Charles Ollivant

Sir E. Charles K. Ollivant was a senior member of the Indian Civil Service who made a mark in his dealings with two notable politicians.

Ollivant had arrived^[1] in India in 1881. By 1892, he was Political Agent in Rajkot and had a notable disagreement^[2] with Mohandas Gandhi who was then a young barrister. The incident resulted in Gandhi being pushed out of the room, and ill-feeling was apparently a factor in his departure for South Africa in 1893.

By 1899, Ollivant had been knighted as a KCIE. In 1901, he was serving as a judicial member of the Bombay provincial government. It was Ollivant who offered to hire Jinnah at 1,500 rupees per month and was notably turned down.

Ollivant is also known to have been a director of the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway.^[3]

See also

• Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote Governor of Bombay, 1990-1903

Notes

1. ^ Mentioned in The Nursing Record and Hospital World October 7, 1899 accessed at Royal College of Nursing [1] August 3, 2006
2. ^ [2] Chronology of M.K. Gandhi, South African History Online
3. ^ Mentioned in Time magazine article, August 30, 1926 [3]