Shapurji Saklatvala
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Shapurji Saklatvala (March 28, 1874 – January 16, 1936) was a British politician of Indian Parsi heritage. He was the third Indian Member of Parliament (MP) in the Parliament of the United Kingdom after fellow Parsis Dadabhai Naoroji and Mancherjee Bhownagree.
Saklatvala was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, the son of a merchant. He worked briefly as an iron and coal prospector for Jamsetji Tata[1] before moving to England in 1905 where he worked for British Westinghouse. It was at this time that he joined Lincoln's Inn and qualified as a barrister.[2] He joined the Independent Labour Party, the Labour Party and on its formation the Communist Party of Great Britain (Labour allowed joint membership at the time). At the 1922 general election he was elected as the Communist candidate for the constituency of Battersea North, with the support of the Labour Party.
He was one of the first Communists elected to the British Parliament, along with Walton Newbold, although in 1920 Cecil L'Estrange Malone had joined the party while already an MP.
Saklatvala lost his seat at the 1923 general election, but was re-elected without official Labour support in the same seat in 1924 election — the first Communist to achieve this feat, although he did not face a Labour opponent. He again lost the seat in the 1929 general election.
Saklatvala was arrested in 1926 following a speech he made in support of striking coal miners and was jailed for two months. During the Spanish Civil War, the Britons fighting in the International Brigades were sometimes called the Saklatava Battalion, although they were more frequently known as the British Battalion since no other battalions from the UK fought.
[edit] See also
- Politics of the United Kingdom
- British Asians in politics of the United Kingdom
- Dadabhai Naoroji
- Mancherjee Bhownagree
