The appointment of a Resident to an important 19 gun salute state was a matter of great concern and the result of considerable deliberation. Such an example of a ruler’s most formal letter to a high ranking official is extremely scarce. H. H. Sir Sri Rama Varma V, G.C.S.I., Maharaja of Travancore ruled this 19 gun salute state from 1885 to 1924, He was made a Knight Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India on the 1st January 1888. He was born in the year of the Indian Mutiny, 1857. Sir James Thomson, K.C.S.I. [1848-1927]. a member of the Governor’s Council at Fort St George [Madras], was Acting Governor of Madras between April and December 1905. He was a Scot, educated at the Grammar School and University of Aberdeen, going out to India in 1871 serving first at Godavari becoming Collector & Magistrate there in 1885. From 1889 he was Resident to the rulers of Travancore and Cochin before occupying senior posts in the revenue and salt departments of government. As a member of council he was appointed C.S.I. in 1902 and in 1902 advanced to the honour of Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India James Andrew, an Irishman, arrived in 1879 in the Madras Civil Service. After service at N. Arcot, Ganjam, Trichinopoly, Tanjore, and Coimbatore he was appointed Resident to Travancore and Cochin in 1904, later becoming a member of the Governor General’s legal council.