Partha Sarathi Gupta (5 August 1934 – 10 August 1999) was an Indian professor of British and European history at

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

and president of the

Indian History Congress Indian History Congress is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 35,000 members. It was established in 1935. The name of any new applicant for membership needs to be proposed and seconded by existing Ordinary or ...

. He was firstborn son of

Ashoka Gupta Ashoka Gupta (November 1912 – 8 July 2008) was an Indian freedom fighter and social worker. She was the founder of Mahila Seva Samity, member of the All India Women's Conference and president of Indian Society for Sponsorship and Adoption. Sh ...

and Saibal Gupta, an

Indian Civil Services In India, the Civil Service is the collection of civil servants of the government who constitute the permanent executive branch of the country. This includes servants in the All India Services, the Central Civil Services, and various State Ci ...

officer in Bengal state of British India. His childhood memory of watching

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

's walk through riot-torn Noakhali in 1946 where his mother joined in the walk had a long-lasting impact. He was awarded Eshan scholarship for the highest marks in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

in Presidency College,

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. Fellow students included

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

winner

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

and member of planning commission Sukhamoy Chakravarty in 1953. ''Partha'' was a member of the

Indian Council of Historical Research Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

. He was Smuts Fellow in Commonwealth History at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

(1980-1981), and directeur d'études at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1989.

Biography

Partho was born in 1934 in

Guptipara Guptipara is a village in Balagarh, a community development block that forms an administrative division in the Sadar subdivision of the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Guptipara sits beside the Hooghly River ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

of British India which is currently in the district of Hooghly in

. His father, Shaibal Kumar Gupta was in

and mother

was a well known social worker who worked closely with

during riots of Navakhali. He is the grandson of great Bengali writer of early 20th century Jyotirmoyee Devi.

Early life

He was a brilliant student and topped state matriculation examination in the year 1949 from

Ballygunge Government High School Ballygunge Government High School (BGHS) is a school in West Bengal, India. This is a boys' only school for secondary and higher secondary level students. Till class 10, its medium of instruction is Bengali, but class 11 and class 12 are taught ...

. He then joined Presidency College Calcutta and graduated in history by getting highest marks and was given prestigious Eshan scholarship awarded for the highest marks in West Bengal. Fellow students that year included

and Sukhamoy Chakravarty. He went to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to continue his higher studies from Queen's College,

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. He graduated in modern history specialising in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. He worked closely with his teachers like Christopher Hill and Keith Thomas. He became friends with his batchmates

Raphael Samuel Raphael Elkan Samuel (26 December 19349 December 1996) was a British Marxist historian and author, described by Stuart Hall as "one of the most outstanding, original intellectuals of his generation". Samuel helped create the History Workshop m ...

and

Peter Sedgwick Peter Harold Sedgwick (9 March 1934 – c. 8 September 1983) was a translator of Victor Serge, author of a number of books including ''PsychoPolitics'' and a revolutionary socialist activist. Life Peter Sedgwick grew up in Liverpool and won a sc ...

. His British late-19th-century British railwaymen's union thesis earned him a Doctorate degree under the supervision of

Henry Pelling Henry Mathison Pelling (27 August 1920 – 14 October 1997) was a British historian best known for his works on the history of the British Labour Party. Life Pelling was born in Prenton, Wirral, the son of a wealthy stockbroker. He was educa ...

Teaching positions

Gupta in the year 1960, joined

Burdwan University The University of Burdwan (also known as Burdwan University or B. U.) is a public state university located in Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. It was established by the West Bengal Government as a teaching and affiliating university on ...

in History Department briefly before joining

as a reader. He was teaching economic history before he became a reader in European and British history.

Marriage and children

He married

Narayani Gupta Narayani Gupta (born 13 November 1942) is an Indian historian who was a professor of history at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. She taught at Indraprastha College from 1966 before joining Jamia Millia Islamia University in 1988. Fro ...

who taught history at

Indraprastha College for Women Indraprastha College for Women, also known as Indraprastha College or IP College, is the oldest women's college in Delhi, India. Established in 1924, it is a constituent college of University of Delhi. The institution offers graduate and post- ...

and joined the

Jamia Millia Islamia University Jamia Millia Islamia is a public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British Raj in 1920, it moved to its current location in Okhla ...

in 1986. She was a consultant with

Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is a non-profit charitable organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. In 2007, the United Nations awarded INTACH a special consultative status with the ...

. Her research has been on

urban history Urban history is a field of history that examines the historical nature of cities and towns, and the process of urbanization. The approach is often multidisciplinary, crossing boundaries into fields like social history, architectural history, ur ...

, particularly that of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. She has many books to her credit. She was a founder member of the Conservation Society of Delhi and has been a member of the Delhi Urban Art Commission. She authored books Delhi between Empires 1803-1931, Society, Government and Urban Growth; Delhi Then & Now; and has co-authored Beato's Delhi: 1857 and Beyond. She has been an advisor for Delhi: The Built Heritage, A Listing, Intach, 2000. Together they have a son Himadri Shikhar Gupta and a daughter Niharika Gupta. *Prof Himadri Gupta, alumnus of prestigious

IIT Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT- Kanpur or IIT-K) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), it was declared an Institute of National Importance by th ...

and

Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces The Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (German: ''Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung'') is located in Potsdam-Golm Science Park in Golm, Potsdam, Germany. It was founded in 1990 as a successor of the Institu ...

(MPIKG) at Potsdam (Germany) is Professor at Institute of Bioengineering and School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. *Niharika Gupta is a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

and alumnus of

and

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. She worked as the Director of Research at

Sahapedia Sahapedia is a website which seeks to make the culture and history of India accessible to all. Sahapedia is a portmanteau of the word Saha and encyclopedia. Saha is Sanskrit for "together with". It uses a method of collaboration between scholars ...

She is currently working at International Research Division of

India International Centre The India International Centre (IIC) is a non-official organisation situated in New Delhi, India. Membership of the IIC includes artists, academicians, senior government officials, judges, jurists, parliamentarians, doctors, ministers, governors ...

, New Delhi

Published works

Imperialism And The British Labour Movement, 1914-1964
Towards Freedom: Documents For The Movement For Independence In India, 1943-44 Power, Politics and the People: Studies in British Imperialism and Indian Nationalism (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2002) Edited, with Anirudh Deshpande. The British Raj and Its Indian Armed Forces, 1857-1939. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

Eshan scholarship awarded for the highest marks in

Member of the

Smuts Fellow in Commonwealth History at

Directeur d'études at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris
Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Partha Sarathi 1934 births Academic staff of Delhi University 20th-century Indian historians Writers from Delhi Historians of Europe Alumni of the University of Oxford 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Historians of India 21st-century Indian historians Writers from West Bengal 1999 deaths Educators from Delhi