law

Syed Ameer Ali

About: 

Syed Ameer Ali was a lawyer, a judge, a political and social reformer, and a scholar of Islam. He wrote a number of books on Islamic law. He first arrived in the UK in 1869 initially to compete for the ICS. He was friends with the Fawcetts and attended female suffrage meetings in 1870. He was called to the Bar through the Inner Temple and returned to India to serve in the Calcutta High Court.

Syed Ameer Ali made frequent returns to Britain after 1873. In 1880 he met James Knowles, editor of The Nineteenth Century, and thereafter wrote a number of articles for the journal. On another visit back to the UK, he married Isabelle Konstam.

Syed Ameer Ali retired in 1904 and settled in the UK. His first task was to launch the London Muslim League (1908) and he took up the issue of Muslim representation. However, he resigned from the Muslim League in 1913 regarding it as too extreme. In 1910, he launched a project to build a mosque in London. And then in 1911 he formed the British Red Crescent Society because the British Red Cross was not helping injured Turks and Arabs in Italian attacks, addressing the need for an independent society to help the sick and wounded irrespective of race or religion. In 1909 he was appointed to the Privy Council, the first Indian member on the Council.

He died on 3 August 1928 at his home, Pollingfold Manor, near Rudgwick, Sussex and was buried in Brockwood Cemetery, Surrey. He had two sons who both studied at Oxford and both eventually retired to settle in Britain with their British wives.

Published works: 

A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammed (London: Williams and Norgate, 1873)

The Ethics of Islam (Calcutta: Thacker & Spink, 1893)

Islam (London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1906)

The Legal Position of Women in Islam (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1912)

The Life and Teachings of Mohammed, or the Spirit of Islam (London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1891)

Mahommedan Law (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1892)

Persian Culture (London: Pub. for the [Persia] Society by John Hogg, 1913)

The Personal Law of the Mahommedans (London: W.H. Allen, 1880)

A Short History of the Saracens (London: Macmillan, 1899)

Students’ Handbook of Mahommedan Law (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co., 1892)

Date of birth: 
06 Apr 1849
Connections: 

Torick Ameer Ali (son), John Bryce, Henry Fawcett, Millicent Fawcett, Lord Hobhouse, James Knowles (editor of Nineteenth Century), Dadabhai Naoroji, Lord Northbrook, Oscar Wilde.

Contributions to periodicals: 

The Nineteenth Century; The Nineteenth Century and After

Contemporary Review

Edinburgh Review

Islamic Culture

The Times

Westminster Gazette

Reviews: 

‘Speech at London Muslim League Inaugural Meeting’, The Times, 7 May 1908

Civil and Military Gazette

Secondary works: 

Aziz, K. K., Ameer Ali: His Life and Work (Lahore: Publishers United, 1968)

Ansari, Humayun, 'The Infidel Within': Muslims in Britain since 1800 (London: Husrt & Co., 2004)

FitzGerald, S. V., ‘Ameer Ali, Saiyid (1849–1928)’, rev. Roger T. Stearn, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2008) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30400]

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto, 2002)

Wasti, Syed Razi (ed.), Memoirs and other Writings of Syed Ameer Ali (Lahore: People’s Publishing House, 1968)

Archive source: 

Private papers in possession of family

Involved in events: 
City of birth: 
Cuttack, Orissa
Country of birth: 
India
Other names: 

Saiyid Ameer Ali
Sayyid Ameer Ali
Rt Hon Ameer Ali
 

Location

Pollingfold Manor RH12 3AS
United Kingdom
51° 3' 41.0652" N, 0° 20' 19.644" W
Date of death: 
03 Aug 1928
Location of death: 
Pollingfold Manor, near Rudgwick, Sussex, England
Date of 1st arrival in Britain: 
01 Jan 1869
Precise 1st arrival date unknown: 
Y
Dates of time spent in Britain: 

1869-73, 1875, 1877, 1879-80, 1884, 1895, 1904-28

Location: 

London, Sussex.

