organisation

Formation of League of Nations

Date: 
10 Jan 1920
Event location: 

Paris, then Geneva

About: 

India was granted unconditional original membership of the League of Nations despite its position as part of the British Empire, and lack of political autonomy at the time. The inclusion was widely considered to be part of an attempt by Britain to influence more votes in the League, but can also be considered ‘an important event full of far-reaching consequences. It resulted in a remarkable spurt of activities in both national and international spheres and gave India an opportunity to develop her international personality’ (Verma, ix).

The roots of this decision lie in India’s involvement in World War I, and independent representation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Arguably, this participation had its roots in India’s place in the Colonial Conferences and the Imperial Conferences. In March 1917 at the Imperial War Cabinet, India was represented by her Secretary of State, Edwin Samuel Montagu; the Maharaja of Bikaner Sir Ganga Singh; Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India; and James Meston, former Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Montagu, Singh and Sinha were also included in the Indian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Also included as technical advisers were: Arthur Hirtzel, Assistant Under-Secretary of State for India; J. Dunlop Smith, Political Officer of the India Office; and L. Kershaw, Secretary to the Financial and Statistical Section of the India Office. The Indian plenipotentiaries signed the peace treaties alongside representatives of other sovereign states on the basis of legal equality of status. As a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles, India was granted automatic entry to the League of Nations.

The League of Nations was an attempt to unify the countries of the world against the possibility of future war. In its Covenant’s ‘Preamble’ is written: ‘The High Contracting Parties in order to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security; by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war… agree to this covenant of the League of Nations.’ Its members were originally to be restricted to those countries which were ‘self-governing’, but exception was made for India on account of its immense contribution to the Allied forces during WWI. Woodrow Wilson was concerned about how other territories would respond to India’s inclusion, but delegates including the Prime Minister of South Africa pointed out that the Covenant of the League of Nations, drawn up at Paris and signed by India, guaranteed India entry. India was the only one of the original thirty-one members of the League that was not self-governing. The inclusion of India as original member was one of the reasons why the United States did not ratify the Covenant of the League of Nations.

The delegates of India to the Assembly of the League were appointed by the Secretary of State in consultation with the Government in India. The Indian delegations to the annual sessions of the League Assembly for the first five years of the League were as follows:

First Assembly, December 1920:
Sir William Stevenson Meyer (High Commissioner for India)
Maharaja Jam Saheb of Nawanagar
Sir Saiyid Ali Imam

Second Assembly, September 1921:
Sir William Stevenson Meyer
His Highness the Maharao of Kutch
V. S. Srinivas Sastri

Third Assembly, September 1922:
Viscount Chelmsford
Maharaja Jam Saheb of Nawanagar
Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer

Fourth Assembly, September 1923:
Lord Hardinge of Penhurst
Maharaja Jam Saheb of Nawanagar
Syed Hossain Imam

Fifth Assembly, September 1924
Lord Hardinge of Penhurst
His Highness the Maharaja of Bikaner
Sir Muhammad Rafique
 

Organizer: 
Woodrow Wilson, Jan Christiaan Smuts
People involved: 

Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer, His Highness the Maharaja of Bikaner, Viscount Chelmsford, J. Dunlop Smith (Political Officer of the India Office), Lord (Charles) Hardinge of Penshurst, Syed Hossain Imam, Sir Saiyid Ali Imam, L. Kershaw (Secretary to the Financial and Statistical Section of the India Office), His Highness the Maharao of Kutch, Sir William Stevenson Meyer (first High Commissioner for India 1920 onwards), Edwin Samuel Montagu, Maharaja Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, Sir Muhammad Rafique, V. S. Srinivas Sastri, Sir Ganga Singh (Maharaja of Bikaner), Satyendra Prasanno Sinha (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India from 1919)

Published works: 

The League of Nation Starts: An Outline by its Organisers (London: Macmillan & Co., 1920)

League of Nations Union, Journal and Monthly Report (London, 1919)

Secondary works: 

Alwar, Maharaja of, India and the League, speech made at the League of Nations Union Dinner, October 25, 1923 (London: Pelican Press)

Baker, Ray Stannard, Woodrow Wilson and World Settlement (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1922)

Coyajee, J. C., Indian and the League of Nations (Madras: Thompson and Co., Ltd, 1932)

Greaves, Harold, The League Committees and World Order (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1931)

Jones, Robert and Sherman, S. S., League of Nations from Idea to Reality: Its Place in History and in the World Today (London: Sir I. Pitman and Sons, 1927)

Kibe, Sardar M. V., The League of Nations and The Indian States (Indore, 1924)

Manning, Charles Anthony Woodward, 'India and the League of Nations' in Freda M. Houlston and B. P. L. Bedi (eds.), India Analysed, Vol. I (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1933), pp. 30-66.

