Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney was a Parsi community leader, philanthropist and industrialist of Bombay, India.
Background
Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney was born in 1812. He came from a wealthy Parsi family. His grandfather and two great-uncles had moved in the early 18th century from Navsari, near Surat, to Bombay and had become pioneers in the lucrative opium trade with China. The brothers earned the sobriquet "Readymoney, " which they later adopted as a surname. Only Hirji Jewanji Readymoney left issue, two daughters, the elder of whom married a Banaji, and the younger a Dady Sett. The son of the former, Jehangir Hirji, married Mirbae, the daughter of the latter, and was made the heir not only of his grandfather, but of his two grand-uncles. The younger of their two sons was Cowasji Jehangir.
Education
His only English education was at the then well-known school kept by Serjeant Sykes in the Fort of Bombay.
Career
At the age of 15 he entered the firm of Duncan, Gibb & Co. as "godown keeper, " or warehouse clerk. In 1837 he was promoted to the responsible and lucrative appointment of "guarantee broker" to two of the leading European firms of Bombay. In 1846 he was able to begin trading on his own account. He was made a J. P. for the town and island of Bombay, and a member of the board of conservancy; and in 1866 was appointed a commissioner of income tax, his tactful management being largely responsible for the fact that this tax, then new to Bombay and unpopular, was levied with unexpected financial success. He was made C. S. I. in 1871; and in 1872 he was created a Knight Bachelor of the United Kingdom, and his statue, by T. Woolner, R. A. , was erected in the town hall. His donations to the institutions of Bombay amounted to close on £200, 000.
Achievements
He was made Companion of The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (C. S. I) in 1871; and in 1872 he was created a Knight Bachelor of the United Kingdom in recognition of his donations to the Indian Institute in London and other charitable causes in Bombay amounting to approximately £200, 000. Readymoney built colleges, hospitals, insane asylums; founded a refuge for people of "respectability" who found themselves destitute or friendless in Bombay; erected several drinking fountains of artistic merit; gave donations to the Catholic and the Presbyterian missions in India.
Connections
His son Sir J. Cowasji Jehangir [Readymoney] was created a Knight Bachelor in 1895, and a Baronet in 1908.
