The Government of India Act of 1919 was the latest in a series of acts passed by the British parliament to define the structure of government and administration in Great Britain’s chief colony, India. A total of sixteen other Government of India Acts were passed by Parliament. The chief purpose of the 1919 act was to allow the people of India greater participation in their own government. Toward this end, it created a dyarchy, or a dual form of government, in India’s provinces, with power shared by the Crown and local authorities. The Government of India Act of 1919 relinquished to provincial councils Britain’s control of some areas of government, such as agriculture, education, and health, while other areas of government, such as foreign policy, justice, communications, and the military, remained under the authority of Great Britain through its appointed viceroy of India. The act also enlarged and reformed the Imperial Legislative Council, transforming it into a bicameral (two-house) legislature. Both the lower house, called the Legislative Assembly, and the upper house, called the Council of States, would consist of elected and appointed members. The 1919 legislation served to enact reforms that had been suggested by Edwin Montagu, the secretary of state for India, and Frederic Thesiger, Lord Chelmsford, the viceroy of India, in the wake of growing dissatisfaction with British rule and a blossoming independence movement in India.