Benjamin Jowett was Master of Balliol College, Oxford, from 1870 to 1893. He had been Regius Professor of Greek from 1855 and was made Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1882. While Jowett was Master of Balliol, forty-nine Indians were at the university, and twenty-two of those at Balliol. Jowett had the reputation of attracting students from all over the world. He was particularly concerned with university reform and was consulted on reforms to the Indian Civil Service. Jowett saw three successive viceroys of India come through Balliol (Lansdowne, Elgin, Curzon), and many young men undertook their probationary training for the ICS at Balliol. As Vice-Chancellor, Jowett opened the Indian Institute in Oxford on 14 October 1884.

Jowett notably befriended Cornelia Sorabji, sister of Richard Sorabji who was at Balliol 1890-3. Cornelia Sorabji studed law at Somerville College, 1889-93, and was the first woman to study law at Oxford. Jowett introduced Sorabji to leading contemporary figures in politics, law, social service, and literature while she was at Oxford. 

In 1860, Monier Monier-Williams was elected to the position of Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford, following an acrimonious campaign against his rival, Friedrich Max Müller. Monier-Williams had previously been Professor of Sanskrit, Persian and Hindustani at Haileybury College (the East India Company College) until 1858 when the College was closed. Monier-Williams remained Boden Professor until he retired in 1887. Shyamaji Krishnavarma worked as his assistant from 1879 to 1883.

Monier-Williams' major contribution to the landscape and pedagogy of Oxford was the foundation of the Indian Institute. In 1875, he first put the idea to Congregation to found an institute to provide a place of study for Indian Civil Service (ICS) probationers and Indian students at Oxford, combining a library, reading room and museum. He travelled to India in 1875, 1876 and 1883 to secure moral and financial support from Indians, particularly the Indian Princes who also donated items for the museum and library. The foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales in 1883, and opened by the Vice-Chancellor, Benjamin Jowett, on 14 October 1884 at which Monier-Williams gave the address.

Friedrich Max Müller was a Sanskritist at the University of Oxford in the late nineteenth century. Having spent some time in Paris, Müller travelled to London in 1846 for a short research trip. In 1848, he decided to settle in Oxford having had his edition of Rig Veda printed by the University Press. He became a naturalized British citizen in 1855.

From 1851, Müller held various positions in the University of Oxford. In 1860, he competed against Monier Monier-Williams for the position of Boden Professor of Sanskrit. Although Müller's body of scholarship exceeded Monier-Williams', the issue of Müller's Liberal Lutheranism and German ethnicity came to the fore in the campaign and he was defeated by Monier-Williams. Despite the huge disappointment, Müller continued to pursue his studies in Sanskrit and the Vedas, and was widely known and respected in India.

Müller delivered a number of lectures, and wrote many essays and books on Indian religion and spirituality. He cultivated a number of friendships with Indians through correspondence and their visits to Oxford. In particular, he became very close to Keshub Chunder Sen and interested in the Brahmo Samaj - which Müller saw as the natural sect of Christianity. He was also extremely concerned about the practice of child marriage in India, a concern he shared with Behramji Malabari and Pandita Ramabai, who both visited him in Oxford. Müller felt compelled to comment upon the case of the the child-bride, Rukhmabai, by sending a letter to The Times in 1887.

Humayun Kabir was a poet, novelist, educationist and politician. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and graduated in 1931. Kabir had been heavily involved with the Oxford Union during his student days, having been elected secretary in 1930 and librarian in 1931. He made his farewell speech on the motion: 'This House condemns the Indian policy of His Majesty's Government'. Kabir had also been involved with the student newspapers, the Isis and the Cherwell, and the Oxford Majlis journal, Bharat.

Upon his return to India, Kabir taught at a number of universities. He also became involved in trade union politics and was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1937. He took up a number of government posts after 1947, including Minister for Education.

Kabir published a book of poems in Oxford in 1932, and continued to write poetry, short stories and novels after his return to India. He also wrote essays and was a well-respected orator. He died in Kolkata in 1969.

