251. Dadabhai Nauroji (1825-1917)

Dadabhai Naoroji  (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917), known as the Grand Old Man, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indianpolitical and social leader. He was aMember of Parliament (MP) in theUnited Kingdom House of Commonsbetween 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP.

Naoroji is also credited with the founding of the Indian National Congress, along with A.O. Hume andDinshaw Edulji Wacha. His bookPoverty and Un-British Rule in Indiabrought attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain. He was also member of Second International along with Kautsky and Plekhanov.

Dadabhai Naoroji in his youth was referred to as 'the promise of India', and in the later years, affectionately as 'The Grand Old Man of India'. Believing the British misrule of India to be a consequence of ignorance, he began free literacy classes for girls, and helped set up Dnyan Prasarak Mandali (Society for Promotion of Knowledge) for the education of adult men.

Dadabhai Naoroji, the first South Asian Member of Parliament, was born in 1825, the son of a Parsi Zoroastrian priest. From the very beginning he was a pioneer in many fields: he became one of the first Indian graduates of Elphinstone College in Bombay and later became the first Indian professor of that college.

An extract from the account of Naoroji's acceptance speech as president elect of the Indian National Congress. Read the whole document.   Moving Here catalogue reference () SW63, vol 2 P.14

In 1855 he travelled to London to become a partner in Cama & Co, the first Indian company to be established in Britain. Within 3 years, he resigned on ethical grounds and in 1859 set up his own cotton company Naoroji & Co. His London home became a centre for Indian life, attracting students and nationalists, leading to the establishment of some of the earliest South Asian associations, including the London Indian society, the East Indian Association and the London Zoroastrian Association.

He is remembered in India for his leadership of the Indian National Congress a record three times (1886, 1893 and 1906), and his economic critique of British rule in India, 'the drain of wealth theory'. Naoroji's involvement in British politics reached its highest point when, after one failed attempt, he was elected Liberal MP for Finsbury Central in 1892.

Carved wooden box commemorating the election of Dadabhai Naoroji as a Member of Parliament, 1892.  Moving Here catalogue reference (MOL) L327

His candidature attracted negative publicity when Lord Salisbury, the Conservative Prime Minister, raised the 'race card', questioning the suitability of 'a black man' to stand for parliament in Britain. The smear tactics seemed to have backfired as Dadabhai Naoroji won the seat, temporarily rallying the Liberal party behind him and most of the press.

Despite his heavy workload and diverse commitments Naoroji was able to juggle running a business, maintaining a family in both India and England and working on a wide variety of political issues (including women's suffrage, opium, temperance and indentured Indian labourers in South Africa), as well as fulfilling his duties as a Liberal MP. Although faced with opposition from within his own party, he remained loyal to the Liberal programme. He lost his seat in 1895.

Dadabhai Naoroji, the first Indian MP.  Moving Here catalogue reference (LMA) GLC/DG/PUB/01/195/1679

One of his main concerns was to keep India on the British political agenda. He was a staunch supporter of the principle of self-rule for India or Swaraj. Naoroji left Britain in 1907 and retired to India where he died in 1917 at the age of 92.

"If we take stock of his life and his example, may I not say with perfect justice and truth that in his career, in all he did, in all he suffered and in all he taught, he was the prophet Zoroaster's religion personified because he was the man more than anybody else of pure thought, of pure speech and pure deeds."

Dadabhai Naoroji was born in Bombay, India, in 1825. The son of a Parsee Priest, he was educated at Elphinstone Institute School and later became a teacher.

In 1855 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. Naoroji became involved in politics and in 1867 helped establish the East India Association. In 1874 became Prime Minister to the Dewan of Baroda and was also a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay (1885-88). In 1886 Naoroji was elected as President of the Indian National Congress.

Naoroji moved to England and joined the Liberal Party and in July, 1892, was successfully elected to Parliament where he represented Finsbury. He therefore became the first Asian to be elected to the House of Commons. Although he promised that his first duty would be to his constituents, he made no secret of the fact that he would also be representing 250 million of his fellow subjects in India.

Over the next few years Naoroji campaigned against the the financial drain on India caused by British taxation and trade regulations. On the left-wing of the party, Naoroji also advocated Irish Home Rule and extensive social reforms.

Naoroji was defeated in the 1895 General Election and in his later years concentrated on writing books such asPoverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901) and The Rights of Labour (1906).

Dadabhai Naoroji died on 2nd July, 1917.