Samuel Satthianadhan was born into a Christian family in Madras, the son of Reverend W. T. Satthianadhan. At the end of the 1870s, Satthianadhan went to Cambridge to study law. He wrote a number of articles and sketches about English University life for Indians.

In 1881, Satthianadhan returned to Madras and married Krupabai. Her father was a convert to Christianity. At the time of marriage, Satthianadhan was headmaster of a school in Madras and then Ootacamund. In 1886, he became assistant to the Director of Public Instruction and then later Chair of Logic and Moral Philosophy at Presidency College, Madras. Krupabai had been educated at Madras Medical College and despite arrangements to go to England in 1877 was unable to because of ill-health. She wrote Saguna, which is considered to be the first autobiographical novel in English by an Indian woman. Krupabai died in 1894. Following her death, Samuel married Kamala. Kamala was also a writer and wrote several stories about Indian Christians.

Hari Singh Gour was a member of the Legislative Assembly for the Central Provinces in the 1920s. He was a prominent Barrister and reformer in favour of increasing the age of consent. In 1924 he proposed a bill that raised the age from 12 to 14; this was eventually raised to 13 in an amended bill in 1925. Gour also established a University in Saugar in Madhya Pradash in 1946, now known as Dr Harisingh Gour University.

Aged eighteen, Gour went to England to study at Cambridge University. He joined Downing College, Cambridge and in 1891 he took the degree of philosophy and economics. In 1892 he took the degree in law. In 1905 he was awarded a D.Litt. degree from London University and then from Trinity College. After getting the law degree in 1892, he returned to India.

When a student at Cambridge in 1890, Gour published an anthology of poems entitled Stepping Westward and Other Poems. He became a member of the Royal Society of Literature after his poems were published. In 1930 he published a novel in London entitled His Only Love. The hero of the novel, Himmat Singh, was a state scholar at King's College, Cambridge, who was called to the Bar and had published prize poems.

Ananda Mohun Bose studied mathematics at the University of Cambridge from 1870. He earned a First Class degree and was the first Indian wrangler. While in Britain, Bose also studied to become a barrister and was called to the Bar in 1874.

Bose was a member of the Brahmo Samaj and had travelled to Britain in February 1870 with Keshub Chunder Sen. He formed a friendship with Sophia Dobson Collett and interested her in the Brahmo Samaj.

Upon his return to India in 1874, Bose joined the Calcutta High Court. He had become friends with Surendranath Banerjea in England in 1871. When Banerjea was unfairly dismissed from the ICS in 1874, Bose tried to help him. Together they formed the Indian National Association to campaign to raise the minimum age for Indian candidates in the Indian Civil Service. This organization is seen by some historians as a prototype nationalist organization. When the Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, Bose became a member. He was President of the 14th Session in 1898 at Madras.

Bose returned to Britain in 1897 to enrol his two sons into university. He took a tour of Britain delivering speeches about the Brahmo Samaj. He died in 1905, following the partition of Bengal.

Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji was a cricketer for England and a Prince of Nawanagar State in India, known as 'Ranji' to his cricketing fans. As a child, he was chosen as heir to a distant relative, Vibhaji, the Jam Sahib of Navanagar, but then discarded. He studied at the Rajkumar College in Rajkot and then in 1888, at sixteen, Ranjitsinhji went to Britain. He joined Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1889. It was not until 1893, having played in the meantime for local clubs on 'Parker's Piece', that Ranji gained a place in the Cambridge University cricket team. He was the first Indian to win a cricket Blue. In 1895, Ranji began to play regularly for Sussex. Having faced opposition to his inclusion into the University side, there was now a growing public debate as to whether Ranji should be allowed to play for the England national side. In 1896, Ranji made his debut for England against Australia at Old Trafford. In 1897, Ranjitsinhji produced a book on the evolution of cricket in England called The Jubilee Book of Cricket. In the winter of 1897-8, Ranji toured Australia with the England team.

In 1904, Ranji returned to India as he was no longer playing for England and could not financially support himself in Britain. However, he continued to return to England at regular intervals and play for Sussex. In 1906, the new Jam Sahib of Navanagar, the son of Vibhaji, died and with no other formal heir, Ranjitsinhji assumed the throne. When war broke out in 1914, Ranji helped the imperial effort, by converting his house in Staines into a hospital for wounded soldiers, by donating troops from Navanagar and going to the Western Front himself. Ranji also had a lakeside castle at Ballynahinch, on the west coast of Ireland. In August 1915, he lost his right eye in a shooting accident in Yorkshire, and played his last game for Sussex in 1920. As an Indian Prince, Ranjitsinhji took up many political responsibilities: he represented India twice at the League of Nations, and was a delegate to the Round Table Conference sessions in 1930. He died in 1933 in one of his palaces in Jamnagar.

