To mark South Asian Heritage Month taking place over July and August, the English and History Departments would like to invite you and your sons to an evening exploring the life of the pioneering Indian Member of Parliament Dadabhai Naoroji. Old Guildfordians, as well as students and teachers from our partnership schools, are also welcome to attend.

Naoroji was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress and the first Indian to be elected to the British parliament when in 1892, he became the Liberal Party’s MP for Finsbury Central. He holds a particular significance in the English curriculum at the RGS as he appears as a character in one of our key GCSE set texts, The Empress by the playwright Tanika Gupta. The History Department also focuses on this seminal figure in British-Indian relations through their A-Level students’ coursework concerning the impact of the British Empire in India.

On Wednesday 3 July, we will be delighted to welcome Dr Vikram Visana, Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Leicester, to deliver a talk at 6 pm in the Auditorium detailing aspects of Naoroji’s life, such as his activism in Mumbai, his path to becoming an MP in Victorian England and ultimately, his efforts to help India achieve autonomous rule, or Swaraj. Dr Visana completed his PhD on liberalism, imperial citizenship and Indian self-government in the political thought of Naoroji at the University of Cambridge. His research regarding the influence of Naoroji’s economic theories on the Indian nationalist movement and global political thought more widely has also resulted in the publication of the monograph Uncivil Liberalism: Labour, Capital and Commercial Society in Dadabhai Naoroji’s Political Thought, which was shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society’s 2023 Gladstone Book Prize.

Dr Visana’s lecture will be followed by a panel discussion in which he will be interviewed by students from the Fourth Form and Lower Sixth on topics not limited to Naoroji but also Indian nationalism during the British Empire more generally, including other notable figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

NOTE:  Please be advised that the Guildford Town Centre Cycle Race will be happening on Wednesday 3 July and that roads surrounding the school may be congested and involve rerouting