Hormusjee Cowasjee Dinshaw
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The son of Cowasjee Shavaksha Dinshaw Adenwalla (1827-1900), Sir Hormusjee Cowasjee Dinshaw, Kt., O.B.E., M.V.O. was born in Bombay on 4th April 1857, the year of the Mutiny. His early education was at the Elphinstone High School and Elphinstone College in Bombay. He went on to England for further studies undertaking evening classes at King’s College, London whilst during the daytime doing his apprenticeship with James Barber & Son, London.
He then worked for Leopold Bing Fils and Gans in Paris. In 1879, aged 22, he joined his father’s firm rapidly rising to the position of Senior Partner. He expanded his family business establishing agencies in Amsterdam, London, Paris, Trieste, Marseilles, Hamburg, New York Colombo and Geneva.
Following in his father's footsteps he did much for the development of Aden. Sir Hormusjee was Trustee of the Aden Port Trust and a Member of the Aden Port Commission. He was Vice Consul for Spain in 1891 and Consul for Portugal and Austria in Aden. His family built an Agiary, a Dokhma and a Masjid (mosque) in Aden and also an Agiary at Zanzibar and Lonavala in India.
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Sir Hormusjee established an Anglo-Gujarati School in Aden and established an endowment fund of Rs.50,000/- for its maintenance. On behalf of the residents of Aden he had the honour of presenting an Address to His Majesty King George V on his way to India in 1911.
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Such was his standing he represented the Aden Chamber of Commerce at the Fifth International Congress at Boston in 1911. As such he was held in high esteem by the British Government and in 1911 he was made a Member of the Victorian Order (M.V.O.) then the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) in 1918.
A Captain of Industry he was Director of several mills and a prominent philanthropist. A staunchly religious man, he was a Parsi Zarathushti with firm faith in Parsi traditions and customs. Despite his social standing he dressed modestly and led a simple lifestyle. He had great love for Iran, from where the Parsi religion started, and loved its history and literature. He visited the land of his forefathers in 1925 and donated large sums of money to charity.
In appreciation of his contribution to numerous organizations and institutions the Bombay Municipal Corporation named a road after him in the Dadar Parsi Colony. A life size statue of him was sculpted by Miss Sheroo Dinshaw Sidhwa and unveiled by the Governor of Bombay, near the Bhikha Behram Well at Churchgate on 30th November 1949. Busts of Sir Hormusjee have been installed at Aden and at his family bungalow Adenwalla Baug at Tardeo in Bombay.
After a very colourful and eventful career Sir Hormusjee passed away on 1st August 1939 at the grand age of 82.
