Guide to the Papers of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru collected by D.A. Low, 1896-1981

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9823

Creator:

Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru

Extent:

9.54 metres and (8 boxes + 115 volumes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru collected by D.A. Low, National Library of Australia, MS 9823, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection consists largely of photocopies of the papers of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, 1875 – 1949, which were collected, copied and bound by Professor D. A. Low. The original collection is held in full in the National Library of India, Calcutta. The collection documents the Indian National Movement for Independence focussing on the years 1920 to 1949.

The papers also include other Indian materials, in particular copies of private papers from some of Sapru’s Indian and British contemporaries and Low’s own copies and notes for the period 1916 to 1944 from the records of the Home Department, Political Branch of the Government of India, which was the key colonial government department confronting the Indian national movement.

The collection is largely comprised of photocopies of correspondence; biographies of Sapru; photographs; reports and articles relating to Sapru; proceedings and legislation of the Indian and British Governments including Round Table Conferences and Constitutional Reforms; and publications relating to Sapru and the Indian Government. His correspondence includes contact with British and Indian leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Linlithgow, Lord Irwin and Lord Willingdon.

Biographical Note:

Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru: Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru was born on 3 December 1875 and died on 29 January 1949. Sapru was a Kashmiri Pandit and his lifetime home was Allahabad in North India. He was educated at Agra College, graduating with an M.A. in English and Law.

Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru was a prominent constitutional lawyer and non-party peace maker in India from the early 1920s until his death. He corresponded with many political and international leaders and was greatly respected by Gandhi and other Congress leaders as well as by the British. On at least five occasions he played a crucial role as mediator between British government and Indian leaders between 1929 and 1942. He played a pivotal role in India’s constitutional and political development in both his political and public life, making successive attempts to direct constitutional reforms toward Indian independence. He entered active politics in 1907, joining the Moderate Section of the Congress and held various positions in government office between 1912 and 1923, including membership of India’s Imperial Legislative Council, the Franchise Commission and Law member of the Government of India. He broke away from the Congress in 1917, disagreeing with Gandhi’s civil disobedience tactics.

In 1924 he was the driving force behind the Commonwealth of India Bill. Between 1931 and 1934 he was a delegate at all three Round Table Conferences held by the British Government in London on Indian constitutional reform, making a plea for a status of equality for India. In 1943 he played a key role in the establishment of the Indian Council of World Affairs becoming its first president and remaining so until his death in 1949. Following India’s independence in 1947, Sapru remained well informed of the progress of Indian politics, but Parkinson’s disease prevented him from taking any active part.

Sources: Low, D.A. The Sapru Collection and related materials: note by Professor Anthony Low, 2002; The International who’s who, 1949; Dictionary of Indian Biography, 2000

Professor D.A. Low: Donald Anthony Low was born on 22 June 1927 in Nainital, India. He first settled in Australia in 1959. Low’s main interests have included the 19th and 20th century history of India and Africa and the history of the Commonwealth.

Low holds a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University, a Doctor of Literature from Cambridge University and is a fellow of such societies as the Royal Historical Society and the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Low was the recipient of the Centenary Medal in 2003.

Low has held various professional positions at colleges and universities in the UK, Uganda and Australia from 1951-1994 including Senior lecturer in History, Makerere University Uganda 1951-1958; Founding Dean School of African and Asian Studies, University of Sussex 1964-1969; Professor of History, University of Sussex 1964-1972; Director of the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University 1973-1975; Vice Chancellor, Australian National University 1975-1982; Smuts Professor History of the British Commonwealth, Cambridge University 1983-1994

Low’s other professional positions have included President, African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific 1979-1982; President, Asian Studies Association of Australia 1980-1982; Founding president, British Australian Studies Association 1984-1986; Chairman of the editorial board of the Round Table 1992-1994

Publications by Low include Soundings in Modern South Asia History (ed) (1968); Government Archives in South Asia (ed) (1969); Lion rampant: essays in the study of British imperialism (1973); Congress and the Raj (ed) (1977); Constitutional heads and political crises: Commonwealth episodes, 1945-1985 (ed) (1988); Eclipse of empire (1991); Rearguard action: selected essays on late colonial India (1996); The egalitarian moment: Asia and Africa (1996); Britain and Indian nationalism: the imprint of ambiguity 1929-1942 (1997).

Source: Who’s who in Australia 2004.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

Professor D.A. Low donated the copies of the Sapru Papers and related papers to the Library in three instalments in 2002-2003.

Arrangement:

The Sapru Papers were bound in 114 volumes; there were also some additional loose papers. The Library placed these additional papers into folders ensuring maintenance of the original order. The bound volumes cover the period 1896 – 1949 and relate to Series 1 and Series 2 of the original deposit of Sapru papers held in the National Library of India. The date overlap in the original deposit between the two series occurred as a result of a further consignment of the Sapru Papers which was not able to be integrated into the original series, thereby creating a second series.

A published index produced by the National Library of India titled The Sapru correspondence: A check-list first series can be used to locate letters by correspondent within the bound volumes of Series 1.

Users should note that the original papers in the National Library of India are bound up in alphabetical order of correspondent, while the copies in the National Library of Australia’s collection are bound up in chronological order. The numbering on items in the latter refer to the original volumes in the National Library of India.

Indexed terms

Names:

Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn109585).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru collected by D.A. Low, National Library of Australia, MS 9823, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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