Tags for Making Britain: 

Ayana Deva Angadi

About: 

Ayana Angadi came to Britain in 1924. His original intention was to prepare for the ICS examination but instead he became involved in political activism, writing, and lecturing about imperialism and India. As well as contributing to a range of journals in Britain, he wrote several political pamphlets under the pseudonym Raj Hansa. A committed Trotskyist, he joined the Labour Party and worked as a lecturer for the Central Advisory Council for Adult Education in HM Forces and then for the Imperial Institute, travelling to schools and colleges around the country to speak about Indian matters. He also travelled to Scandinavia to lecture and was there suspected of being a Cominform agent (L/PJ/12/518, p. 48).

Arguably, Angadi's most significant achievement while in Britain was the establishment with his wife Patricia Fell-Clarke of the Asian Music Circle in 1946. This organization introduced Indian music, dance and yoga to the British public, paving the way for musicians such as Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan.

Published works: 

(as Jaya Deva) Japan’s Kampf (London: Gollancz, 1942)

Numerous pamphlets written under the name Raj Hansa

Example: 

'Secret’ IPI memo, 1 February 1949, L/PJ/12/518, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras, pp. 42–3

Date of birth: 
12 Mar 1903
Content: 

This file contains British government surveillance reports on Ayana Angadi’s activities in Britain and Europe during the period 1937–47.

Connections: 

E. F. Bramley (CPGB), R. F. O. Bridgeman, Benjamin Brittan, J. R. Campbell (CPGB), Patricia Fell-Clarke, George Harrison, B. K. S. Iyengar, Krishna Menon, Yehudi Menuhin, Shapurji Saklatvala, Ravi Shankar.

Contributions to periodicals: 

New Leader

Spectator

Time and Tide

Extract: 

AYANA VEERAYASWAMI ANGADI has lived mainly in the United Kingdom since 1930. He is an individual of ordinary status who has made a livelihood as a lecturer and journalist. His book 'Japan’s Kampf' attracted the favourable attention of the Ministry of Information during the war and for a time he was engaged as a lecturer to troops. However he was relieved of this occupation because he introduced his political views into the lectures.

ANGADI is described as being a revolutionary Communist. His record includes a sentence in 1937 of a month’s imprisonment for stealing a typewriter.

Since 1946 ANGADI has toured and lectured in the Scandinavian countries more than once and many of his lectures have been marked by a strong anti-British bias. He has made himself unpopular both in Norway and Denmark and the former has decided to refuse him a visa should he apply for one again.

It has been stated that his visit to Norway in February 1947 was under the auspices of the Imperial Institute, and has been suggested that the Institute should be told about his undesirability. You may be able to find out if it is correct that the Institute sponsored ANGADI in any way, and may be able to tell someone in the Institute about the kind of individual he is.

Secondary works: 

Massey, Reginald, Azaadi! Stories and Histories of the Indian Subcontinent After Independence (Abhinav Publications, 2005)

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto, 2002)

Relevance: 

The detailed documentation kept on Angadi and his activities while in Britain is evidence of the high level of surveillance of South Asians who were politically active during this period. This in turn suggests the anti-imperialist campaigning of Angadi and his contemporaries was considered dangerously effective. The extensive travel Angadi undertook, both within Britain and beyond, is evidence of a keen commitment to educating the British and Europeans about imperialism and to mobilizing for the struggle for Indian independence and international socialism.

Archive source: 

L/PJ/12/518, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

Asian Music Circle 1954–1960: Correspondence with Ayana Deva Angadi, founder and director, regarding the Circle’s programmes, with copies of leaflets and programmes, MSS 157/3/MU/A/1/1–26, Papers of Victor Gollancz, Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick Library

Involved in events: 

Numerous concerts and lectures

India League meetings

City of birth: 
Jakanur, Mysore State
Country of birth: 
India
Other names: 

Ayana Veerayyaswami Angadi

Raj Hansa

Jaya Deva

 

Date of death: 
01 Oct 1993
Date of 1st arrival in Britain: 
01 Jan 1924
Precise 1st arrival date unknown: 
Y
Dates of time spent in Britain: 

1924-?

