Willingdon returned to the United Kingdom from Bombay only briefly before he was appointed on 10 April 1919 as the governor of Madras. This posting came shortly after the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms of 1918 were formalised by the Government of India Act, which distributed power in India between the executive and legislative bodies. Thus, in November 1920, Willingdon dropped the writs of election for the first election for the Madras Legislative Council; however, due to their adherence to Gandhi's non-cooperation movement, the Indian National Congress party refused to run any candidates and the Justice Party was subsequently swept into power. Willingdon appointed A. Subbarayalu Reddiar as his premier and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (a former Governor General of Canada), opened the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly.