Sir Bhupendra Nath Mitra (
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
: ভূপেন্দ্র নাথ মিত্র) (October 1875 – 25 February 1937) was an Indian government official and diplomat who served as the third
Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
The High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom is the head of the High Commission of India to the United Kingdom. The High Commission is located at India House in London.
History
In 1919, a committee chaired by the Marquess of Crewe det ...
from 1931 to 1936.
Early life
Mitra was born in Bengal to Ashutosh Mitra and his wife. He received his early education at the Metropolitan Institution and the
Hare School
Hare School is one of the oldest schools in Kolkata, India, teaching grades one to twelve under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. It is a state government-administered boys sc ...
. Taking an MA from Presidency College, then under the
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
, in 1895, he entered government service the following year. He married and had a son and two daughters.
Career
In 1910, Mitra was appointed Assistant Secretary to the Government of India, in the Finance Department. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1913 King's Birthday Honours, and was promoted to acting Deputy Secretary in the Finance Department in 1915. In the same year, he was appointed Controller of War Accounts. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 4 December 1917, becoming one of the first to be so honoured. On 8 January 1919, he was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Civil Division (CBE), for his services to the war effort; later the same year, he was appointed Military Accountant-General.
In 1922, Mitra was named Financial Advisor for Military Finance for the
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...
. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in the 1924 New Year Honours list, also becoming a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council the same year; he would remain a member of the council through 1930, briefly serving as temporary Finance Member in 1925. He was further knighted in 1928 when he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI) in that year's New Year Honours list.
High Commissioner and later life
In 1931, Mitra was appointed as the third Indian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir
Atul Chandra Chatterjee
Sir Atul Chandra Chatterjee (Bengali: অতুল চন্দ্র চ্যাটার্জী; 24 November 1874 – 8 September 1955) was an Indian diplomat and government official who served as the Indian High Commissioner to the Unite ...
. The following year he was a delegate to the International Labour Conference in Geneva, also becoming president of the General Assembly of the International Institute of Agriculture in Rome. He also served as the Indian representative on the Imperial Economic Committee, becoming its vice-chairman in 1935.
Mitra was succeeded as High Commissioner in 1936 by Sir
Feroz Khan Noon
Sir Malik Feroz Khan Noon, ( ur, ملک فیروز خان نون; 7 May 18939 December 1970), best known as Feroze Khan, was a Pakistani politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Pakistan from 1957 until being removed wh ...
, and died on 25 February of the following year, aged 61.
[Obituaries, ''Who's Who, 1938'']
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Bhupendra Nath
Indian civil servants
Hare School alumni
Presidency University, Kolkata alumni
University of Calcutta alumni
High Commissioners of India to the United Kingdom
Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Indian knights
1875 births
1937 deaths
Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India
Members of the Council of the Governor General of India