Cornelia Sorabji

About: 

Cornelia Sorabji was an Indian Parsee Christian who is seen as India’s first female barrister although she was never technically called to the English Bar. She studied for a law degree at Somerville College, Oxford, (1889-93), the first woman to sit the law exams in the country. Despite standing first in university examinations at the Deccan College, Sorabji was not eligible for the Government of India scholarship to study in England. She studied in Britain with the help of funds raised by her British friends the Hobhouses.

When Sorabji first arrived in England she stayed with Elizabeth Adelaide Manning, Secretary of the National Indian Association. Sorabji had met Manning on her visit to India in January of that year. At Oxford, Sorabji developed an enduring friendship with the Master of Baliol College, Benjamin Jowett. This granted her access to members of the upper-classes of British society, and consequently she remained loyal to the British through her career. Sorabji's memoir, India Calling, recalls the number of prominent establishment figures Sorabji met during her time in Britain. Sorabji became a member of Lincoln’s Inn in 1922, having been barred as a woman when a student. Her career was dedicated to the cause of the ‘purdahnashins’ (secluded women) in India. In 1929 upon retirement, Cornelia Sorabji settled in England. She died in her home in Finsbury Park in 1954.

Published works: 

Love and Life Beyond the Purdah (London: Fremantle & Co., 1901)

Sun-Babies: Studies in the Child-Lfe of India (London: John Murray, 1904)

Between the Twilights: Being Studies of Indian Women by One of Themselves (London: Harper, 1908)

Indian Tales of the Great Ones Among Men, Women, and Bird-People (Bombay: Blackie, 1916)

The Purdahnashin, with a foreword by the Countess of Minto (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co, 1917)

Sun Babies: Studies in Colour (London: Blackie, 1918)

Shubala - A Child Mother (Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1920)

Therefore: An Impression of Sorabji Kharshedji Langrana and His Wife Francina (London: Oxford University Press, Humphrey Milford, 1924)

Gold Mohur Time (London: Alexander Moring, 1930)

Susie Sorabji, Christian-Parsee Educationist of Western India: A Memoir (London: Oxford University Press, 1932)

India Calling: The Memories of Cornelia Sorabji (London: Nisbet & Co., 1934)

India Recalled (London: Nisbet & Co., 1936)

Queen Mary’s Book of India (London: Harrap, 1943)

 

Reprints of her work:

Sorabji, Cornelia, India Calling, ed. by Elleke Boehmer and Naella Grew (Nottingham: Trent Editions, 2004)

Sorabji, Cornelia, Love and Life Behind The Purdah, ed. by Chandani Lokuge (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003)

Example: 

Letter dated March 1890, Mss Eur F165/2

Date of birth: 
01 Nov 1866
Content: 

Letters from Cornelia Sorabji to her parents when in England.

Connections: 

E. J. Beck, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Lord Arthur and Lady Mary Hobhouse, Benjamin Jowett, Elizabeth Adelaide Manning, Max Müller, Monier Monier-Williams, Florence Nightingale, Alice Sorabji Pennell.

Association of University Women in India, Bengal Branch of the National Council of Women in India, Bengal League of Social Service for Women, Federation of University Women.

Contributions to periodicals: 

Asiatic Review

Atlantic Monthly

Calcutta Review

Contemporary Russia, Empire and Review

The Englishman

Evening News

Indian Magazine

Macmillan's Magazine

The Monthly Review

Nineteenth Century

The Statesman

Temple Bar

The Times

Reviews: 

The Athenæum

Parisianna

The Times

The Times Literary Supplement

 

Extract: 

Next term we are to have two Indian Princesses in residence here – the daughters of Dhuleep Singh. They are to have a maid to look after them & their governess will reside in Town - & we are to call them “Princess”. The sweet Warden was telling me about it & began “I want you to be very good to me next Term & help me make our Princesses happy”. I wonder if they will be snobbish.

