On This Day

June 30, 1917

Death of Dadabhai Naoroji

Dadabhai Naoroji was the first Indian professor of mathematics and served as Prime Minister of Boroda in the 1870s and was three times President of the Indian National Congress. Naoroji first visited England in 1855 and returned in the early 1880s. He was chosen to fight Holborn for the Liberals in the general election of 1886. He lost but secured nomination for Central Finsbury and at the election of 1892 gained the seat from the Tories by five votes, becoming the first non-white person to be elected to parliament. Although he lost his seat in 1895 his influence both in the UK and India was and remains considerable.