2001:67C:2628:647:35:402:0:3F at 11:40, 4 June 2026

2026-06-04T11:40:11Z

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{{short description|Indian merchant (1783–1859)}}
{{for|descendants of the same name|Jejeebhoy baronets}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy
| honorific_suffix = [[Baronet|Bt]], [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]], [[Fellows of The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|FRAS]]
| image = Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy 1959 stamp of India.jpg
| caption = Jejeebhoy on a 1959 stamp of India
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1783|7|15}}
| birth_place = [[Bombay]], [[Maratha Confederacy]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1859|4|14|1783|7|15}}
| death_place = [[Mumbai|Bombay]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British raj|British India]]
| occupation = Merchandiser, business magnate
| spouse =
}}

'''Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, 1st Baronet''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|list=[[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]], [[Fellows of The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|FRAS]]}} (15 July 1783 – 14 April 1859),<ref>{{usurped|1=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501224923/http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage/baronetsJ.htm}}</ref> also spelt '''Jeejeebhoy''' or '''Jeejebhoy''', was an Indian merchant and philanthropist. He made a significant fortune in cotton and was also a participant in the opium trade.<ref>{{citation|title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City|last=Palsetia|first=Jesse S.|location=Leiden|year=2001|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|page=55|isbn=9004121145}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Mumbai Fables|last=Prakash|first=Gyan|location=New Delhi|year=2010|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9350291665}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Smuggling as Subversion: Colonialism, Indian Merchants, and the Politics of Opium, 1790–1843|last=Farooqui|first=Amar|location=New Delhi|year=2005|publisher=Lexington Books|page=210|isbn=0739108867}}</ref>

== Early life and business career ==

Jejeebhoy was born in [[Bombay]] in 1783, the son of Merwanjee Mackjee Jejeebhoy and Jeevibai Cowasjee Jejeebhoy. His father was a [[Parsi]] textile merchant from [[Surat]], [[Gujarat]], who migrated to Bombay in the 1770s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy|work=Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/jejeebhoy-jamsetjee|access-date=16 August 2015}}</ref> Both of his parents died in 1799, leaving the sixteen-year-old under the care of his maternal uncle Framjee Nasserwanjee Battliwala. At the age of sixteen, having had little formal education,<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Jeejeebhoy, Sir Jamsetjee|volume=15|page=300|first=Mancherjee Merwanjee|last=Bhownaggree|author-link=Mancherjee Bhownaggree}}</ref> he made his first visit to [[Calcutta]] and subsequently began trading voyages to China involving cotton and opium.<ref>{{citation|title=The Rise of Business Corporations in India, 1851–1900|last=Rungta|first=Shyam|year=1970|location=New Delhi|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/riseofbusinessco0000rung/page/57 57]|isbn=0-521-07354-5|url=https://archive.org/details/riseofbusinessco0000rung/page/57}}</ref>

Jejeebhoy's second voyage to China was made in a ship of the [[British East India Company]] fleet. Under the command of Sir [[Nathaniel Dance]], the fleet repelled a French squadron under Rear-Admiral [[Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois]] in the [[Battle of Pulo Aura]].<ref name=EB1911/>

On Jejeebhoy's fourth voyage to China, the [[Indiaman]] in which he sailed was captured by the French, who carried him as a prisoner to the [[Cape of Good Hope]], then a Dutch possession.<ref name=EB1911/> After considerable delay, he returned to [[Calcutta]] aboard a Danish vessel.<ref name=EB1911/> He subsequently undertook another voyage to China, which proved more successful than his earlier journeys.<ref name=EB1911/>

