Sir Robert Nathan (1868–1921) was a British intelligence official notable for his work against the

Indian revolutionaries Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, Britain and North America.

Early career in India

Nathan was educated at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, before joining the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

in 1888. He was appointed secretary of the Indian Universities Commission in 1902, and Private Secretary to the Viceroy,

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...

, in 1905. In 1907 Nathan was made Chief Secretary to the Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam, and Commissioner of Dhaka Police. In 1908, Nathan, then the Police Commissioner of

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 ...

, was responsible along with the district collector H.L. Salkeld for uncovering the revolutionary organisation of the ''

Anushilan Samiti Anushilan Samiti ( bn, অনুশীলন সমিতি, , bodybuilding society) was an Indian fitness club, which was actually used as an underground society for anti-British revolutionaries. In the first quarter of the 20th century it su ...

'', and for instituting the measures to suppress the organisation.

Return to Britain

Nathan was appointed Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University in 1914, and the same year returned from India on account of ill-health. He began his work for British intelligence against Indian revolutionaries in October 1914. After retiring from the ICS in 1915, Nathan joined the

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

's section dealing with the Indian seditionist movement in Europe, called MI5(g), that was formed at the time headed by

Vernon Kell Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Sir Vernon George Waldegrave Kell, (21 November 1873 – 27 March 1942) was a British Army general and the founder and first Director of the British Security Service, otherwise known as MI5. Kn ...

. Nathan's fellow officer at the time was another ex-Indian police official, H. L. Stephenson. He headed at the time the political branch of the Secret Service, and along with

Basil Thomson Sir Basil Home Thomson, (21 April 1861 – 26 March 1939) was a British colonial administrator and prison governor, who was head of Metropolitan Police CID during World War I. This gave him a key role in arresting wartime spies, and he was clos ...

who headed the Special Branch of the

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

, Nathan was closely involved in the interrogation of Indians who worked along with the Germans during the war. Nathan's efforts, along with those of

John Wallinger Major (United Kingdom), Major Sir John Arnold Wallinger (25 October 1869 – 7 January 1931) was a British Indian intelligence officer who led the Indian Political Intelligence Office from 1909 to 1916. As a Indian Imperial Police, colonial police ...

Indian Political Intelligence Office The Indian Political Intelligence Office (IPIO) was an intelligence organisation initially established in England in 1909 in response to the dissemination of anarchist and revolutionary elements of Indian nationalism to different countries in Eu ...

(with whom Nathan worked closely), were key in the British counter-espionage work. Nathan identified plans by

Ghadar Party The Ghadar Movement was an early 20th century, international political movement founded by expatriate Indians to overthrow British rule in India. The early movement was created by conspirators who lived and worked on the West Coast of the Unite ...

and the

Berlin Committee The Berlin Committee, later known as the Indian Independence Committee (german: Indisches Unabhängigkeitskomitee) after 1915, was an organisation formed in Germany in 1914 during World War I by Indian students and political activists residing in ...

to assassinate Lord Kitchener in 1915 through an associate of

Har Dayal Lala Har Dayal Mathur (Punjabi: ਲਾਲਾ ਹਰਦਿਆਲ; 14 October 1884 – 4 March 1939) was an Indian nationalist revolutionary and freedom fighter. He was a polymath who turned down a career in the Indian Civil Service. His simple ...

Gobind Behari Lal Gobind Behari Lal was an Indian-American journalist and independence activist. A relative and close associate of Lala Har Dayal, he joined the Ghadar Party and participated in the Indian independence movement. He arrived the United States on a s ...

. He was also responsible at this time, along with Basil Thomson, to turn Harish Chandra (who was associated with the

) into a double agent. Nathan was also responsible for the plans made by British intelligence in late 1915 to assassinate

Virendranath Chattopadhyaya Virendranath Chattopadhyaya ( bn, বীরেন্দ্রনাথ চট্টোপাধ্যায়), alias Chatto, (31 October 1880 – 2 September 1937, Moscow), also known by his pseudonym Chatto, was a prominent Indian revolutiona ...

through agent Donald Gullick.

Work in North America

Later, on instructions from British secret service, Robert Nathan transferred to the Pacific coast of North America where the

worked closely with the German consulate at San Francisco to obtain arms and men for what came to be known as the

Ghadar Conspiracy The Ghadar Mutiny ( Hindustani: ग़दर राज्य-क्रान्ति (غدر بغاوت), ''Ġadar Rājya-krānti'', ''Ġadar Baġāvat''), also known as the Ghadar Conspiracy, was a plan to initiate a pan-India mutiny in the Br ...

. Nathan successfully brought the Ghadarites and staff at the German consulate to trial following the ''Annie Larsen'' arms plot. He organised the

Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial The Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial commenced in the District Court in San Francisco on November 12, 1917, following the uncovering of the :Hindu–German Conspiracy (also known as the Indo German plot) for initiating a revolt in India. It was pa ...

, which at the time was the longest in American legal history. He was responsible for the arrest of Chandra Kanta Chakraverty and his subsequent interrogation, along with that Ernst Sekunna. Through March 1917, Nathan worked closely with William Wiseman, and negotiated with the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

the details of the case against the Indian conspirators. He strongly supported granting a guarantee to the United States not to be held responsible for violation of neutrality.

Later life

Nathan returned to Britain at the end of World War I where he died in 1921.

Publications

Official History of Plague in India; Progress of Education in India, 1897-8, etc. "Nathan, Robert (NTN885R)"
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Notes

References

*Dictionary of Indian Biography. Charles Edward Buckland. 1906. p313 *Development of University Education, 1916-1920. Suresh Chandra Ghosh. 1977. p359 *Sir Horace Rumbold; Portrait of a Diplomat: 1869-1941. Martin Gilbert, Michael Gilbert. 1973. p52 *Who's who: An Annual Biographical Dictionary. Henry Robert Addison, Charles Henry Oakes, et al. p1117 *'' The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia''.

Isaac Landman Isaac Landman (October 24, 1880 – September 4, 1946) was an American Reform rabbi, author and anti-Zionist activist. He was editor of the ten volume ''Universal Jewish Encyclopedia''. Biography Landman was born in Russia on October 4, 1880, to Ad ...

, Simon Cohen. 1939. p111 *Encyclopaedia Judaica. Fred Skolnik, Michael Berenbaum. 1972. p847 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Robert Indian Civil Service (British India) officers British police officers in India Hindu–German Conspiracy World War I spies for the United Kingdom Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire 1868 births 1921 deaths