Miller, David Hunter, The Drafting of the Covenant (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928)

Temperley, H. W. V., A History of the Peace Conference of Paris, 6 Vols. (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1920)

Verma, D. N., India and the League of Nations (Patna: Bharati Bhawan, 1968).

Vijiaraghavachariar, C., League of Nations and India’s Emancipation (Madras: The National Press, 1929)

Williams, Roth, League of Nations Today (London: Allen and Unwin, 1923)

Example: 

Verma, D. N., India and the League of Nations (Patna: Bharati Bhawan, 1968), p.20

Content: 

On India’s unique status in the League of Nations:

Extract: 

Miller summed up Indian’s membership of the League as 'an anomaly among anomalies'. [Miller, Vol. I, The Drafting of the Covenant, 493] … It was a striking paradox almost without parallel, that India enjoyed in theory at least, and as a matter of course, the sovereign rights of dominions, notwithstanding the fact that she had not reached a condition of complete autonomy even in internal affairs.
 

Archive source: 

The Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London

Government of India Files, National Archives of India, New Delhi
 

Tags for Making Britain: 

Federation of Indian Student Societies

About: 

The Federation of Indian Students' Societies in Great Britain and Ireland started up in 1937. It was one of a number of organizations providing a platform for Indian students, and suspected by the British Government of encouraging Communist sympathies. The society produced a quarterly journal called the Indian Student. The Federation came up in the House of Commons on 1 July 1937 when Thomas Williams, MP, asked why Prithu Pal Singh and Dr Sadashanker Chhabildas Mehta had been questioned by the police about the Indian Student.

Secondary works: 

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press, 2002)

Date began: 
01 Jan 1937
Precise date began unknown: 
Y
Archive source: 

Hansard, 1 July 1937

L/PJ/12/4, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

CP/IND/DUTT/24/09, LP/ID/IND/1/89-99, Archives of the CPGB, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Manchester

 

Tags for Making Britain: 

Glasgow Indian Union

About: 

The Glasgow Indian Union (GIU) took up a number of political issues concerning Indians in Glasgow. Following the Special Restriction (Coloured Seamen) Order of 1925, which registered seamen as 'alien' if they did not have documentary proof of their nationality, the Glasgow Indian Union lodged a letter of protest to the India Office. Sixty-three Indians in Glasgow had been registered as aliens. In 1943, the GIU appealed to the British Government for the immediate release of M. K. Gandhi from prison.

The membership of the Glasgow Indian Union appeared to consist of a mix of students, Indians who had settled in Glasgow, and lascars. Government surveillance reports in 1923 noted concerns about some of the radical tendencies of its members. However, the GIU was not merely a political union, but provided a social meeting place for Indians in the Scottish city. In 1941, for example, the GIU held a meeting to commemmorate the death of Rabindranath Tagore with readings from his plays and poems.

Other names: 

GIU

Secondary works: 

Maan, Bashir, The New Scots: The Story of Asians in Scotland (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1992)

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press, 2002)

Date began: 
01 Jan 1911
Precise date began unknown: 
Y
Archive source: 

Glasgow Indian Union to India Office, 17 February 1926, HO45/12314, National Archives, Kew

L/E/9/953, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

L/PJ/12/159, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

Glasgow Herald, 16 August 1941, 1 March 1943

Location

Glasgow, G1 1BX
United Kingdom
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Zoroastrian Association

About: 

The Zoroastrian Association was founded in 1861 in Kensington, London. According to Ralph Hinnells it was the first Asian religious association founded in Britain.

Dadabhai Naoroji was the first president, having founded the association with Muncherjee Hormusji Cama. The first meeting was attended by 15 Parsees. Under the presidency of M. M. Bhownaggree, it became the Incorporated Parsee Association of Europe. Various other Parsee organizations formed in Britain as well, such as the Parsee Social Union and the World Zoroastrian Association.

The Zoroastrian Association incorporated a religious, social and welfare role, with educational outreach. It also organized social outings. It oversaw Parsee burials at Brockwood. The Zoroastrian House in Kensington provided facilities as a guesthouse.

Secondary works: 

Hinnells, John R. and Ralph, Omar, Bhownaggree Member of Parliament 1895-1906 (London: Hansib, 1995)

Hinnells, John R., Zoroastrians in Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)

Hinnells, John R., Zoroastrians Diaspora: Religion and Migration (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press, 2002)

Date began: 
31 Oct 1861

Location

London, W14 9AX
United Kingdom
Tags for Making Britain: 

London Indian Society

About: 

In 1865, the London Indian Society was founded under the guidance of Dadabhai Naoroji. It was formed by Indian students as a forum to air political grievances. Europeans were allowed to be honorary members but could not vote or hold office. Of the founding group of students, they included W. C. Bonnerjee, Manomohun Ghose, Pherozeshah Mehta and Badruddin Tyabji.

