Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha,
KCSI,
PC,
KC, (24 March 1863 – 4 March 1928) was a prominent
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
lawyer and statesman. He was the first Governor of
Bihar and Orissa
Bihar and Orissa was a province of British India, which included the present-day Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha. The territories were conquered by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries, and were governed by the then Indian Ci ...
, first Indian
Advocate-General of Bengal
The Advocate-General of Bengal was charged with advising the Government of the British administered Bengal Presidency on legal matters. The Presidency existed from 1765 to 1947. Prior to 1858, when it was administered by the East India Company, t ...
, first Indian to become a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council and the first Indian to become a member of the British ministry. He is sometimes also referred as Satyendra Prasanno Sinha or Satyendra Prasad Sinha.
Early life and education
Sinha was born on 24 March 1863 in
Raipur, Birbhum
: For other places with the same name see Raipur (disambiguation)
Raipur is a village under Raipur–Supur gram panchayat of Bolpur Sriniketan block in Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
History
In ...
in
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...
, British India (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 fourt ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
).
[ His ancestor, Lalchand De, a businessman, came from ]Midnapur
Medinipur or Midnapore (Pron: med̪iːniːpur) is a city known for its history in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the West Medinipur district. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River (variously known as '' ...
in southern Bengal to Birbhum
Birbhum district () is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is in Suri. Other impor ...
in south-western Bengal, sailing up the Ajoy, to Raipur, which is just south of Bolpur
Bolpur is a city and a municipality in Birbhum district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bolpur subdivision. Bolpur municipal area includes Santiniketan, Sriniketan and Prantik. The city is known as a Cultural a ...
. Here he set up his new home, buying the zamindari of Raipur from the Chaudhuri of the village. His father, the zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...
of Raipur, belonged to the Uttar Rarhi Kayastha sreni, a Bengali Kayastha
A Bengali Kayastha is a Bengali Hindu who is a member of the Kayastha community. The historical caste occupation of Kayasthas throughout India has been that of scribes, administrators, ministers and record-keepers; the Kayasthas in Bengal, along ...
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
. Sinha completed his early education from Birbhum Zilla School at Suri and then obtained a scholarship to carry on with his higher studies at Presidency College, Calcutta
Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...
, then affiliated to 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 1878. In 1881, he left his studies in India to study law in England. In England, a scholarship of £50 a year for four years enabled him to train at 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 ...
where he studied Roman Law, Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law and International Law. Later, he also won the Lincoln's Inn scholarship of £100 for three years. In 1886 he returned to Calcutta as a barrister
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 ...
.
Career
After returning to India in 1886, Sinha established a successful legal practice in Calcutta. In 1903, Sinha became Standing Counsel to the Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
overriding the claims of an English Barrister. He was the first Indian to be appointed as Advocate-General of Bengal in 1905, a post that was confirmed in 1908. His legal practice in 1908 was so lucrative that accepting government's invitation meant a cut in his annual income of £10,000. Sinha's first inclination was to turn down the viceroy's invitation, but Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...
and Gokhale Gokhale is an Indian surname found in the Chitpawan community native to the western state of Maharashtra.
People
* Anupama Gokhale, Indian chess player
* Ashok B. Gokhale, Indian diplomat
* Bapu Gokhale, Maratha general
*Chandrakant Gokhale, Yester ...
convinced him to accept the job. He also became the first Indian to enter the Viceroy's Executive Council The Viceroy's Executive Council was the cabinet of the government of British India headed by the Viceroy of India. It is also known as the Council of the Governor-General of India. It was transformed from an advisory council into a cabinet consistin ...
in 1909. He was knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
ed in the New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
on 1 January 1915. Sinha was elected President of the Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
in 1915 at the Bombay session of Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
.
