Sardar Bahadur Sir Sundar Singh Majithia (17 February 1872 – 2 April 1941) was a Punjabi landowner and politician.

Biography

He was born to an aristocratic Sher-Gill

Jat Sikh Jat Sikh or Jatt Sikh (Gurmukhi: ਜੱਟ ਸਿੱਖ) is an ethnoreligious group, a subgroup of the Jat people whose traditional religion is Sikhism, originating from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in Pu ...

family, the son of Raja Surat Singh of Majitha. He was educated at

Aitchison College Aitchison College is an elite private, boarding school, boarding Junior School, Secondary School for boys in Lahore, Pakistan. It has educated Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime ministers, including Imran Khan, Feroz Khan Noon, president of Pakist ...

, and Government College, in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. In 1909 he established Saraya Sugar Mills. One of the largest landowners in the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, he was also honorary secretary of the Chief Khalsa Diwan, the representative body of the

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

community 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 ...

, from its formation in 1902 until 1920. He was a supporter of British rule in India, opposed to the activities of the

Ghadar Party The Ghadar Movement or Ghadar Party was an early 20th-century, international political movement founded by expatriate Panjabi s to overthrow British rule in India. Many of the Ghadar Party founders and leaders, including Sohan Singh Bhakna, ...

and served on various bodies appointed by the

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1920 New Year Honours and 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 1926. He served as Revenue Member at the first and second legislative councils of the

Punjab Legislative Assembly The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab (India), Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 M ...

in 1921 and 1926. Following the Unionist victory in the

1937 Indian provincial elections Provincial elections were held in British India in the winter of 1936–37 as mandated by the Government of India Act 1935. Elections were held in eleven provinces - Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, the United Provinces, the Bombay P ...

Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan '' Khan Bahadur'' Major Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, (5 June 1892 – 26 December 1942), also written Sikandar Hyat-Khan or Sikandar Hyat Khan, was an Indian politician and statesman from the Punjab who served as the Premier of the Punjab, among ...

promoted him to the cabinet of his new ministry as Revenue Member. He remained in the position until his death in 1941. He played a leading part in forming the conservative and loyalist Khalsa Nationalist Party and was a significant contributor to the Singh Sabha Movement. It had been alleged that he hosted a dinner for

Reginald Dyer Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, (9 October 186423 July 1927) was a British military officer in the Bengal Army and later the newly constituted British Indian Army. His military career began in the regular British Army, but he soon transf ...

on the evening after the

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (), also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, British India, during the annual Vaisakhi, Baisakhi fair to protest aga ...

Personal life

Sundar Singh had two sons, one of whom was Surjit Singh Majithia. He was also the great-grandfather of Bikram Singh Majithia and Harsimrat Kaur Badal. His brother was the scholar and photographer Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia and his niece was the artist Amrita Sher-Gil. One of his grandchildren was the aviator Dalip Singh Majithia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Majithia, Sundar Singh 1872 births 1941 deaths Aitchison College alumni Indian Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Punjabi Sikhs Administrators in British India Politicians from British India Members of the Punjab Legislative Council Sardar Bahadurs Majithia family People from Punjab Province (British India)

Biography

Personal life

See also

References