18 Facts About Shapurji Saklatvala

Shapurji Dorabji Saklatvala was a communist militant and British politician of Indian Parsi heritage.

Shapurji Saklatvala was the first person of Indian heritage to become a British Member of Parliament for the UK Labour Party and was among the few members of the Communist Party of Great Britain to serve as an MP.

Shapurji Saklatvala was educated at St Xavier's School in Bombay before moving to St Xavier's College for his collegiate education.

Shapurji Saklatvala worked briefly as an iron and coal prospector for Tata successfully unearthing iron ore and coal deposits in the states of Jharkhand and Odisha.

Shapurji Saklatvala's health suffered with malaria which led to his moving to England in 1905 to convalesce and run Tata's Manchester office.

Shapurji Saklatvala later joined Lincoln's Inn, although he left before qualifying as a barrister.

The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia of November 1917 was an inspiration to Shapurji Saklatvala, and following the establishment of the Communist International in 1919, he became active in attempting to affiliate the ILP with that new organisation.

Shapurji Saklatvala attended the 2nd Pan-African Congress held in Paris in 1921 as a delegate of the CPGB.

Shapurji Saklatvala was accepted into the Labour Party's parliamentary caucus, but while Newbold applied for the same, he was rejected.

In Battersea North, Shapurji Saklatvala ran without formal Labour Party endorsement for the first time, but still managed to win the election by a slim margin of 544 votes, the only one of 8 CPGB candidates elected.

Shapurji Saklatvala was arrested during the 1926 General Strike following a speech he made in support of striking coal miners and was jailed for two months on the charge of sedition.

Shapurji Saklatvala was active in the League Against Imperialism from the time of its formation in 1927.

Shapurji Saklatvala ran again in 1930 in a by-election in Glasgow Shettleston without success and mounted a final losing campaign in the 1931 general election in Battersea.

Shapurji Saklatvala was working as a hotel waitress when he met her while staying at Matlock, Derbyshire.

Shapurji Saklatvala was once censured by the non-religious CPGB for holding a Zoroastrian navjote initiation ceremony for his children at Caxton Hall, Westminster, which he defended on the grounds it was to ensure benefit from a Tata family trust fund.

Shapurji Saklatvala flew most frontline aircraft, including Mosquitos, Spitfires and Lancasters.

Shapurji Saklatvala died, from another heart attack, on 16 January 1936 at his London home, 2 St Albans Villas, St Albans Road.

Shapurji Saklatvala was 61 years old at the time of his death and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.