Lieutenant-Colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...
Hassan Suhrawardy
CStJ,
FRCS
Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal ...
(17 November 1884 – 18 September 1946)
was a Bengali surgeon,
military officer in the
British Indian Army, politician, and a public official. He was the former chairman of the executive committee of the
East London Mosque
The East London Mosque (ELM) is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate East. Combined with the adjoining London Muslim Centre and Maryam Centre, it is one of the largest mosques in Europe accommodating ...
. Knighted in 1932, he renounced his British honours a month before his death.
Life and family
Hassan Suhrawardy was born in
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
, to
Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy
Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy ( ar, عبيد الله العبيدي السهروردي, bn, ওবায়দুল্লাহ আল ওবায়দী সোহরাওয়ার্দী; 1832 – 9 February 1885) was a Bengali Is ...
, an educationist and scion of the prominent
Suhrawardy family
The Suhrawardy family with over nine hundred years of recorded history has been one of the oldest leading noble families and political dynasties of the Indian subcontinent and is regarded as an important influencer during the Bengali Renaiss ...
of
Midnapore (now in
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
, India). At a very young age, Hassan was married to Sahibzadi Shahbanu Begum in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian way. They had a harmonious marriage and were the parents of two children, a son Hassan Masud Suhrawardy (1903–1963) and a daughter,
Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah. Hassan's daughter Shaista was married to
Mohammed Ikramullah, a Pakistani diplomat and brother of Chief Justice
Mohammad Hidayatullah, sometime vice-president of India. Through Shaista Begum, Hassan Suhrawardy is the grandfather of
Salma Sobhan,
Naz Ikramullah
Naz Ikramullah Ashraf (née Naz Ikramullah) is a British-Canadian artist and film producer of Pakistani-Bengali origin.
Background
Ikramullah was born in London, England to a Muslim family. Her father, Mohammed Ikramullah, later became the f ...
and
Princess Sarvath of Jordan.
5th Prime Minister of Pakistan Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy ( bn, হোসেন শহীদ সোহ্রাওয়ার্দী; ur, ; 8 September 18925 December 1963) was a Bengali barrister and politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 t ...
was a son of Khujastha Akhtar Banu, a sister of Hassan Suhrawardy. Khujastha was married to her cousin Justice Sir
Zahid Suhrawardy
Sir Zahid Suhrawardy (27 November 1870 – 2 January 1949), also known as Zahidur Rahman, was an Indian Bengali jurist who served a judge in the Calcutta High Court between 1921 and 1931. He was the father of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a former ...
, an early Indian judge of the Calcutta High Court.
Career
Suhrawardy was the first Muslim vice-chancellor of
Calcutta University
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 ...
(1930–1934) and the second Muslim from the sub-continent to become a Fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. T ...
. In 1945 he was appointed Professor of Islamic History and Culture in Calcutta University while retaining the chair of Public Health and Hygiene, which he had held since 1931.
Suhrawardy served as an adviser to the Simon Commission and was a member of the Bengal Legislative Council of which he was deputy president from 1923 to 1925. As the chief medical and health officer of the
East Indian Railway
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Barod ...
, he founded the railway's ambulance and nursing division.
Suhrawardy also played a role towards the establishment of the
East London Mosque
The East London Mosque (ELM) is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate East. Combined with the adjoining London Muslim Centre and Maryam Centre, it is one of the largest mosques in Europe accommodating ...
.
Knighthood and later life
While Suhrawardy was vice-chancellor and dean of the Faculty of Medicine, he received his knighthood immediately after he had saved the life of Sir
Stanley Jackson from an assassination attempt by
Bina Das
Bina Das (24 August 1911—1986) was an Indian revolutionary and nationalist from West Bengal.
Biography Early life and education
Das was the daughter of a Brahmo teacher, Beni Madhab Das and a social worker, Sarala Devi. Her elder sister ...
, a student, in the Senate House of the
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...
in February 1932. His distinguished career in medicine and in the public service was crowned in 1939 by his appointment to succeed
Sir Abdul Qadir as the adviser to the
Secretary of State for India
His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...
. He retired from that post in 1944.
Suhrawardy was appointed an OBE in the
1927 Birthday Honours list, awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind Medal, First Class in the same honours list in 1930, knighted on 17 February 1932, appointed an Associate Officer of the
Venerable Order of St. John (OStJ) in January 1932 and promoted to Associate Commander in January 1937.
Suhrawardy was active in the
All-India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcont ...
.
[
]
Death and legacy
Suhrawardy died at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine
Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine (CSTM) is a medical institute from Kolkata, India dedicated in the field of tropical disease. It was established in 1914 by Leonard Rogers (1868–1962) of the Indian Medical Service, professor of pathology ...
, aged 61.[ He had renounced his knighthood and OBE a month before his death in August 1946, when the Muslim League decided to renounce all British honours.
In April 1933, ]Calcutta Municipal Corporation
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (abbreviated KMC; also Calcutta Municipal Corporation) is the local government of the Indian city of Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal. This civic administrative body administers an area of . Its motto, ' ...
named the new 100 ft. road from Park Circus to the junction of Kasaipara Lane as "Suhrawardy Avenue". Suhrawardy's house "Kashana" stood on that road. As of 2020, the house is used as the Library and Information Center building of the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suhrawardy, Hassan
1884 births
1946 deaths
Indian medical academics
Bengali educators
20th-century Bengalis
Bengali Muslims
Indian surgeons
University of Calcutta faculty
Vice Chancellors of the University of Calcutta
Indian Knights Bachelor
20th-century Indian medical doctors
Bengali scientists
British Indian Army officers
Suhrawardy family
West Bengal politicians
Medical doctors from Kolkata