Susila Bonnerjee (known as Susie) was the daughter of W. C. Bonnerjee and his wife, Hemangini. Born in India, she first moved to England as a child and lived in the family house in Croydon. Her parents travelled between England and India frequently with the intention to educate all their children in England. Susila attended the Croydon High School for Girls and then gained admission to Newnham College, Cambridge in 1891 (as her sister had). Susila was awarded a second class in her Part 1 exams in 1894. She then joined the London School of Medicine for Women, and was attached to the Royal Free Hospital. Susila gained her MB degree in 1899.

A little later she returned to India and worked in Calcutta and at the St Stephen's Mission at Delhi. After her father's death in 1906, Susila took up research work at Cambridge. She was Demonstrator of Physiology in Balfour Laboratory, Newnham College, 1910-12, and was in private practice at Ealing for five years. In 1911 she became Secretary of the Indian Women’s Education Association, which was involved in raising funds to educate Indian women in England in methods of teaching. During the war, in 1915, she went to Calcutta but returned to England in early 1916. She left for India again in 1918 due to declining health and died in September 1920 in Lahore.

Janaki Agnes Penelope Majumdar was the daughter of the Hemangini and W. C. Bonnerjee, the first president of the Indian National Congress in December 1885. Born in Calcutta, in June 1886, Janaki, her mother and siblings settled in England from 1888. They soon moved into a house they named 'Kidderpore' in Croydon. Janaki spent 1893-5 back in India and then returned to England and went to Croydon High School for Girls.

She studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1904, and was the first Indian woman to receive a degree in Natural Sciences. Following the death of her father in 1906, 'Kidderpore' was sold. Janaki began a teacher's training course at the London Day Training College in 1907 and did voluntary work at the Charity Organization Society's Newington Branch. In 1908, she returned to Calcutta with her mother and met P. K. Majumdar. He had studied at Birmingham University and trained as a barrister in London. They were married in 1909 and lived in Calcutta. She returned to London following her husband's death in 1947.

In 1935, Janaki wrote a family memoir about her childhood, her father and her husband, with a major emphasis on her mother, Hemangini. It tells of a South Asian family living in England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This memoir, Family History, was edited by Antoinette Burton and published in 2003.

Toru Dutt was born into the well known Dutt family of Rambagan. Many of her uncles and cousins as well as her father, Govin Chunder Dutt, published poetry and prose. Her education and upbringing were rather unusual for even progressive mid-nineteenth century Bengal. Toru Dutt’s family had converted to Christianity, which in some ways led to a feeling of social alienation for the Dutt family in India. In 1869, a few years after the death of their elder brother Abju, Govin Chunder Dutt took his wife and two young daughters Aru and Toru to travel in Europe. They spent a few months in Nice where both sisters attended a French Pension and learnt French. In 1870 the family travelled to Brompton, England via Boulogne.  It was unusual for Indian women of the time to travel abroad and also to gain an education abroad. 

In England both sisters continued their French Studies. While living in Cambridge between 1871-3 they attended the Higher Lectures for Women at the University. Toru Dutt met and befriended Mary Martin, the daughter of Reverend John Martin of Sidney Sussex College. The friendship that developed between the two girls at this time continued in their correspondence after Toru’s return to India, until the time of Toru’s death.  Toru Dutt seemed to have acquired a good set of acquaintances whilst attending the lectures at Cambridge as she mentions quite a few names in her correspondence with Mary Martin after her return to India.  Amongst these names are Mr and Mrs Baker, the proprietors of Regent House where the Dutt family lodged in Cambridge; the son, Reginald, and daughters of Rev H. Hall of St Paul’s Church, Cambridge; Mr Clifford who later comes to officiate at the church near the Dutt’s Garden House outside Calcutta, and Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb who was then Professor of Greek at Trinity.  

A collection of Toru Dutt’s correspondence includes her letters written from England to her cousins in India. Toru Dutt was a natural linguist and in her short life became proficient in Bengali, English, French and, later on, Sanskrit.  Although she died at an exceptionally early age she left behind an impressive collection of prose and poetry.  Her two novels, the unfinished  Bianca or The Young Spanish Maiden written in English and Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers, written in French, were interestingly based outside India with non-Indian protagonists.  Her poetry comprises of A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields consisting of her translations into English of French poetry, and Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan which compiles her translations and adaptations from Sanskrit literature.

A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields was published in 1876 by the Saptahik Sambad Press, Bhowanipore without any preface or introduction.  At first this collection attracted little attention but later it famously fell into the hands of Edmund Gosse who gave it a splendid review in The Examiner of August 1876.  When her collection of Sanskrit translations Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan was published posthumously in 1882 Edmund Gosse wrote an introductory memoir for it.  In this he wrote of Toru: ‘She brought with her from Europe a store of knowledge that would have sufficed to make an English or French girl seem learned, but which in her case was simply miraculous’ (Gosse, p xiii).