In 1917, Sinha returned to England to work as an Assistant for Secretary of State, Edwin Samuel Montagu
Edwin Samuel Montagu PC (6 February 1879 – 15 November 1924) was a British Liberal politician who served as Secretary of State for India between 1917 and 1922. Montagu was a "radical" Liberal and the third practising Jew (after Sir Herber ...
. Later, he also worked as a member of the Imperial War Cabinet and Conference along with the Maharaja of Bikaner, Ganga Singh
General Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh, (13 October 1880 – 2 February 1943), was the ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Bikaner (in present-day Rajasthan, India) from 1888 to 1943. As a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, he was present in t ...
following the outbreak of the First World War, and represented India in Europe's Peace Conference in 1919. In the same year, he was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India and also raised to the peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks.
Peerages include:
Australia
* Australian peers
Belgium
* Belgi ...
as Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
Sinha of Raipur in the Presidency of Bengal
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...
. He became the first Indian
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 ...
member of the British House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
, taking his seat in February 1919. He was instrumental in passing of Government of India Act, 1919
The Government of India Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 101) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The Act embodied the reforms recommended in the report of ...
through the House of Lords.
He returned to India in 1920 and was appointed as the first governor of the Province of Bihar and Orissa. His term as Governor did not last long and he served on this position for 11 months on grounds of bad health. In 1926, Sinha went back to England and joined the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London but bad health forced him to return to India.
Indian National Congress
Sinha was a member of the Indian National Congress from 1896 to 1919 - rising to become its president in 1915 at the Bombay session. He left Congress in 1919 along with other moderate members. At the Calcutta session of the Congress in 1896 - he brought a proposal that no ruler of any Indian State should be deposed without an open judicial trial.
Shantiniketan
Shantiniketan
Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son ...
was originally a part of the ancestral ''zamindari
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...
'' of the Sinha family of Raipur
Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...
, Birbhum
Birbhum district () is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is in Suri. Other impor ...
. Satyendra Prasad Sinha donated for the construction of ''Sinha Sadan'' with a clock tower and bell. It was in this building that Oxford University conferred its honorary doctorate on the poet, Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
.
Death
Sinha died on 4 March 1928 at Berhampore
Berhampore (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. As of 2011 census, Berhampore urban agglomeration had a population of 305,609 and is the seventh largest city in West Bengal (after Kolkata, Asansol, Siliguri, D ...
.
Personal life
He was married to Gobinda Mohini Mitra on 15 May 1880 at Mahata, Burdwan
Bardhaman (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an alternative name for the city, ...
, 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 ...
. They had four sons and three daughters.
Styles
*1863–1886: Satyendra Prasad Sinha
*1886–1915: Satyendra Prasad Sinha, KC
*1915-10 February 1919: Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
Satyendra Prasad Sinha, KC
*10–19 February 1919: ''The Right Honourable
''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...
'' Sir Satyendra Prasad Sinha, PC, KC
*19 February 1919 – 1920: ''The Right Honourable'' The Lord Sinha, PC, KC
*1920-1921: His Excellency
Excellency is an honorific style (manner of address), style given to certain high-level officers of a sovereign state, officials of an international organization, or members of an aristocracy. Once entitled to the title "Excellency", the holder ...
''The Right Honourable'' The Lord Sinha, PC, KC
*1921–1928: ''The Right Honourable'' The Lord Sinha, KCSI, PC, KC
References
External links
*Biographies:
**
Portraits
at the National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Satyendra Prasad
1863 births
1928 deaths
Bengali Hindus
Politicians from Kolkata
West Bengal politicians
Presidency University, Kolkata alumni
University of Calcutta alumni
Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Indian peers
Bengali zamindars
Indian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Indian barristers
Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Knights Bachelor
Indian Knights Bachelor
People from Birbhum district
Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
British politicians of Indian descent
19th-century Indian lawyers
20th-century Indian lawyers
19th-century Indian politicians
20th-century Indian politicians
English King's Counsel
Barons created by George V
Members of the Council of the Governor General of India