Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee
Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee | |
|---|---|
| 1st & 8th President of Indian National Congress | |
| In office 1885–1886 | |
| Preceded by | post established |
| Succeeded by | Dadabhai Naoroji |
| In office 1892–1893 | |
| Preceded by | Anandacharlu |
| Succeeded by | Dadabhai Naoroji |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 December 1844 Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India |
| Died | 21 July 1906 (aged 61) Croydon, London, England |
| Nationality | British Indian |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse | Hemangini Motilal (m. 1859) |
| Relations | Susila Bonnerjee (daughter) |
| Alma mater | Middle Temple |
| Occupation | Indian independence activist Lawyer |
| Known for | Co-founder and First president of Indian National Congress |
Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee (or Umesh Chandra Banerjee; 29 December 1844 – 21 July 1906) was an Indian independence activist and barrister who practiced in England. He was a secretary of the London Indian Society founded by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1865. He was one of the founders and the first president of Indian National Congress in 1885 at Bombay, serving again as president in 1892 at Allahabad. Bonnerjee financed the British Committee of Congress and its journals in London. Along with Naoroji, Eardley Norton and William Digby he started the Congress Political Agency, a branch of Congress in London. He unsuccessfully contested the 1892 United Kingdom general election as a Liberal party candidate for the Barrow and Furness seat. In 1893, Naoroji, Bonnerjee and Badruddin Tyabji founded the Indian Parliamentary Committee in England.