https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Dinshaw_Maneckji_PetitDinshaw Maneckji Petit - Revision history2026-07-31T23:46:23ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Dinshaw_Maneckji_Petit&diff=299563&oldid=prev>Lotje at 12:03, 11 January 20222022-01-11T12:03:16Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Indian baronet, businessman and philanthropist}}<br />
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{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}<br />
{{more citations needed|date=December 2011}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Dinshaw Maneckji Petit<br />
| image = Sir Dinshaw Maneckjee Petit Brat. I (1823-1901).jpg<br />
| alt = <br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1823|06|30|df=y}}<br />
| birth_place = <br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1901|05|05|1823|06|30|df=y}}<br />
| death_place = [[Bombay]], India<br />
| nationality = <br />
| other_names = <br />
| known_for = <br />
| spouse = Sakerbai Petit (nee Panday)<br />
| children = 14<br />
| relatives = See [[Petit baronets|Petit family]]<br />
| occupation = Entrepreneur<br />
}}<br />
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'''Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, 1st Baronet''' (born '''Dinshaw Maneckji Petit'''; 30 June 1823{{snd}}5 May 1901), was a [[Parsi people|Parsi]] entrepreneur and founder of the first textile mills in [[India]], as well as a great philanthropist. Part of the [[Petit baronets|Petit family]] and the first [[Petit baronets|baronet of Petit]].<br />
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==Family and death==<br />
{{Main|Petit baronets}}<br />
Dinshaw Maneckji Petit was born in [[Bombay]], British India. Sir Dinshaw was married to Lady [[Sakarbai Petit]] (née Panday)<ref name=geni>{{cite web | url=https://www.geni.com/people/Sakarbai-Petit/292371529950002973 | title=Sakarbai Petit Genealogy}}</ref> in 1837, with whom he had 14 children (six sons and eight daughters).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.zoroastrian.org.uk/vohuman/Article/Sir%20Dinshaw%20Manockjee%20Petit.htm} | title= Sir Dinshaw Manockji Petit}}</ref> He was survived by, among others, his son, Sir Dinshaw Petit, who became the 2nd Baronet. His granddaughter, [[Mithuben Hormusji Petit]] (11 April 1892 – 16 July 1973) was a female activist in the Indian independence movement, who famously participated in [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s Dandi March. His grandson, Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, 3rd Baronet, was married to, Sylla Tata, the daughter of [[Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata]] and the sister of [[J. R. D. Tata|Jehangir Tata]], both of whom were the shareholders of the [[Tata Sons]]. <br />
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His granddaughter [[Ratanbai Petit]] was the wife of the founder of [[Pakistan]], [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]].<ref>{{cite DNB12|wstitle=Petit, Dinshaw Manockjee}}</ref> Petit's great-granddaughter, [[Dina Wadia|Dina Jinnah]], was married to [[Wadia Group]] chairperson, [[Neville Wadia]], until their divorce.<br />
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His son, Dinshaw Maneckjee Petit achieved notoriety for his tax evasion and his penchant to set up [[shell companies]] to reduce his tax liability.<ref name=indiankanoon>{{cite web |url= https://indiankanoon.org/doc/917286/ | title=Re: Dinshaw Maneckjee Petit}}</ref> The case of Dinsaw Maneckjee Petit is one of the few occasions where the government has seen it fit to lift the [[corporate veil]] due to the egregious nature of the tax avoidance.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-6736-corporate-veil-concept-and-in-re-sir-dinshaw-maneckji-petit-bari.html | title=Corporate Veil Concept And In Re Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit Bari}}</ref><br />
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Dinshaw Maneckji Petit died on 5 May 1901 at Bombay. A posthumous portrait of the 1st Baronet was painted by [[James Dromgole Linton|Sir James Linton]].<ref name="EB1911"/><br />
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==Career==<br />
As broker to [[Europe]]an firms he amassed a large fortune during the period of speculation in [[Bombay]] at the time of the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Petit, Sir Dinshaw Maneckji |volume=21 |page=306}}</ref> He founded the Manockji Petit Spinning & Weaving Mills.<br />
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In 1854, Dinshaw Maneckji Petit founded the "Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund" with the aim of improving the conditions for the less fortunate [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] co-coreligionists in Iran. The fund succeeded in convincing a number of Iranian Zoroastrians to emigrate to India (where they are today known as [[Irani (India)|Iranis]]), and may have been instrumental in obtaining a remission of the ''[[jizya]]'' poll tax for their co-religionists in 1882.<br />
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In 1886, he became a member of the governor-general's legislative council where he was criticized for playing a pro-colonial role despite being a non-official nominee to the council. He was referred to as a "gilded sham" and a "magnificent non-entity " by the nationalists. He devoted his wealth to philanthropic objects, among the public and private charities which he endowed being the Towers of Silence and fire temples for the [[Parsi]] [[Zoroastrian]] community, a hospital for animals named Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals (named after his wife), a college for women, and the Petit hospital.<ref name=geni/><ref name="EB1911"/><br />
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For the advancement of technical education, Sir D. M. Petit also donated premises worth Rs. 3,00,000 at [[Byculla]], Bombay to the famous Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute ([[VJTI]]) (recognized by the Government of Bombay as the Central Technological Institute, Bombay Province). In winter 1923, that institute relocated to its present location in Matunga, Bombay.<br />
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He was [[knight]]ed by the British Crown in 1887, and on 1 September 1890, he became the first [[Petit baronets|Petit baronet]] of Petit Hall, Bombay. The baronetcy was created with remainder to<br />
#Framjee Petit, second son of the first Baronet, and the heirs male of his body, failing which to<br />
#the heirs male of the body of the first Baronet. By Special Act of the Legislative Council of India all holders of the title were to relinquish their own name on succession and assume those of the first Baronet.<br />
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The Petit surname is not traditionally Parsi and had come about in Sir Dinshaw's great grandfather's time in the 18th century. He had worked as a shipping clerk and interpreter for the [[British East India Company]]. French merchants who dealt with the lively, short Parsi clerk called him "le [[wiktionary:petit#Adjective 2|petit]] Parsi".<br />
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==Styles==<br />
*1823-1886: Dinshaw Maneckji Petit<br />
*1886-1887: Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, C.S.I.<br />
*1887-1890: [[Sir]] Dinshaw Maneckji Petit<br />
*1890-1901: Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, [[Baronet|Bt]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
*Dictionary of Indian Biography By C. E. Buckland page 335<br />
*{{Rayment|date=February 2012}}<br />
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[[Category:1823 births]]<br />
[[Category:1901 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom|Petit, Dinshaw Maneckji, 1st Baronet]]<br />
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people]]<br />
[[Category:Indian baronets]]<br />
[[Category:Indian knights]]<br />
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the Council of India]]<br />
[[Category:Indian businesspeople in textiles]]<br />
[[Category:Businesspeople from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the Bombay Legislative Council]]<br />
[[Category:Sheriffs of Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian philanthropists]]</div>>Lotje