K. M. Panikkar was a Dixon Scholar at Christ Church College, Oxford. He went to England in 1914 with the help of his elder brother who was studying medicine in Edinburgh at the time. He became a member of the Oxford Majlis and friends with the Suhrawardy brothers. Panikkar began to write articles whilst at Oxford which he sent to periodicals in India. He also read a paper on 'The Problems of Greater India' to the East India Association.

Panikkar returned to India in 1918. His ship was hit by a German torpedo but the passengers escaped and were taken by another ship. He joined Aligarh Muslim University in 1919 to teach history and political science. He became the first editor of the Hindustan Times from 1924. Panikkar then decided to read for the Bar and returned to England in 1925 for a year. He enrolled in Middle Temple.

Panikkar then entered the Princely Service and served as Foreign Minister of Patiala and Bikaner. He participated in the Round Table Conferences as a representative of the Princes of India. He held various diplomatic posts for India after 1947.

Iftikhar Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi, is the only Test cricketer to have played for both England and India. Born into the princely family of Pataudi, in the Punjab (approximately 53 miles away from Delhi), he arrived in Britain in 1926 to further his education. He joined Balliol College, Oxford, in 1927 and won hockey and cricketing blues for the University. In a notorious incident playing in the 1931 match against Cambridge, A. Ratcliffe of Cambridge set a new record for the University Match with 201 runs. Pataudi declared that he would beat that record and did exactly that in the next innings, scoring 238 not out. This record stood until 2005.

Pataudi made the England squad for the infamous Bodyline series tour of Australia in 1932-3. On his Ashes and Test debut, he scored a century, but was dropped after the second test. He only played three tests for England, with a recall in one of the Ashes tests in 1934. Pataudi returned to India and had a chance to captain India in 1936, but withdrew from the series against England. In 1946, he did captain India against England, but he was 36 years old by then.

In 1931, Iftikhar was formally installed as ruler, Nawab, of Pataudi. After Indian independence in 1947, he gave up the principality and worked for the Indian Foreign Office. He died in 1952, while playing polo, in Delhi, leaving his wife, Sajida Sultan, the daughter of the Nawab of Bhopal, three daughters, and an eleven-year old son, Mansur, who would become one of India's greatest cricketing captains.

Kuruvila Zachariah was an Indian Christian who having studied at Christian College, Madras, was sent to England in 1912 on a Government of India scholarship. Having arrived in London in September 1912, he visited Thomas Arnold, the education advisor for Indian students. He was advised that he had a place to read history at Keble College, Oxford, but upon consideration took up a place at Merton College instead.

Zachariah attended Oxford Union debates and became involved with the University Christian Union. He did not join the Oxford Majlis because they met on Sunday evenings. In 1915, Zachariah received a first-class degree in history. Zachariah applied for teaching posts in India from England, taking advice from the India Office about entry into the Indian Educational Service. He was offered a position at Presidency College, Calcutta, and so returned to India in November 1915.

Zachariah was Professor of History at Presidency College until 1930 and then Principal of Hooghly College and Principal of Islamia College following that. He then took up several advisory positions within the Government after Indian independence. In 1954, Zachariah was appointed Historical Advisor and Minister at the High Commission in London. He died in 1955. Presidency College, Calcutta, continues to hold an annual Kuruvilla Zachariah Memorial Lecture in his honour.

N. G. Ranga came from an agricultural background in Tamilnad, South India. His mother died when he was eight and although his family were not well off, his father sent him to study in England in 1920. Ranga travelled on the S. S. Loyalty with more than 300 other Indian students and the chemist, P. C. Ray. Ranga arrived in England without a place at university and went to live in Botley, an Oxford village, as he studied for the Responsions (entrance exams).

Ranga gained a place at Oxford University and soon became involved in the Lotus and Majlis societies. Ranga was influenced by the growth of socialism and was a member of the Oxford Labour Club. Although Ranga had considered joining the ICS, he decided against this as Indian politics were at the forefront of his mind. He embarked on a research degree in Economics. His wife later joined him and studied at the Ruskin School of Art.

Ranga was heavily influenced by M. K. Gandhi and village politics. Upon his return to India he became involved in the kisan movement. In 1957, Ranga became a Congress MP, but then founded the Swatantra Party in 1959. The Party was designed as a free-market liberal party that broke away from Nehru's socialist vision. Ranga retired from parliament in 1991.