Raja Maharaj Singh

Raja Sir Maharaj Singh (17 May 1878, Kapurthala, Punjab – 6 June 1959, Lucknow) was the first Indian Governor of Bombay. He was also the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir during Maharaja Hari Singh's rule and also the Dewan of Jodhpur for a short while. Raja Sir Maharaja Singh served as the president of the All India Conference of Indian Christians in the 1940s. He was awarded a number of knighthoods in various orders of chivalry.

Life
Maharaj Singh was the second son of Raja Harnam Singh of the Kapurthala royal family, a direct descendant of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. His mother was Rani Priscilla Kaur Sahiba (née Priscilla Golaknath). Maharaj Singh's father, Harnam Singh, had converted to Christianity under the influence of his English tutor, Rev. Woodside, and with strong encouragement from the Bengali missionary Golaknath Chatterjee. After conversion, Harnam Singh had married Priscilla, daughter of Golaknath Chatterjee, who was of Bengali Brahmin heritage and a convert to Christianity. Due to his conversion, Harnam Singh was given many important government positions by the British Indian government. Maharaj Singh was one of the nine children - seven sons and two daughters - born to this couple. Among his siblings was Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, the prominent Congress politician who served as Minister of Health in the Nehru government after independence.

Maharaj Singh was educated at Harrow School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he completed his MA, and was called to Bar by the Middle Temple in 1902. Starting off as the Deputy Collector of United Provinces, he held several positions in the government of India, just like his father. He was elected the vice chancellor of Lucknow University in 1941 and served for a short span as the Prime Minister of Kashmir.

Raja Sir Maharaja Singh served as the president of the All India Conference of Indian Christians in the 1940s, which under his tenure championed a united India, advocated for swaraj, and demanded the release of Indian political prisoners by the British government. He was appointed the Governor of Bombay from 1948 to 1952. The Test cricketer Rusi Modi served as his ADC while he was the governor of Bombay. Maharaj Singh was appointed a CIE in 1915 and knighted in 1933.

Married to Gunwati Maya Das of Ferozepore, Maharaj Singh had two sons, Raja Ranbir Singh, a diplomat (died June 1995) and Kanwar Mahindar Singh, a tennis player and businessman based in Chandigarh (died August 2004), as well as one daughter, Prem Maharaj Seth (née Singh) (died September 2019).

At the age of 72, Maharaj Singh captained the Bombay Governor's XI against a touring Commonwealth XI in a cricket match starting on 25 November 1950. This makes him the oldest cricketer to make his first-class debut and the oldest player to play a first-class game. Coming in to bat at No. 9, he edged Jim Laker for 3 and one run later, was caught at first slip off the same bowler. Laker was 44 years younger than the man he dismissed. Maharaj Singh took no part in the game after the first day, and Yadavindra Singh of Patiala, another royal from Punjab, captained the side in his absence.

Titles

 * 1878–1915: Kanwar Maharaj Singh
 * 1915–1932: Kanwar Maharaj Singh, CIE
 * 1932–1933: Raja Maharaj Singh, CIE
 * 1933–1937: Raja Sir Maharaj Singh, CIE
 * 1937–1959: Raja Sir Maharaj Singh, CIE, CStJ
 * 1948–1952: His Excellency Sri Sir Maharaj Singh, CIE, CStJ, Governor of the State of Bombay

Honours
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 * Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE)-1915
 * Knight Bachelor-1933
 * King George V Silver Jubilee Medal-1935
 * Commander of the Order of St John (CStJ)-1937
 * King George VI Coronation Medal-1937
 * Indian Independence Medal-1948