Raymond Eustace Grant Govan,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(known more often as R.E. Grant Govan and also as REG Govan; December 1891, in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

district – 26 January 1940, in Hardwar, United Provinces) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

industrialist based in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

and the first President of the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

Career

He was the Managing Director of Govan Bros. Ltd., a leading business house of the time.Page 22 The company was managing agents for a number of industrial enterprises. Grant Govan was a keen pilotPage 61 and the founder of Indian National Airways Ltd, an aviation company formed in 1933 under Govan Bros Ltd.Page 105 Apart from the airline, Govan Bros operated ''Delhi Flour Mills'', set up ''Sugar Mills-Raza Buland'' at

Rampur, Uttar Pradesh Rampur ( ) is a city, and the municipality headquarter of Rampur District in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was formerly known for its various industries, like sugar refining and cotton milling. Its library has more than 12,000 rare manus ...

, and had a travel department, Govan Agencies (the Govan Bros Ltd businesses were sold in 1947 to the Ramkrishna Dalmia led

Dalmia Group Dalmia Bharat Group, (DBG) is an Indian conglomerate company, which trace their origin to the businesses established by ''Ramkrishna Dalmia'' and Jaidayal Dalmia. The Dalmia brothers established a business conglomerate in eastern India, in the ...

). Apart from the airline, Govan had other interests in aviation, like the ''Delhi Flying Club'' which he founded in 1928. Govan was an avid sports enthusiast.Page 92 He founded the ''Roshanara Cricket Club'' in Delhi, named after the nearby tomb of

Roshanara Begum Roshanara Begum ( fa, , lit=Adorned in Light); 3 September 1617 – 11 September 1671) was a Mughal princess and the third daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Roshanara was a brilliant woman and a talented poet. She ...

, with a group of friends in 1922. The club was officially inaugurated by

Marquess of Reading Marquess of Reading is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1926 for Rufus Isaacs, who had been Member of Parliament for Reading between 1904 and 1913, before serving as Viceroy of India and Lord Chief Justice of Engla ...

in December 1922.Page 821 Govan had the distinction of being both the founding President of the

(BCCI) in 1928, a position he held till 1933 and the

Cricket Club of India Cricket Club of India (CCI) is a cricket club in India. It is located on Dinsha Wacha Road, in Churchgate of Mumbai, India. It was conceived as India's counterpart to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). It is considered one of the most prestigiou ...

(CCI) in 1933.Page 44 He, along with then BCCI secretary

Anthony De Mello Anthony de Mello, also known as Tony de Mello (4 September 1931 – 2 June 1987), was an Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist. A spiritual teacher, writer, and public speaker, de Mello wrote several books on spirituality and hosted nu ...

, was instrumental in getting the BCCI affiliated to the ''Imperial Cricket Conference'' (now

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

) in 1928.Page 103 In 1931 BCCI with Govan at its helm invited the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

to tour India for the first time, with the support of

Lord Irwin Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...

, the then

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

.Page 4 When he died in 1940, Dr. P. Subbaroyan, then President of the (BCCI), issued a statement which read "In the death of Mr. Grant Govan, Indian Cricket has lost a friend ...".Page 196 After his death, a few of his friends set up the ''Grant Govan Memorial Homes'' in Delhi. These are meant to be retirement homes for

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The '' Oxford English ...

s with limited means and were inaugurated by Marchioness of Linlithgow, wife of the then ''Viceroy of India'' in October 1940.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Govan, R. E. Grant 1891 births 1940 deaths People from Croydon British people in colonial India English cricket administrators Indian cricket administrators Aviation history of India Businesspeople from Delhi Presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India