By this time Jejeebhoy had established a reputation as an enterprising merchant and had accumulated considerable wealth.<ref name=EB1911/> In 1803, he married his maternal uncle's daughter Avabai (d. 1870) and settled in Bombay, where he expanded his commercial activities.<ref name=EB1911/> Around this time he adopted the name "Jamsetjee" in place of "Jamshed". By the age of forty he had accumulated more than two crore rupees. Further wealth came from the cotton trade during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. He acquired his own fleet of ships. [[Mountstuart Elphinstone]], Governor of Bombay, remarked that "By strict integrity, by industry and punctuality in all his commercial transactions, he contributed to raise the character of the Bombay merchant in the most distant markets."<ref name="zoroastrians1">{{cite web|url=https://zoroastrians.net/2012/01/30/yatha-ahu-vairyo-mohalla/|title=Yatha Ahu Vairyo Mohalla|date=30 January 2012}}</ref>

In 1814, profits from trade enabled him to purchase his first ship, ''Good Success'', and he gradually expanded his fleet to seven vessels, which primarily carried opium and cotton to China.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bulley|first1=Anne|title=The Bombay Country Ships 1790–1833|date=16 December 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1136833137}}</ref> By 1836, his firm employed his sons and other relatives and had amassed substantial wealth.<ref name=EB1911/>

Jejeebhoy and his family were also known by the name "Battliwala", reflecting commercial interests associated with the bottle trade. The name was used in business and social contexts, although he did not adopt it as part of his baronetcy title.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Edward Balfour |title=Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia |edition=3rd |volume=1 |publisher=Bernard Quaritch |location=London |year=1885 |page=XXX |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.181725}}</ref> His family frequently used the name "Battliwala" in business and social contexts, reflecting commercial interests connected with bottle manufacture and trade, though he did not adopt the name formally when granted a baronetcy.

In 1818, he established the trading and shipping firm ''Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy & Co.'' with Motichund Amichund and Mahomed Ali Rogay. He later worked with [[Rogério de Faria (Roger Faria)|Rogério de Faria]]. His voyages to China led to a long association with [[Jardine Matheson & Co.]] of Canton. Jejeebhoy served as one of the firm's Indian associates and underwriters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://industrialhistoryhk.org/jamsetjee-jeejeebhoy-china-william-jardine-celestial-connections/|title=Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy: China, William Jardine, the Celestial, and Other HK Connections}}</ref> He was regarded by British authorities as a leading representative of Bombay's Indian mercantile community.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Karaka|first1=D. F.|title=History of the Parsis|date=1884|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.164140}}</ref>

He was one of two Indian members appointed to the first board of management of the [[Great Indian Peninsula Railway]], alongside [[Jagannath Shankarsheth]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Patwardhan|first=G. D.|date=15 August 1995|title=Off the Rails|url=https://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/docs/toi/aug15-1995.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Egbers|first1=Vera|last2=Kamleithner|first2=Christa|last3=Sezer|first3=Özge|last4=Skedzuhn-Safir|first4=Alexandra|title=Architectures of Colonialism: Constructed Histories, Conflicting Memories|date=2024|publisher=Birkhäuser|pages=85|isbn=978-3-0356-2670-4}}</ref>

== Philanthropy ==

[[File:Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy.jpg|thumb|Sketch of Jejeebhoy, 1857]]
[[File:Residence of Jejeebhoy.jpg|thumb|''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' print of Jejeebhoy's residence, 1858]]
[[File:JJ Hospital.jpg|thumb|Engraving of the Bombay Native Hospital, constructed at the joint expense of Jejeebhoy and the East India Company; it was later renamed "Sir J. J. Hospital".]]
[[File:Baronet,1st,Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy,statue, Tamil Nadu481.jpg|thumb|right|210px|Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy statue, [[Mumbai]]]]

An essentially [[self-made man]], having experienced poverty in early life, Jejeebhoy developed sympathy for those in need.<ref name=EB1911/> During his later years he devoted substantial resources to charitable causes. Hospitals, schools, charitable institutions and pension funds throughout India, particularly in Bombay, [[Navsari]], [[Surat]], and [[Poona]], were created or supported through his donations, and he financed the construction of public works including wells, reservoirs, bridges and causeways.<ref name=EB1911/> By the time of his death in 1859, he was estimated to have donated more than £230,000 to charitable causes.<ref name=EB1911/> His philanthropic activities expanded significantly from 1822, when he paid the debts of poor prisoners confined in Bombay's civil jail.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/social/history/asia/jejeebhoy.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422185630/http://robinsonlibrary.com/social/history/asia/jejeebhoy.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=22 April 2017|title=Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy|website=www.robinsonlibrary.com}}</ref>

