Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Muthiah Chidambaram Muthiah Chettiar KCSI(8 February 1887 – 19 July 1929) better known as Sir M.CT.Muthiah Chettiar was an Indian Industrialist and Banker who served as a director of the

Indian Bank Indian Bank is an Indian public sector bank, established in 1907 and headquartered in Chennai. It serves over 100 million customers with 40,002 employees, 5,901 branches with 5,268 ATMs and Cash deposit machines. Total business of the bank has ...

. He was the oldest grandson of S.RM. Muthiah Chettiar, the patriarch of the M. Ct. and S. Rm. families.

Early life and education

Muthiah Chettiar was born on 8 February 1887 to M. Chidambaram Chettiar, the eldest son of philanthropist Sattappa Ramanatha Muttaiya Chettiar. He was a nephew of Ramaswami Chettiar, founder of the

and Sir Annamalai Chettiar, the first Raja of Chettinad and founder of the

Annamalai University The Annamalai University (AU) is a public state university in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The sprawling campus offers courses of higher education in arts, science, engineering, management, humanities, agriculture, and physical education. ...

. Muthiah Chettiar had his schooling at Maharajah's School, Pudukkottai and Pachaiyappa's High School, Chidambaram. He did his gradation in Pudukkottai. On graduating, Muthiah went on a tour of Europe. On returning from the tour, Muthiah went through a period of initial training in business management and then took over the family business. Muthiah also learnt economics from

Gilbert Slater Gilbert Slater (27 August 1864 – 8 March 1938) was an English economist and social reformer. He is known for rural developments he initiated in India. Slater is also known for his love for Dravidian culture and civilization and for the ...

Career

In 1912, Muthiah Chettiar migrated to the city of

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

. In 1914, he became a director of

, which was primarily a creation of the S Rm family and served in the board till his death in 1929. He also served as President of the Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce. Muthiah Chettiar was serving as the

Sheriff of Madras The Sheriff of Madras was an apolitical titular position of authority bestowed for one year on a prominent citizen of Madras. The post was abolished in 1998. The position of Sheriff of Madras was created in the Madras Charter of 1726 which came ...

during the visit of the then

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

to the city. He was also on the board of the

Madras Port Trust Chennai Port, formerly known as Madras Port, is the second largest container port of India, behind Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port also known as Nhava Sheva. The port is the largest one in the Bay of Bengal. It is the third-oldest port among the ...

for a short time. Muthiah also served as a member of the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

and

Imperial Legislative Council of India The Imperial Legislative Council (ILC) was the legislature of British India from 1861 to 1947. It was established under the Government of India Act 1858 by providing for the addition of six additional members to the Governor General Council for l ...

Philanthropy

During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Muthiah Chettiar contributed more than Rs.70,000 to the British war effort. Muthiah Chettiar was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in 1922 for his present of Rs. 50,000 to the Madras Tuberculosis Fund. He also served as a trustee of Pachaiyappa's Charities from 1919 till his death in 1929. The failing C. R. C. High School was purchased and financially strengthened by his son M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettyar who renamed it Sir M. Ct. Muthiah Chettiar High School.

Death

Muthiah Chettiar died on 19 July 1929 at the age of 42.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muthiahchettiar, M Ct 1887 births 1929 deaths Indian Knights Bachelor Indian bankers Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India 20th-century Indian philanthropists Sheriffs of Madras