>Citation bot at 15:20, 30 April 2021

2021-04-30T15:20:28Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2007}}
[[File:Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney (1812-1878).jpg|right|240px|thumb|'''Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, CSI''' (1812-1878).]]
[[File:High relief sculpture of Cowasji Jehangir by Thomas Woolner, Old College, Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|240px|High relief sculpture of Cowasji Jehangir by [[Thomas Woolner]], [[Old College, University of Edinburgh]]]]
'''Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney''', [[Order of the Star of India|CSI]] (24 May 1812 – 19 July 1878)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buckland |first1=Charles Edward |title=Dictionary of Indian Biography |date=1906 |publisher=S. Sonnenschein |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.501620/page/n366 354] |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.501620 |quote=Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney. |accessdate=29 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The late Sir Cowasjee Jehangir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-f7oEN0jsMsC&q=Cowasji+Jehangir+Readymoney+July+1878&pg=PA788 |accessdate=29 April 2019 |work=Allen's Indian mail and register of intelligence for British and foreign India |date=19 August 1878 |page=788 |language=en}}</ref> was a [[Parsi people|Parsi]] community leader, philanthropist and industrialist of [[Mumbai|Bombay]], India.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/s/019pho000000127u00065000.html Sir Cowasjee Jehangir K.C.S.I. of Bombay.] ''[[British Library]]''.</ref>

==Family and background==
Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney came from a wealthy [[Parsi people|Parsi]] family. His great-grandfather and two great-uncles had moved in the early 18th century from [[Navsari]] near [[Surat]] to [[Mumbai|Bombay]] and had become pioneers in the lucrative [[opium]] trade with China. The brothers were cash-rich and worked as bankers to various British clients, and they earned for themselves the [[sobriquet]] "Readymoney," which they later adopted as a surname.

Among the three brothers, only Hirji Jewanji Readymoney was blessed with surviving issue, being two daughters. He arranged in the usual Indian way for them to marry into families of their own community and similar background. The girls were married into wealthy Parsi families; the elder married a Banaji, the younger a Dady Sett (or Dadiseth). In the next generation, the son of the elder daughter, Jehangir Hirji, married the daughter of the younger daughter, Mirbai, again in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian way. Jehangir Hirji was designated the heir of his grandfather and his two granduncles. He and Mirbai were blessed with two sons. The elder was the father of [[Jehangir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney]] and the younger was Cowasji Jehangir, the subject of this page.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Readymoney, Sir Cowasji Jehangir |volume=22 |page=940 |first=Mancherjee Merwanjee |last=Bhownagree |inline=1}}</ref>

== Business career ==
Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney's only formal education was at the (then) well-known school kept by Serjeant Sykes at one of Bombay's forts. At the age of 15, Readymoney entered the firm of Duncan, Gibb & Co. as "[[godown]] keeper," or warehouse clerk.

In 1837 Readymoney was promoted to the responsible and lucrative appointment of "guarantee broker" to two leading European firms in Bombay. By 1846 he was able to begin trading on his own account. In 1866 Readymoney was appointed a commissioner of [[income tax]], his tactful management being largely responsible for the fact that this tax, then new to Bombay and unpopular, was levied with unexpected financial success.<ref name=EB1911/>

== Public service and philanthropy ==
[[File:Jehangir Fountain Regents Park 2006-04-14.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|[[Readymoney Drinking Fountain]], erected by Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney in Regent's Park, London]]
Readymoney was appointed [[Justice of the Peace]] for the town and island of Bombay and a member of the Board of Conservancy.<ref name=EB1911/>
He was invested as a Companion of The Most Exalted [[Order of the Star of India]] (C.S.I) in 1871; and in 1872 he was created a [[Knight Bachelor]] of the United Kingdom<ref name=EB1911/> in recognition of his donations to the [[Indian Institute, London|Indian Institute]] in London and other charitable causes in Bombay amounting to approximately £200,000. Readymoney built colleges, hospitals, insane asylums; founded a refuge for people of "respectability" who found themselves destitute or friendless in Bombay; erected several drinking fountains of artistic merit; gave donations to the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] and the [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] missions in India. Readymoney also financed the erection in 1869 of the [[Readymoney Drinking Fountain]] in [[Regent's Park]], London, which was opened by the [[Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge|Princess of Teck]], as a mark of gratitude from the Parsi community to the protection that British rule in India had given them.<ref>[http://www.newenglishreview.org/Ibn_Warraq/The_Regent%27s_Canal/ The Regent's Canal And The Trail To The British Raj, Parsis, And Sir Cowajee Jehanjir Readymoney by Ibn Warraq]</ref>

Readymoney had a particular association with [[University of Mumbai|University of Bombay]] and he financed the erection of several notable buildings there, including the Convocation Hall designed by [[Sir George Gilbert Scott]].<ref>{{cite news|title=A TALE OF TWO BUILDINGS|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120805/jsp/opinion/story_15808694.jsp#.UXQCrux4pr4|accessdate=21 April 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph, Calcutta, India|date=5 August 2012}}</ref><ref>[http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/asia/india/mumbai/kala-ghoda-around/around-oval-maidan/ Around Oval Maidan] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130630061956/http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/asia/india/mumbai/kala-ghoda-around/around-oval-maidan/ |date=2013-06-30 }}</ref> Readymoney was also a member of the University's Faculty of Civil Engineering and its Senate. A statue of Readymoney, by [[Thomas Woolner]], stands on the campus grounds. There is also a small bas-relief sculpture of him at the [[University of Edinburgh]] but Readymoney's connection to that establishment is unknown.

During his lifetime, Readymoney was known as the ''Peabody of Bombay''. The reason for this epithet is unknown, but may be a reference to London's [[Peabody Trust]], since Jehangir owned several large housing estates and is said to have identified himself with [[George Peabody]].

After a long illness, Readymoney died in 1878. His nephew and adopted son and heir, [[Jehangir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney]], was created a Knight Bachelor (in 1895) and a [[Jehangir Baronets|Baronet]] (in 1908).<ref name=EB1911/>

==See also==
*[[Jehangir Baronets]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://archive.org/details/lifeofcowasjeejehangirreadymoney Life Of Cowasjee Jehangir Readymoney (1890)]
{{Commons category}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Readymoney, Cowasji}}
[[Category:1812 births]]
[[Category:1878 deaths]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Indian philanthropists]]
[[Category:Indian knights]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian businesspeople]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]
[[Category:19th-century philanthropists]]

Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney - Revision history

>Citation bot at 15:20, 30 April 2021