Sir Fazalbhoy Currimbhoy Ebrahim, 1st Baronet (25 October 1839 – 26 September 1924) was a mid 19th century Gujarati Khoja businessman of the Nizari

Ismaili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

faith based in Bombay. He is credited with founding E. Pabaney & Co, a family held trading and ship owning company whose trading interests extended as far as the

Arabian peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

, the African coast and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The Khoja family was based in Bombay, and had been active in

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

(the capital city of the

Guangdong Province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

in southern

) before the Opium War. They had a virtual monopoly on India's overseas merchandising. They continued to maintain a considerable stake in the opium trade through E. Pabaney & Co, with branch offices springing up in Hong Kong and Shanghai during the latter half of the 19th century.

Personal life

Fazalbhoy Currimbhoy Ebrahim was born into a Gujarati Muslim Khoja family in Bombay on 25 October 1839. His father was an established ship owner and their family had been active traders for generations. At the age of 16, Currimbhoy started E.Pabaey, a trading company, with the help of his father and extended family. He married twice, and had 10 children through his first marriage with Bai Foolbai Gangji and 11 children through his second marriage to Bai Foolbia Sajan.

Career and E. Pabaney

Currimbhoy established E. Pabaney in 1856 in Bombay as a trading company. In 1857, it opened an office in Hong Kong on Duddell street for trading in

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

, yarn, cotton, silk and tea, and soon set up offices all over the far east. Ships belonging to their company, E. Pabaney & Co., traded between India, Africa, China, Hong Kong and the far East. In Shanghai, the company was listed as the "8 Bali Foreign company (八巴利洋行 / bā bālì yángháng). In 1903, the company established itself in Singapore for the trading of

and yarn. (It is important to note that the current E Pabaney company, registered in India, is entirely unrelated to this history.)

Honours and Philanthropy

Currimbhoy was

knighted 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 Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

during the Prince and

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was firs ...

's Indian tour of 1905 and created a baronet in 1910 and further granted lands to support that dignity by the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Baronetcy Act 1913 following the precedent set by the Cowasji Jehangir Baronetcy Act. Between 1947 and 1949, due to the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, this descendants, namely the third and fourth baronets migrated to Pakistan. The Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage trust started by him, continue to own large pieces of land in and around Mumbai, including Currimbhoy Manor (Bhulabhai Desai Road, Bombay) and the Poona bungalow ( Pune). An orphanage, Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Yateemkhana, on

Altamount Road Altamount Road, also known as India's Billionaires’ Row, is an affluent neighbourhood in Mumbai, India. The area is notable for some of the most expensive residences in the world consisting of ultra-luxurious residential skyscrapers, constr ...

, Cumbala Hill, Bombay, founded by him in 1895 and run by the trust, was sold to

Mukesh Ambani Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani (born 19 April 1957) is an Indian billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), a Fortune Global 500 company and India's most valuable company by market value. Acco ...

in 2002 for the building of a 27 storied residence for the Ambani family, called Antilia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebrahim, Currimbhoy 1839 births 1924 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Knights Bachelor Indian Ismailis Indian baronets Indian Knights Bachelor Indian businesspeople in shipping Indian businesspeople in textiles Gujarati people 19th-century Indian Muslims Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 19th-century Indian businesspeople