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Dorabji Tata | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Dorab Tata | |
| 1stPresident of Indian Olympic Association | |
| In office 1927–1928 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | MaharajaBhupinder Singh of Patiala |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1859-08-27)27 August 1859 Bombay,Bombay Presidency,British India |
| Died | 3 June 1932(1932-06-03) (aged 72) Bad Kissingen, Germany |
| Spouse | Meherbai Bhabha |
| Parent(s) | Hirabai andJamshedji Tata |
| Relatives | SeeTata family |
| Alma mater | Cambridge University University of Bombay |
| Occupation | Industrialist,Philanthropist |
| Known for | Founder ofTata Steel,Tata Power andTata Chemicals |
Sir Dorabji Tata (27 August 1859 – 3 June 1932) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist of theBritish Raj, and a key figure in the history and development of theTata Group. He wasknighted in 1910 for his contributions to industry in British India. He was the elder son ofJamsetji Tata, the founder of theTata Group. He played a pioneering role by guidingIndia to the Olympics even before the establishment of an independent National Olympic Association.[1]
Dorab was the elder son ofParsiZoroastrian Hirabai andJamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. Through an aunt, Jerbai Tata, who married a Bombay merchant, Dorabji Saklatvala, he was a cousin ofShapurji Saklatvala who later became aCommunistmember of the British Parliament.[2]
Tata received his primary education at the Proprietary High School inBombay (now Mumbai) before travelling to England in 1875, where he was privately tutored. He enteredGonville and Caius College, Cambridge, in 1877,[3] where he remained for two years before returning to Bombay in 1879. He continued his studies atSt. Xavier's College, Bombay, where he obtained a degree in 1882.[4]
Upon graduating, Dorab worked for two years as a journalist at theBombay Gazette. In 1884, he joined the cotton business division of his father's firm. He was first sent toPondicherry, then aFrench colony, to determine whether a cotton mill might be profitable there. Thereafter, he was sent toNagpur, to learn the cotton trade at the Empress Mills which had been founded by his father in 1877.
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Dorabji's father, Jamshetji, had visitedMysore State in south India on business, and had met Dr. Hormusji Bhabha, a Parsi and the first Indian Inspector-General of Education of that state. While visiting the Bhabha home, he had met and approved of young Meherbai, Bhabha's only daughter. Returning to Bombay, Jamshetji sent Dorab to Mysore State, specifically to call on the Bhabha family. Dorab did so, and duly married Meherbai in 1897. The couple had no children.
Meherbai's grandfather was the industrialistDinshaw Maneckji Petit and her brother, Jehangir Bhabha, was a reputed lawyer. He was the father of scientistHomi J. Bhabha. Thus Dorabji was Homi Bhabha's uncle by marriage. TheTata Group funded Bhabha's research and his research institutions, including theTata Institute of Fundamental Research.
Dorabji was intimately involved in the fulfilment of his father's ideas of a modern iron and steel industry, and agreed to the necessity forhydroelectric electricity to power the industry. Dorab is credited with the establishment of theTata Steel conglomerate in 1907, which his father founded andTata Power in 1911, which are the core of the present-dayTata Group.[citation needed]
Dorabji accompanied themineralogists searching for iron fields. It is said that his presence encouraged researchers to search areas that would otherwise have been neglected. Under Dorabji's management, the business that had once included three cotton mills and theTaj Hotel Bombay grew to include India's largest private sector steel company, three electric companies and one of India's leading insurance companies.[citation needed]
Founder ofNew India Assurance Co Ltd. in 1919, the largest General Insurance company in India, Dorabji Tata was knighted in January 1910 by Edward VII, becoming Sir Dorabji Tata.[5]
Dorabji was extremely fond of sports, and was a pioneer in the Indian Olympic movement. He played an instrumental role in facilitating necessary arrangements to sendIndian contingent to mark their first ever Olympic appearance during the1920 Summer Olympics, especially coincidentally coming in at a critical juncture when a formal National Olympic Association was not yet established in India.[6] He pledged his support to finance the Indian athletes targeting the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, after witnessing impressive performance of the athletes during the 1919 sports meet held at the Deccan Gymkhana, Pune.[7] It was revealed that Dorabji's passion in sports was elevated due to his patriotic sentimental values towards his country and it eventually prompted him to finance the athletes participation for the 1920 Summer Olympics.[8] It was also quite serendipitous occasion when Dorabji himself was invited as a chief guest for the 1919 Deccan Gymkhana's annual sports gala event, where he took notes that some of the athletes nearly touched clocking timings similar to European standards.[7] He approached Governor of Bombay, Lloyd George to help secure India's participation at the 1920 Olympics and more importantly, Lloyd George was also present at the 1919 Deccan Gymkhana event where he offered prizes for the athletes who had performed exceptionally well during the course of the competition. Dorabji Tata and Lloyd George were integral part of a committee which was formed to discuss on their ambitious attempts to send a contingent representing India at the 1920 Olympics and the committee decided to hold trials for Olympic selection at the Pune's Deccan Gymkhana where they finalised the list of athletes.[8]
As president of theIndian Olympic Association, he financed the Indian contingent to theParis Olympics in 1924.[9] The Tata family, like most of India's big businessmen, were Indian nationalists.[10] Tata was a member of the International Olympic Committee during most of the years between World War I and World War II.[11]
He also devoted his passion to education aspects and played an instrumental role by assisting his father Jamshedji Tata to lay foundation to theIndian Institute of Science in 1909.
Meherbai Tata died ofleukaemia in 1931 at the age of 72. Shortly after her death, Dorabji established the Lady Tata Memorial Trust to advance study of diseases of the blood.
On 11 March 1932, one year after Meherbai's death and shortly before his own, he established a trust fund which was to be used "without any distinction of place, nationality or creed", for the advancement of learning and research, disaster relief, and other philanthropic purposes. That trust is today known as theSir Dorabji Tata Trust. Dorabji additionally provided the seed money to fund the setting up of India's premier scientific and engineering research institution, theIndian Institute of Science,Bangalore. He had earlier funded a major new building for theDepartment of Engineering, University of Cambridge.
Dorabji died inBad Kissingen, Germany, on 3 June 1932, at the age of 73. He is buried alongside his wife Meherbai inBrookwood Cemetery,Woking, England. They had no children.
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| Preceded by | Chairman ofTata Group 1904–1932 | Succeeded by |
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| New title First holder | President of the Indian Olympic Association 1927–1928 | Succeeded by |
Chairmen ofTata Group | |
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