Upendra Krishna Dutt travelled to Britain in 1875 or 1876 on a Gilchrist Scholarship to study medicine at London University. After qualifying, he remained in Britain practising at Leicester and then buying a medical practice in Cambridge. He faced a deal of racial prejudice in  securing employment as a doctor after qualifying. Dutt married the Swedish writer Anna Palme in England. She was a distant relative of Olaf Palme, later Swedish Prime Minister.

The Dutt family were close-knit despite financial insecurity. From 1891, Dutt hosted the Cambridge Majlis society meetings in his home. Two of Dutt's sons, Rajani and Clemens, became active members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Their involvement in politics was  influenced by their father's work as a doctor in working-class areas of Cambridge.

Harindranath Chattopadhyaya was the son of Aghorenath Chattopadhyaya and younger brother of Sarojini Naidu and Virendranath Chattopadhyaya. Aghorenath had studied at Edinburgh University in the nineteenth century. Harindranath's parents were Bengalis who had settled in Hyderabad; Harindranath was born in the Deccan in 1898. Encouraged by his family, Harindranath began to write verse as a child and also enjoyed acting.

He married Kamaladevi, a Madrasi widow in 1919, having been introduced by a younger sister, Suhasini. Shortly after their marriage, Harindranath sailed to England, leaving behind his wife (who was later to join him). Harindranath had published poems and written plays in India before he arrived in London, and was helped to settle in Britain by friends of his famous elder sister, Sarojini. He initially lodged in Gower Street and sent his poems to Cambridge in order to gain admission as a research scholar. Harindranath successfully gained admission into Fitzwilliam Hall and took up research work on 'William Blake and the Sufis'. During his time as a student in Britain, Harindranath's poems were published in the Indian Magazine (Journal of the National Indian Association) and Britain and India (Journal of the Theosophical-influenced Britain and India Association). He corresponded with Laurence Binyon about publishing further anthologies of poems in London.

As the Civil Disobedience movement gained momentum in India, Harindranath and Kamaladevi decided to return to India and Harindranath abandoned his Cambridge degree. They returned via Europe to visit with his elder brother, the revolutionary Virendranath Chattopadhyaya (Chatto) and also met with Madame Cama.

In 1929, a publication entitled Five Plays was produced by Fowler Wright in London. The book printed praise inside its front cover from Rabindranath Tagore, Alice Meynell and George Russell (AE) (for Harindranath's poetry). The playlets (adapted from Hindu mythology) were introduced by S. Fowler Wright, who compared Harindranath Chattopadhyaya to Joseph Conrad. Harindranath's play, 'Tukaram' had been performed in the Little Theatre, London, in 1928. Harindranath maintained a successful career as poet, playwright and actor upon his return to India. He died in 1990.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, was an applied mathematician and astrophysicist. He completed his university education at Presidency College, Madras graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. In June 1930, he moved to Britain for graduate studies. He was awarded a Government of India scholarship to study at Cambridge as a member of Trinity College where he became a research student under the supervision of Professor R. H. Fowler. He took his PhD degree at Cambridge in the summer of 1933. In October 1933 he was awarded a Prize Fellowship at Trinity College for the period 1933-7. He joined the Faculty of the University of Chicago in 1937 and remained there for the rest of his academic career.

He made one of his most significant discoveries while on his way to England, called ‘Chandrasekhar's limit’. He applied Einstein’s theory of relativity to the processes inside a star. His calculations suggested that once a star had burned up all its energy it would collapse to a point of infinite density, until it would disappear in what would be later described as a black hole. On arrival, however, his colleagues paid little attention to his discovery. Eddington took great interest in Chandrasekhar’s work, and it looked as though he approved of his work. He persuaded Chandrasekhar to present his findings at the Royal Astronomical Society in London on 11 January 1935. The day before the event, he found out that Eddington would give the following lecture on the same topic. Eddington used the opportunity to demolish the young researcher’s calculations and theory, dismissing it as mere mathematical game playing. However, while Chandrasekhar’s work was based on sound mathematical calculations, Eddington’s argument was in this case unfounded.

It would take years before scientists would follow up Chandrasekhar’s calculations and the controversy would preoccupy scientific journals for several years. In 1966 scientists combined computer codes for astrophysics and the hydrogen bomb and proved that a star could collapse and fall into a black hole. In 1972 the first black hole was positively identified. Chandrasekhar's outstanding contribution to astrophysics was acknowledged with the 1983 Nobel prize for physics for his work on white dwarfs and black holes and in 1984 by the Royal Society's Copley medal.