R. E. Grant Govan
Raymond Eustace Grant Govan, CBE[1] (known more often as R.E. Grant Govan and also as REG Govan, born December 1891, Croydon district[2] - died January 26, 1940 in Hardwar, United Provinces)[3]was a Delhi-based British industrialist[4] and the first President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
He was the Managing Director of Govan Bros. Ltd., a leading business house of the time.[5] The company was managing agents for a number of industrial enterprises. Grant Govan was a keen pilot[6] and the founder of Indian National Airways Ltd, an aviation company formed in 1933 under Govan Bros Ltd. [7][8] Apart from the airline, Govan Bros operated Delhi Flour Mills, set up Sugar Mills-Raza Buland at Rampura, and had a travel department, Govan Agencies (which was sold in 1947).[9] Apart from the airline, Govan had other interests in aviation, like the Delhi Flying Club which he founded in 1928.[6]
Govan was an avid sports enthusiast.[10] He founded the Roshanara Cricket Club in Delhi, named after the nearby tomb of Roshanara Begum, with a group of friends in 1922. The club was officially inaugurated by Marquess of Reading in December 1922.[11] Govan had the distinction of being both the founding President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 1928, a position he held till 1933 and the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in 1933. [5][12] He, along with then BCCI secretary Anthony De Mello, was instrumental in getting the BCCI affiliated to the Imperial Cricket Conference (now International Cricket Council) in 1928.[13]
In 1931 BCCI with Govan at its helm invited the Marylebone Cricket Club to tour India for the first time, with the support of Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India.[14] When he died in 1940, Dr. P. Subbaroyan, then President of the (BCCI), issued a statement which read "In the death of Mr. Grant Govan, Indian Cricket has lost a friend ...". [15] After his death, a few of his friends set up the Grant Govan Memorial Homes in Delhi. These are meant to be retirement homes for Anglo-Indians with limited means and were inaugurated by Marchioness of Linlithgow, wife of the then Viceroy of India in October 1940.[16][17]
References
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ National Probate Calendar, accessed through ancestry.com
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 31
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 22
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 61
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 458
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 175
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 92
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 821
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 44
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 103
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 4
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Page 196
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
