Syud Hossain (23 June 1888 – 26 February 1949) was an Indian journalist, an

Indian independence activist The Indian independence movement consisted of efforts by individuals and organizations from a wide spectrum of society to obtain political independence from the British, French and Portuguese rule through the use of a many methods. This is a l ...

, and the first Indian ambassador to Egypt in the

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

administration.

Background

Syud Hossain was born in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in the then

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 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 ...

in 1888. His father, Nawab Syud Mahomed Khan Bahadur (1850–1915), was the Inspector-General of Registration, Bengal. His great-great-grandfather was Mir Ashraf Ali Khan (d. 1829). Syud Hossain's mother was the daughter of

Nawab Abdul Latif Nawab Bahadur Abdul Latif (1828 – 10 July 1893) was a 19th-century Bengali aristocrat, educator and social worker. His title, ''Nawab'' was awarded by the British in 1880. He was one of the first Muslims in 19th-century India to embrace the i ...

, a social reformer of

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 ...

. Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq (1873–1962) and Sir Hassan Suhrawardy (1888–1946), were his brother-in-laws. Hossain passed his

Entrance Examination An entrance examination is an examination that educational institutions conduct to select prospective students for admission. It may be held at any stage of education, from primary to tertiary, even though it is typically held at tertiary stage. ...

in 1904 and F.A. in 1906 from the

Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College ( ur, Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind, italics=yes) was founded in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, initially as a primary school, with the intention of taking it to a college level institution, known as Muhammed ...

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...

. He then joined the

Bengal 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 p ...

as a Sub-Deputy Collector in Calcutta but he soon went to England to pursue further education in 1909.

Career

Hossain started his journalism career early in life and became the editor of

Motilal Nehru Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist and politician belonging to the Indian National Congress. He also served as the Congress President twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. He was a patriarch of the Nehr ...

's nationalist newspaper, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. Hossain wrote ''"Echoes from Old Dacca"'', published in May 1909 and ''"Gandhi: The Saint as Statesman"'' in 1937. Hossain represented India at the Paris Peace Conference in 1920 for the Near Eastern Peace settlement. In the 1930s, he moved to California. He served as a lecturer at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

's Department of History as a visiting faculty lecturer. He taught two courses entitled "India's Civilization" and "Islamic Civilization" in the summer of 1934. The university later conferred on him an

honorary doctorate degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

. When Hossain left the United States for India in 1946, a farewell dinner was organised for him at the Ceylon India Inn in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where the guests include

Ragini Devi Esther Luella Sherman (18 August 1893- 23 January 1982), better known as Ragini Devi, was an Indian classical dancer of Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali and Odissi, which she popularised in the west. Early life Ragini Devi (née Esther ...

, Habib Rahman, and

Indrani Rahman Indrani Rahman (19 September 1930, Chennai – 5 February 1999, New York) was an Indian classical dancer of Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali and Odissi, which she popularised in the west, and later settled in New York in 1976. In 1952, ...

Personal life

In 1919, Hossain secretly married

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit ('' née'' Swarup Nehru; 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian diplomat and politician who was the 6th Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964 and 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 19 ...

, a sister of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hossain, Syud 1888 births 1949 deaths Bengali Muslims Bengali writers 20th-century Bengalis Bengali activists Indian journalists Ambassadors of India to Egypt Indian male journalists 20th-century Indian journalists Journalists from West Bengal Indian editors Indian newspaper journalists Indian newspaper editors Indian essayists 20th-century Indian essayists Indian columnists Indian political journalists Indian activists