Secondary works: 

Adams, Pauline, Somerville for Women: An Oxford College, 1879-1993 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)

Burton, Antoinette, At The Heart of the Empire: Indians and the Colonial Encounter In late Victorian Britain (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998)

Burton, Antoinette, Burdens of History: British Feminists, Indian Women, and Imperial Culture, 1865-1915 (University of North Carolina Press, 1994)

Burton, Antoinette, Dwelling In The Archive: Women Writing House, Home and History in Late Colonial India (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)

Burton, Antoinette (ed.), Politics And Empire in Victorian Britain (Palgrave, New York, 2001)

Gooptu, Suparna, Cornelia Sorabji - India’s Pioneering Woman Lawyer (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006)

Forbes, Geraldine, Women in Modern India - The New Cambridge History of India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Innes, C. L., A History of Black and Asian Writing in Britain, 1700–2000, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)

Jayawardena, Kumari, The White Woman’s Other Burden: Western Women and South Asia during British Colonial Rule (London: Routledge, 1995)

Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna (ed.), A History Of Indian Literature In English (London: Hurst & Company, 2003)

Sarkar, Sonita and De, Esha Niyogi, Trans-status Subjects: Gender in the Globalisation of South and South-East Asia (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002)

Sorabji, Richard, Opening Doors: The Untold Story of Cornelia Sorabji, Reformer, Lawyer and Champion of Women's Rights in India (London: I. B. Tauris, 2010)

Symonds, Richard, Oxford and Empire: The Lost Cause? (Oxford: Clarendon, 1986)

Tharu, Susie, and Lalitha, K. (eds), Women Writing In India: 600BC To The Present, vol. 1 (New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1991)

Vadgama, K., India In Britain: The Indian Contribution to the British Way of Life (London: R. Royce, 1984)

Visram, Rozina, Ayahs, Lascars and Princes: The Story of Indians in Britain, 1700-1947 (London: Pluto Press, 1986)

Relevance: 

The letters of Cornelia Sorabji to her parents describe her time in Britain as a student and the extract cited here reveals her attitudes towards other South Asians, and in particular here Indian princesses. The extract also reveals the close relationship that Sorabji had with the Warden of her college, Somerville, similar to the close relationship she had with many other British figures of authority.

Archive source: 

 

7MGF, letters to M. G. Fawcett, The Women's Library, London Metropolitan University

L/I/1/1520, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

Mss Eur F165 (letters), Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

City of birth: 
Nasik
Country of birth: 
India

Locations

Somerville College Oxford, OX2 6HD
United Kingdom
51° 47' 13.6464" N, 1° 17' 24.6012" W
22 Old Buildings, Lincoln's Inn London, WC2A 3UP
United Kingdom
51° 30' 52.6572" N, 0° 6' 40.3056" W
Finsbury Park
London, N4 3EU
United Kingdom
51° 33' 54.2304" N, 0° 5' 51.4644" W
Date of death: 
06 Jul 1954
Location of death: 
Finsbury Park, London
Date of 1st arrival in Britain: 
01 Jan 1889
Precise 1st arrival date unknown: 
Y
Dates of time spent in Britain: 

1889-94 (studied for BCL degree at Somerville College, Oxford, then trained at solicitor’s firm in Lincoln’s Inn, London)
1922-3 (moved to England and stayed at the Halcyon Club, 13/14 Cork Street, London)
1925 (visited England and stayed at the Halcyon Club, London)
1932 (visited England for treatment of deteriorating health)
1938 (settled permanently for England)

Tags for Making Britain: 

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