India House

Submitted by obl7 on
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Date began
Date ended
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About

Not to be confused with the offices of the Indian Embassy in Aldwych, India House was set up as a hostel for Indian students and became a hotbed for Indian revolutionaries in Europe. The House was opened on 1 July 1905 by H. M. Hyndman in Highgate. Other prominent figures present at the opening included Dadabhai Naoroji, Charlotte Despard and Bhikaji Cama. The Indian Home Rule Society held weekly Sunday meetings at India House, passing resolutions condemning arrests in India and advocating total independence for India. They held Annual Martyrs’ Day celebrations to commemorate the 1857 Rebellion.

Founded by Shyamaji Krishnavarma, leadership was taken up by V. D. Savarkar in 1907 as Krishnavarma was exiled to Paris. Krishnavarma's journal, The Indian Sociologist, was an organ of India House. The organization disbanded after its implication in the murder of Sir Curzon Wyllie in July 1909. The assassin, Madan Lal Dhingra, had been known to frequent India House and Savarkar refused to condemn his actions. Following their arrests, India House was closed down and sold.

Key individuals
Connections

Madame Cama, Lala Har Dayal, Charlotte Despard, Madan Lal Dhingra, M. K. Gandhi (stayed there on a visit in 1906), David Garnett, H. M. Hyndman, Dadabhai Naoroji.

Ghadr Party

Involved in events details

Murder of Curzon Wyllie, July 1909

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Published works

The Indian Sociologist, journal edited by Krishnavarma (1905-14 and 1920-2)

Savarkar’s Indian War of Independence, translated from Marathi to English at India House and published in London in May 1909

Secondary works

Garnett, David, The Golden Echo (London: Chatto & Windus, 1953)

Ker, J. C., Political Troubles in India, 1907-1917 (Calcutta: Superintendent Govt Printing, 1917)

Srivastava, Harindra, Five Stormy Years: Savarkar in London (June 1906 - June 1911) (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1983)

Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press, 2002)

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Archive source

Metropolitan Police Report, File 3264 (2 Sep 1908), L/PJ/6/890, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras