Frank Anthony (25 September 1908 – 3 December 1993) was a leader of the Anglo-Indian community in India, and was until his death their nominated representative in the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

except 6th and 9th Lok Sabha. He served as the president of the

All India Anglo-Indian Association The All India Anglo-Indian Association is an organisation representing the interests of Anglo-Indians. It was founded in 1926 in colonial India by Sir Henry Gidney. It has sixty-two branches in all of India. The All India Anglo-Indian Associati ...

. He was also the founder of the

Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) is a privately held national-level board of school education in India that conducts the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) Examination for Class X and the India ...

(CISCE) which operates the ICSE board of Education in India.

Early life and education

Anthony was born in

Jubbulpore Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...

(now "Jabalpur") on 25 September 1908. He studied at

Nagpur University Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU), formerly Nagpur University, is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Nagpur, Maharashtra. It is one of India's oldest universities, as well as th ...

, and

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in London and became

Bar-at-law A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

Role in Constituent Assembly

In 1942–46, he was a member of the Central Legislative Assembly, and later a member of the

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

during 1946–50 and represented the Anglo-Indian community in assembly. He was also temporary vice president of Constituent Assembly & he was a part of the Advisory Committee and Sub-committee on Minorities.

Career

In 1942, Anthony was elected the president-in-chief of the community of the

. He opposed the partition of India on the grounds that it would jeopardise the interests of the minority communities. When the future of India was being decided by British,

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

leaders, he presented the Anglo-Indian case to

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...

and

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

, and they agreed to make special provisions for the Anglo-Indians in the Indian Constitution. In particular, two seats were reserved for members of the Anglo-Indian community in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

(Lower House) of the Indian parliament, the only reserved seats in the House. These seats were abolished in 2020 by the One Hundred and Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of India. Anthony was a member of the Provisional Parliament during 195052. He was nominated to all

from the 1st till the 10th, except the 6th and 9th Lok Sabha. After Anthony retired from practising as a lawyer, PM Nehru in 1952 asked him to go to

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

to defend Mehr Chand Khanna, the ex-finance minister of the

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followin ...

. In those days, no Hindu lawyer would go to Peshawar. Following Anthony's discussions with the chief minister, Khanna was released. In October 1946, he was one of India's delegates at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. In 1948 and 1957, he represented India at the

Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights. In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head of ...

. In 1978, Anthony assisted the Nehru family when

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

was arrested. Anthony's greatest contribution was in the field of Anglo-Indian education. In 1947, he was elected chairman of the Inter-State Board of Anglo-Indian Education. He was also the Founder-Chairman of the All India Anglo-Indian Educational Trust which, today, owns and administers six schools named after him, including

The Frank Anthony Public School, New Delhi The Frank Anthony Public School (often abbreviated as 'FAPS') is a public day-school in New Delhi, India, for students ranging from 3–18 years. The school is coeducational and has more than 3600 boys and girls on the rolls from classes Nurser ...

The Frank Anthony Public School, Bengaluru The Frank Anthony Public School (or FAPS) is a co-educational day-school, for students of age 4–18 years, in Bangalore, India. It was founded in 1967 by the Anglo-Indian educationist and barrister-at-law, Frank Anthony, who was also the Foun ...

The Frank Anthony Public School, Kolkata The Frank Anthony Public School in Kolkata, India, is a co-educational school imparting primary, secondary and senior secondary education. The foundation stone of the school was laid by Anglo-Indian leader, social activist and educationist Fra ...

and three Frank Anthony Junior Schools in the cities of

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. These schools took as inspiration the model of the long-establish English

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

. Anthony was also the chairman of the ICSE Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Frank 1908 births Anglo-Indian people Madhya Pradesh politicians 1993 deaths Educators from Madhya Pradesh Founders of Indian schools and colleges Members of the Constituent Assembly of India People from Jabalpur Nominated members of the Lok Sabha India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1991–1996 Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University alumni 20th-century Indian lawyers 20th-century Indian educational theorists

Early life and education

Role in Constituent Assembly

Career

See also

References