1885 in India

Incumbents

• Empress of India – Queen Victoria
• Viceroy of India – The Earl of Dufferin

  Events

• 24 June – Lord Randolph Churchill becomes Secretary of State for India.
• 28 December – 72 Indian lawyers, academics and journalists gather at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay to form the Congress Party.
• *First President of Indian National Congress – W. C. Banerjee; First Secretary of Indian National Congress – A. O. Hume; Dadabbhai Naoroji gave the name Indian National Congress

  Births

• 14 February – Syed Zafarul Hasan, Muslim philosopher.