A portrait of Dadabhai Naoroji, Britain’s first Asian MP, will go on display at the National Portrait Gallery from 2 September.
The painting, which once hung in the restaurant of the India Club on The Strand, has been carefully restored by the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Naoroji, affectionately known as the “Grand Old Man of India”, was a Parsi who represented Finsbury Central for the Liberal Party from 1892 to 1895.
The portrait is being loaned to the National Portrait Gallery for three years by Yadgar Marker, who ran the India Club for 26 years under a long lease. The club was forced to close in 2023 after Marker was effectively ousted by the freeholders, Marston Properties.
A lengthy campaign sought to save the India Club because of its historic importance, particularly its role in the story of Indian independence. The building was the base from which the India League, associated with V K Krishna Menon, campaigned for India’s freedom from British rule.
The campaign ultimately failed after Marston Properties said it planned to convert the building into a modern hotel, leaving no place for the India Club.
A part of the club’s history now gets to live on at the National Portrait Gallery through Naoroji’s portrait.