In 1866, the London Indian Society was superseded by the East India Association, although it did continue to exist in some separate form for a few more years.

Other names: 

LIS

Secondary works: 

Cumpston, Mary, 'Some Early Indian Nationalists and their Allies in the British Parliament, 1851-1906', The English Historical Review 76.299 (April 1961), pp. 279-97.

Ralph, Omar, Naoroji: The First Asian MP (St John's, Antigua: Hansib, 1997)

Seal, Anil, The Emergence of Indian Nationalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968)

Date began: 
24 Mar 1865
Date ended: 
01 Jan 1866
Precise date ended unknown: 
Y
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National Liberal Club

About: 

The National Liberal Club was established in 1882 by William Ewart Gladstone. It was designed to provide facilities for Liberal Party campaigners. William Digby acted as secretary of the Club until 1887.

The National Liberal Club held a banquet for Dadabhai Naoroji in 1888 to mark their disapproval of Lord Salisbury's comments that the electorate was not ready to elect a 'blackman'. Over the years a number of Indian visitors frequented the club.

The National Liberal Club still operates in London as a gentleman's club, but is now open to women.

Other names: 

NLC

Date began: 
01 Jan 1882
Precise date began unknown: 
Y
Connections: 

M. Asaf Ali, M. A. Jinnah, Dadabhai Naoroji, Shapurji Saklatvala, William Wedderburn, Henry Sylvester Williams

Location

1 Whitehall Place SW1A 2HE
United Kingdom
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Federation of Indian Associations in Great Britain

About: 

The Federation of Indian Associations in Great Britain (FIAGB) was formed in April 1943 and had affiliated organizations in London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Bradford and Sheffield. Its central office was at the same premises as Swaraj House. The FIAGB was formally inaugurated at a meeting in Bradford in April 1943, attended by delegates from Swaraj House, London, and from the Indian Workers' Association branches in Bradford, Birmingham, Coventry, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Wolverhampton.

The India Office was well aware of the significance of the two organizations combining forces in the FIAGB. Swaraj House was an organization patronized by a large proportion of well-educated Indians, predominantly Hindu, whereas the IWA was a predominately working-class organization dominated by Punjabi Sikhs and Muslims. While many of its members had links to the Communist Party, the FIAGB saw itself as acting independently. The FIAGB supported the Indian National Congress. In May 1943, K. A. Said announced that the Glasgow Majlis had decided to affiliate itself with the FIAGB. Fenner Brockway was in close contact with Alley, Sastrya and Vaidya, and offered his support to set up branches in Bristol and Southampton.

In 1943, together with other Indian organizations, the FIAGB began a famine campaign highlighting the manner in which the British Government was implicated in the Bengal famine. Members of the FIAGB in the Midlands heckled ministers and Ministry of Information speakers who were touring the country to lecture on India’s war effort in January 1944.

In February 1944, conflicts arose onbetween Sastry, Alley and Vaidya about whether to offer full support to Gandhi in his willingness to compromise with the British Government and with Jinnah. The disagreements brought the organization to the brink of collapse. With the departure of Vaidya and Mitra for India in December 1944, and Surat Alley preoccupied with his work for lascars and the Indian Seamen’s Centre, it seemed to be in terminal decline. This was further exacerbated by a rivalry with the Committee of Indian Congressmen in Great Britain and Akbar Ali Khan’s attempts to rid all IWA branches of the influence of the FIAGB. In October 1945 Suresh Vaidya, then in India, suggested that the FIAGB should be dissolved and further activities conducted under the auspices of Swaraj House. However it was decided that the organization should for the time being continue to function as before. In 1946, the FIAGB applied for affiliation with the Indian National Congress, and to celebrate Gandhi’s 77th birthday it organized a four-day conference at Kingsway Hall, London, to discuss the future of India and Gandhi’s contribution in the struggle for Indian independence.

Secondary works: 

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press, 2002)
 

Date began: 
01 Jan 1943
Precise date began unknown: 
Y
Connections: 

Fenner Brockway, Charan Singh Chima, Mohammed Fazal Hussain, V. B. Kamath, Balram Kaura, Dr Kumria, S. P. Mitra, David Pinto, Ajit Singh Rai, K. A. Said, Iqbal Singh (Honorary Secretary, 1946), T. Subasinghe, D. J. Vaidya.

Archive source: 

L/PJ/12/658, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

L/PJ/12/646, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras

Location

32 Percy Street
London, W1T 2DE
United Kingdom
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