Sir Manohar Lal (31 December 1871 – 1 May 1949) was an economist, lawyer and politician during the British Raj.

Biography

Lal was born into a

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 ...

Baniya family in Fazilka, Punjab. He was schooled in Fazilka and Ferozepur before reading English at Forman Christian College where he achieved a first.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662 He subsequently won a scholarship to

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

. At Cambridge he became the first Indian to secure a first in the

Moral Sciences Tripos The University of Cambridge was the birthplace of the 'Analytical' School of Philosophy in the early 20th century. The department is located in the Raised Faculty Building on the Sidgwick Site and is part of the Cambridge School of Arts and Humanit ...

, studying economics under

Alfred Marshall Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was an English economist, and was one of the most influential economists of his time. His book '' Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textbook in England for many years. I ...

.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662 In 1904 he was awarded the prestigious Cobden Prize ahead of D. H. MacGregor and later that year he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662 In 1905 he returned to India owing to the ill health of his father and accepted a professorship at

Randhir College The NJSA Government College or Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Government College, also known as the Randhir College, is a college situated in Kapurthala, in Punjab. Established in 1856 by Maharaja Randir Singh in Kapurthala State as Sanskrit vidy ...

in Kapurthala.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662 In 1909 he was appointed the Minto Professor of Economics at Calcutta University, becoming the first university professor of economics, and the first person, Indian or European, to hold a university chair.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662 His students included Rajendra Prasad,

Azizul Haque Azizul Haque, ( ar , عزيز الحق ) meaning "strong in the truth", is a male Muslim given name. Notable bearers of the name include: *Qazi Azizul Haque (1872–1935), also Khan Bahadur Qazi Azizul Huq, Quazi Syed Azizul Haque, police officer a ...

and Radhakamal Mukerjee.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662 He left his post in 1912, returning to Lahore to practice law. Following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 he was arrested on the basis of his role as a trustee of The Tribune newspaper and held in a jail for a month without charge.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662 In 1920 he entered politics as a member of the provincial legislature from the university constituency. Governor

Sir Malcolm Hailey William Malcolm Hailey, 1st Baron Hailey, (15 February 1872 – 1 June 1969) known as Sir Malcolm Hailey between 1921 and 1936, was a British peer and administrator in British India. Education Hailey was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and ...

appointed him as Education Minister in 1927 and he remained in the post until 1931. In 1937 he was appointed Finance Minister in the Unionist government of Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan. In 1939 he represented the Indian Empire as a delegate to League of Nations and was made a Knight Bachelor in 1941.United Kingdom and British Empire: The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35029. pp. 1–33. 31 December 1940 He lost his seat at the

1946 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1946. Africa * French legislative election, November 1946 (French Equatorial Africa) * French legislative election, November 1946 (Guinea) * 1946–1947 Moyen-Congo Representative Council election * 194 ...

.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662 Later in his life, he settled in Ambala, India and retired from public office. He died at the Cecil Hotel in Ambala on 1 May 1949.Krishnamurty, J. "Manohar Lal: Scholar, Economist and Statesman." Modern Asian Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2010, pp. 641–662

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lal, Manohar 1871 births 1949 deaths Lawyers in British India Prisoners and detainees of British India History of Punjab Punjabi people Indian Knights Bachelor Forman Christian College alumni Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Academic staff of the University of Calcutta