Among his notable charitable contributions were:

* [[Mahim|Mahim Causeway]]: The British Government declined to finance a causeway connecting Mahim and [[Bandra]]. Jejeebhoy's wife, [[Avabai Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy]], contributed Rs. 155,800 towards its construction. Work commenced in 1841 and was completed several years later.

* He donated Rs. 100,000 towards the construction of [[Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals|Sir J. J. Hospital]].

* Jejeebhoy supported at least 126 public charities, including the [[Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art]], the [[Sir J. J. College of Architecture]],<ref>"[http://www.sirjjarchitecture.org Sir JJ College Of Architecture, Bombay – Home]". Sir JJ College of Architecture. Accessed 23 May 2010.</ref> the [[Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art]], and Seth R.J.J. High School. He also established the ''Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy Parsi Benevolent Fund'' in 1849 for the benefit of members of the Parsi community.

* He paid two-thirds of the cost of the Poona (now [[Pune]]) waterworks project, with the remainder funded by the government.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/jamsetjee-jejeebhoy-the-opium-trader-who-became-baronet-of-bombay/article27033135.ece|title=The opium trader who became one of India's richest men|last=Manuel|first=Thomas|date=4 May 2019|work=The Hindu|access-date=9 May 2019|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

* He contributed financially to [[Bombay Samachar]], founded by [[Fardunjee Marzban]] in 1822. He was also among the early supporters of ''The Bombay Times'', established in 1838 and later renamed ''[[The Times of India]]'' in 1861. He additionally supported the [[Jam-e-Jamshed]] Press when it was founded in 1859.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.homidhalla.com/downloads/lesser_known_facts.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712215309/http://www.homidhalla.com/downloads/lesser_known_facts.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 July 2011|title=Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy – Lesser Known Facts|date=12 July 2011|access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref>

* The [[Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum]], originally known as the Victoria and Albert Museum, was established with financial support from several prominent Bombay philanthropists, including Jejeebhoy, [[David Sassoon (treasurer)|David Sassoon]], and [[Jaganath Shankerseth]].

* He spent Rs. 145,403 establishing the Sir J. J. [[Dharamshala (type of building)|Dharamshala]] on Bellasis Road.<ref name="zoroastrians1"/>

== Baronetcy ==

Jejeebhoy's services were recognised by the British government when he was knighted in 1842 and later created a [[baronet]] in 1857.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=22003 |date=19 May 1857 |page=1770}}</ref> These honours were the first knighthood and baronetcy conferred by [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] upon an Indian subject.<ref name=EB1911/>

Upon his death in 1859, the [[Jejeebhoy baronets|baronetcy]] passed to his eldest son, [[Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, 2nd Baronet|Cursetjee Jejeebhoy]], who subsequently assumed the name Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy under the provisions of the original letters patent.<ref name=EB1911/>

When Jejeebhoy died in 1859, a Bombay newspaper described him as:

<blockquote>
"Simple in his tastes and manners, and dignified in his address, the personal appearance of Sir Jamsetjee, in later years, was a picture of greatness in repose. He had done his work, and entered upon the sabbath of his life."
</blockquote><ref>{{Cite web|date=2023-04-29|title=What it takes for Sir J J Agiary in Pune's Camp to keep the flame alive|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/pune-sir-jj-agiary-camp-flame-alive-8582368/|access-date=2023-05-04|website=The Indian Express|language=en}}</ref>

