Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee

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Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee
Anandacharlu
Succeeded byDadabhai Naoroji
Personal details
Born(1844-12-29)29 December 1844
British India
(present-day Kolkata, West Bengal, India)
Died21 July 1906(1906-07-21) (aged 61)
Croydon, London, England
NationalityBritish Indian
Political partyIndian National Congress
Spouse
Hemangini Motilal
​
(m. 1859)​
Alma materMiddle Temple
OccupationLawyer
Known forCo-founder and First president of Indian National Congress

Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee (or Umesh Chandra Banerjee (29 December 1844 – 21 July 1906) was an Indian barrister who practiced in England. He was a secretary of the London Indian society founded by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1865. He was a co-founder and the first president of Indian National Congress in 1885 at Bombay, served again as president in 1892 at Allahabad.[1] Bonnerjee financed the British Committee of Congress and its journals in London. Along with Naoroji, Eardley Norton and William Digby he started the Congress Political Agency, a branch of Congress in London. He unsuccessfully contested the 1892 United Kingdom general election as a Liberal party candidate for the Barrow and Furness seat. In 1893, Naoroji, Bonnerjee and Badruddin Tyabji founded the Indian Parliamentary Committee in England.

Family

Bonnerjee was born on 29 December 1844 at

Hooghly District in present-day West Bengal.[3]

Early days

Bonnerjee studied at the

Calcutta University and was the president of its law faculty[2] and often represented it in the legislative council.[4] He retired from the Calcutta bar in 1901.[2]

As a president of Indian National Congress

He presided over the first session of the

Allahabad[4] where he denounced the position that India had to prove for worthiness of political freedom.[6] He moved to Britain and practiced before the Privy Council.[4] He financed the British Committee of Congress and its journals in London.[4]
In 1865 Dadabhai Naoroji founded the London Indian society and Bonnerjee was made its general secretary. In December 1866, Naoroji dissolved the society and formed East Indian Association.[7][self-published source?] When Bonnerjee became the Congress president Naoroji along with him, Eardley Norton and William Digby opened The Congress Political Agency, a branch of Congress in London.[7] He lived in Croydon and named his residence after his birthplace Khidirpur.[7] The Liberal party made him his candidate for the Barrow and Furness seat in 1892. Bonnerjee was defeated by Charles Cayzer, a Tory candidate. In the same elections Naoroji won the Finsbury Central constituency and defeated his nearest rival by a narrow margin of only 5 votes. Naoroji became the first Indian member of the British Parliament. In 1893, Naoriji, Bonnerjee and Badruddin Tyabji founded the Indian Parliamentary Committee in England.[7]

Personal life

A daughter,

Susila Anita Bonnerjee was a doctor, teacher, and suffragette.[10]

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-4008-7049-3
  2. ^ a b c d e f Buckland, CE (1906). Dictionary of Indian Biography. London: Swan Sonnenshein & Co. p. 48.
  3. ISBN 9788170245865
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7024-586-5
    .
  5. Rediff
    . 28 December 2006. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  6. ^ Lacy, Creighton (1965). The Conscience Of India – Moral Traditions In The Modern World, Holt, New York: Rinehart and Winston, p. 123
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-557-61516-2.[self-published source
    ]
  8. ISBN 978-0-230-39272-4
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0-19-566360-0
    .
  10. ^ "Susila Anita Bonnerjee | Croydon | Making Britain". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 October 2020.

External links

Preceded by
(none)
President of the Indian National Congress

1885 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Anandacharlu
President of the Indian National Congress

1892 		Succeeded by
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