Dinshaw Maneckji Petit

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Dinshaw Maneckji Petit
Born	(1823-06-30)30 June 1823
Died	5 May 1901(1901-05-05) (aged 77) Bombay, India
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Spouse(s)	Sakerbai Petit (nee Panday)
Children	14
Relatives	See Petit family

Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, 1st Baronet (born Dinshaw Maneckji Petit; 30 June 1823 – 5 May 1901), was a Parsi entrepreneur and founder of the first textile mills in India, as well as a great philanthropist. Part of the Petit family and the first baronet of Petit.

Family and death[]

Dinshaw Maneckji Petit was born in Bombay, British India. Sir Dinshaw was married to Lady (née Panday)^[1] in 1837, with whom he had 14 children (six sons and eight daughters).^[2] 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 Jehangir Tata, both of whom were the shareholders of the Tata Sons.

His granddaughter Ratanbai Petit was the wife of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.^[3] Petit's great-granddaughter, Dina Jinnah, was married to Wadia Group chairperson, Neville Wadia, until their divorce.

Dinshaw Maneckji Petit died on 5 May 1901 at Bombay. A posthumous portrait of the 1st Baronet was painted by Sir James Linton.^[4]

Career[]

As broker to European firms he amassed a large fortune during the period of speculation in Bombay at the time of the American Civil War.^[4] He founded the Manockji Petit Spinning & Weaving Mills.

In 1854, Dinshaw Maneckji Petit founded the "Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund" with the aim of improving the conditions for the less fortunate 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 Iranis), and may have been instrumental in obtaining a remission of the jizya poll tax for their co-religionists in 1882.

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.^[1][4]

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.

He was knighted by the British Crown in 1887, and on 1 September 1890, he became the first Petit baronet of Petit Hall, Bombay. The baronetcy was created with remainder to 1) Framjee Petit, second son of the first Baronet, and the heirs male of his body, failing which to 2) 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. 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 petit Parsi".

Styles[]

• 1823-1886: Dinshaw Maneckji Petit
• 1886-1887: Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, C.S.I.
• 1887-1890: Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit
• 1890-1901: Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, Bt

Coat of arms of Dinshaw Maneckji Petit hide

Crest A ship under sail at sea in front thereof an anchor fesswise all Proper. Escutcheon Azure on a chevron Argent between three urns of the last therefrom issuant flames Proper as many bees volant also Proper. Motto Consequitur Quod Cunque Pet [5]

References[]

• Dictionary of Indian Biography By C. E. Buckland page 335
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source][better source needed]}