Sir Ratanji Jamsetji Tata (20 January 1871 – 5 September 1918) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. He was the younger son of

Jamsetji Tata Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata (3 March 1839 – 19 May 1904) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Tata Group, India's largest conglomerate. He established the city of Jamshedpur. Born into a Zoroastrian Parsi family in ...

, the founder of the

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate group of companies headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest business conglomerate, with products and services in over 160 countries, and operations in 100 c ...

Biography

Ratanji Tata was born in Bombay in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

as the son of the noted

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

merchant

. Ratan Tata was educated at St. Xavier's College in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

and afterwards entered his father's firm. On the death of the elder Tata in 1904, Ratanji Tata and his brother

Dorabji Tata Sir Dorabji Tata (27 August 1859 – 3 June 1932) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist of the British Raj, and a key figure in the history and development of the Tata Group. He was knighted in 1910 for his contributions to indu ...

inherited a very large fortune, much of which they devoted to philanthropic works of a practical nature and to the establishment of various industrial enterprises for developing the resources of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. An Indian institute of scientific and medical research (

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a Public university, public, Deemed university, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The ...

, IISc) was founded at

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

in 1905, and in 1912 the

Tata Steel Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, with its primary operations based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel ...

began work at Sakchi, in the

Central Provinces The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Nagpur was the primary ...

, with marked success. The most important of the Tata enterprises, however, was the storing of the water power of the Western Ghats (1915), which provided Bombay with an enormous amount of electrical power, and hence vastly increased the productive capacity of its industries. Sir Ratan Tata, who was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1916, did not confine his benefactions to India. In

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 ...

, where he had a permanent residence at York House,

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

, he founded in 1912 the Ratan Tata department of social science and administration at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, and also established a Ratan Tata Fund at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

for studying the conditions of the poorer classes. In 1909, he donated a sum of Rs. 50,000 (equivalent to approximately Rs. 40 million in 2022) to

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 ...

to aid the struggle of Indians' right to work in the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

. This donation helped in securing the finances of Gandhi's protests against the Anglo-Boer rulers. He was a great connoisseur of arts. The

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, (CSMVS) formerly named the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, is a museum in Mumbai (Bombay) which documents the history of India from prehistoric to modern times. It was founded during Bri ...

(formerly

Prince of Wales Museum Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, (CSMVS) formerly named the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, is a museum in Mumbai (Bombay) which documents the history of India from prehistoric to modern times. It was founded during Bri ...

) has a section displaying the collections of Sir Ratanji Tata (acquired in 1923) along with two other sections that of Sir Dorab Tata (acquired in 1933) and Sir Purushottam Mavji (acquired in 1915).

Personal life

He married Navajbai Sett in 1893 and left for England the final time in 1915. They adopted Naval Tata from the family of a distant relative. Naval's father, Hormusji, was Ratanji's third-cousin's son, making Naval his distant grandnephew. Naval was also the son of Ratanji's first-cousin Ratanbai Rao (daughter of his mother Hirabai's sister Cooverbai). He died on 6 September 1918 at St Ives in Cornwall, England and was buried at

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, near London, by the side of his father (Jamsetji Tata). Through an aunt, Jerbai Tata, who married a Bombay merchant, Dorabji Saklatvala, he was cousin of

Shapurji Saklatvala Shapurji Dorabji Saklatvala (28 March 1874 – 16 January 1936) was a communist militant and British politician of Indian Parsi heritage. He was the first person of Indian heritage to become a British Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour P ...

who later became a

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Member of the British Parliament.Article on Saklatvala by Mike Squires, who refers to Jamsetji as J.N. Tata.

Legacy

After his death the

Sir Ratan Tata Trust Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) was founded in 1919 with a sum of Indian currency 8 million. It was under the Ownership of Ratan Tata until his death. Noel Tata was appointed as the Chairman of the Tata Group#Tata Trusts, Tata Trusts on 11 October ...

was founded in 1919, with a corpus of Rs. 8 million.

Notes

References

External links

Sir Ratan Tata Trust
– official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Tata, Ratanji 1871 births 1918 deaths Indian philanthropists Indian industrialists Indian Knights Bachelor Indian justices of the peace Ratanji Parsi people from Mumbai Businesspeople from Mumbai St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni Indian art collectors Founders of Indian schools and colleges Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Businesspeople from British India Philanthropists from British India Businesspeople awarded knighthoods