Dadabhai Naoroji
| Dadabhai Naoroji दादाभाई नौरोजी |
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Dadabhai Naoroji c. 1889
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Member of Parliament for Finsbury Central |
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In office 1892–1895 |
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| Preceded by | Frederick Thomas Penton |
| Succeeded by | William Frederick Barton Massey-Mainwaring |
| Majority | 3 |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 September 1825 Bombay, British India |
| Died | 30 June 1917 (aged 91) |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Other political affiliations |
Indian National Congress |
| Spouse(s) | Gulbaai |
| Residence | London, United Kingdom |
| Profession | Academic, political leader, mp, cotton |
| Committees | Legislative Council of Mumbai |
| Religion | Zoroastrianism |
| Signature |  |
Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917), known as the Grand Old Man of India, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political and social leader. He was a Liberal Party member of parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom House of Commons between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP, nonwithstanding the Anglo-Indian MP David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre who was disfranchised for corruption.
Naoroji is also credited with the founding of the Indian National Congress, along with A.O. Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha. His book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India brought attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain. He was also a member of the Second International along with Kautsky and Plekhanov.
Naoroji was born in Mumbai in a Gujarati-speaking Parsi family and educated at the Elphinstone Institute School. He was patronised by Maharaja of Baroda Sayajirao Gaekwad III and started his public life as the Dewan (Minister) to the Maharaja in 1874. Being an Athornan (ordained priest), Naoroji founded the Rahnumae Mazdayasne Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August 1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity. In 1854, he also founded a Gujarati fortnightly publication, the Rast Goftar (or The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts and promote Parsi social reforms. In 1855, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the Elphinstone College in Bombay, becoming the first Indian to hold such an academic position. He travelled to London in 1855 to become a partner in Cama & Co, opening a Liverpool location for the first Indian company to be established in Britain. Within three years, he had resigned on ethical grounds. In 1859, he established his own cotton trading company, Dadabhai Naoroji & Co. Later, he became professor of Gujarati at University College London.
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