== Advocate of non-violence ==

In 1855, under royal patronage, the Patriotic Fund was established to assist wounded soldiers and the families of those who had died during the [[Crimean War]]. Jejeebhoy contributed Rs. 5,000 to the fund. In a speech delivered on the occasion, he expressed opposition to the human and economic costs of war:

<blockquote>
Of none of the great evils which afflict our race do we form such inadequate conceptions as of the evils of war. War is exhibited to us in the dazzling dress of poetry, fiction, and history, where its horrors are carefully concealed beneath its gaudy trappings; or we see, perhaps, its plumes and epaulettes, and harlequin finery, we hear of the magnificence of the apparatus, the bravery of the troops, the glory of the victors, but the story of the wholesale miseries and wretchedness and wrongs which follow in its train is untold … What nation is not groaning under war-debts, the greatest of national burdens! Had the inconceivable sum wasted in the work of human butchery been applied to promote individual comfort and national prosperity, the world would not now be so far behind as it is in its career of progress … Our duty to relieve the sufferers in this great war would have remained the same whether the war had been a just one or not; but, considering the nature and objects of this war, we extend this relief now more as a privilege than as a duty … To the call of our gracious Sovereign, and to the call of humanity, the Parsis, my lord, will cordially respond.
</blockquote>

His concern for the welfare of animals was reflected in his support for efforts to prevent cruelty towards them. During the nineteenth century, the East India Company maintained a policy of destroying stray dogs in Bombay, which generated public opposition. In response to concerns regarding animal welfare, Jejeebhoy and Amichand Shah helped establish the Bombay Panjrapole on 18 October 1834.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bombaypanjrapole.org.in/history/|title=History |website=Bombay Panjrapole|access-date=4 May 2018}}</ref>

== Arms ==

{{Infobox COA wide
|image=Arms of Jejeebhoy of Bombay.svg
|escutcheon = Azure: a sun rising above a representation of the [[Western Ghats|Ghauts]], or mountains near Bombay, in base, and in chief two bees volant, all proper.
|crest = A mount, thereon amidst wheat, a peacock, in the beak an ear of wheat, all proper.
|motto = Industry and liberality.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Burke|first1=Bernard|title=The Heraldic Register: 1849–1850, With an Annotated Obituary|publisher=E. Churton|year=1850|page=[https://archive.org/details/heraldicregister00burkiala/page/73 73]|url=https://archive.org/details/heraldicregister00burkiala}}</ref>
}}

== General and cited references ==

* {{cite book
|author=B. K. Karanjia
|author-link=B. K. Karanjia
|year=1998
|title=Give Me a Bombay Merchant Anytime!: The Life of Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, Bt., 1783–1859
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMvsAAAAMAAJ
|publisher=University of Mumbai
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/persons/jamsetjee-jeejeebhoy.html Brief profile of Sir J.J.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060206104508/http://www.zav.org.au/pages/heroes/jamsetjee.htm Brief biography of Sir J.J.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110712215309/http://www.homidhalla.com/downloads/lesser_known_facts.pdf Homi Dhalla, "Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, Lesser Known Facts about his Multidimensional Personality", homidhalla.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051017091249/http://music.calarts.edu/~bansuri/pages/sirJJ.html Sir J.J. on David Philpson's site]
* [http://www.the-south-asian.com/April2001/Parsis-Early%20settlers%20in%20Bombay.htm Parsee settlers in Bombay]

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Jejeebhoy baronets|Baronet]]<br>'''(of Bombay) | years='''1857–1859}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, 2nd Baronet|Cursetjee Jejeebhoy]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jejeebhoy, Jamsetjee}}
[[Category:1783 births]]
[[Category:1859 deaths]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Indian baronets]]
[[Category:Indian knights]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from British India]]
[[Category:Indian businesspeople in the textile industry]]
[[Category:Merchants from British India]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian businesspeople]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]
[[Category:People from Bombay Presidency]]

Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy - Revision history

2001:67C:2628:647:35:402:0:3F at 11:40, 4 June 2026