Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indian postage stamp in honor of Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy from 1959

Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (born July 15, 1783 in Bombay , † April 14, 1859 ) was a Parish businessman and philanthropist in British India . Its main line of business was the export of cotton and opium from India to China. Because of his philanthropic activities, he became famous in his hometown of Bombay and rose to the nobility of the British Empire .

origin

Jejeebhoy was born in Bombay and grew up in Navsari . In 1799 after the death of his parents, he moved to Bombay to live with his maternal uncle, Framjee Nusserwanjee Battliwala, who looked after him and where he was an apprentice. In 1803 he married a daughter of his uncle named Avabai. He and his wife had a daughter and three sons.

His daughter was one of the first Parsi women to receive a regular education from her family.

Career

Jejeebhoy started his own trading company trading empty bottles. In order to get on well in Bombay, he changed his first name from Jamshed to Jamsetjee. From 1799 to 1807 he made several trade trips to China. In 1806 he had collected enough money through his business activities to buy the Good Success, his first own merchant ship. He was able to expand his merchant fleet quickly and in 1818 founded the company Jejeebhoy & Co. with several business partners. Jejeebhoy was able to expand his company further. He earned most of his profits from exporting cotton and opium to the Chinese Empire as part of the canton trade . Jejeebhoy became India's most prominent foreign trade operator and maintained business relationships with British, Chinese and US merchants. He had a close relationship with the founder of Jardine, Matheson & Co. William Jardine , with whom he developed a close personal friendship.

Philanthropy and social advancement

In 1822 Jejeebhoy began his charitable activities by ransoming poor debtors from prison. He applied his experience from the business to the organization of aid projects and used his contacts with the local and British elite. In 1842 he was the first native of British India to be knighted by the British Crown. He particularly excelled in the education for poor Parsis, whose education he promoted in cooperation with their religious self-government. In 1859, Jejeebhoy achieved his goal of achieving an hereditary title for himself and his family. He was made a baronet. At the time of his death, he had invested around a quarter of his large fortune in charitable causes.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Jesse S. Palsetia, “JEJEEBHOY, JAMSETJEE,” Encyclopædia Iranica, XIV / 6, pp. 619-621, available online ; last accessed on October 6, 2019.
  2. ↑ Jesse S. Palsetia: The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City. Leiden, 2001, pp. 135f

literature

  • Jesse S. Palsetia: Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy of Bombay: Partnership and Public Culture in Empire. Oxford, 2015, ISBN 9780199459216
personal data
SURNAME Jejeebhoy, Jamsetjee
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-Indian businessman, philanthropist and nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1783
PLACE OF BIRTH Bombay
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1859