , 15th Earl of Derby