Saklatvala, Shapurji (1874-1936)

Indian lawyer and Communist politician, who represented Battersea North as a Labour member of Parliament 1922-23 and as a Communist 1924-29. He was associated with the Indian Trades Union Congress and joined the National Liberal Club in 1905. In 1910 he joined the Independent Labour Party, later the British Socialist Party, and in 1920 helped form the British Communist Party.

Prevented from entering the USA in 1925 on grounds of his revolutionary creed, Saklatvala also served a two-month jail sentence for a speech made on May Day 1926 in Hyde Park.

Born in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, Saklatvala studied law and was a member of Lincoln's Inn. He was not the first Indian to enter Parliament (Dabadhai Naoroji had done so for the Liberals in 1892).