Portrait of Jamsetji Tata

People/magnate, financier

Jamsetji Tata

Jamsetji Tata (1839–1904), magnate, financier, from India. Linked to iron ore.

The lucky break

Studied the problem of making steel in India and sent advisers to prospect widely. The Sakchi site in Singhbhum was chosen for its ore, coal and distance from Calcutta.1,2,3,4

The downfall

Died at Nauheim in 1904, before the Tata Iron and Steel Company was registered on 26 August 1907. Steel manufacture began at the end of 1911.1,2,3,4

Legacy

The works town was named Jamshedpur for him. In 1898 he offered property valued at 200,000 pounds for a research institute, which became the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore.1,2,3,4

Story cards

Where next

People

FamilyDorabji TataHe died three years before Tata Steel was registered.1

Sources

  1. Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement: Tata, Jamsetji Nasarwanji Wikisource (public domain source text)
  2. Jamsetji Tata (Tata Titans) Tata Group
  3. Wikidata item Q320109
  4. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons

Pictures on this page: JNTata.jpg, Uploaded to en-Wiki by Chirags (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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