- Robert Nathan (Indian civil servant)
Sir Robert Nathan (1868-1921) CIE, KCSI, BA, Barr was an Indian Police Officer notable for his works against the Indian revolutionaries in
Bengal , Britain andNorth America .Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=108] Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=218] Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=219] Harvnb|Spence|2002|p=85] Harvnb|Crane|Barrier|1981|p=189] Harvnb|Ghosh|1977|p=359]Early career in India
Nathan was educated at
St. Peter's College , Cambridge, before joining theIndian Civil Service in 1888. He was appointed secretary of the Indian Universities Commission in 1902, and Private Secretary to the Viceroy,Lord Curzon , in 1905. In 1907 Nathan was made Chief Secretary to the Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam, and Commissioner of Dhaka Police.Harvnb|Skolnik|Berenbaum|1972|p=847] In 1908, Nathan, then thePolice Commissioner ofDhaka , was responsible along with the district collector H.L. Salkeld for uncovering the revolutionary organisation of the "Anushilan Samiti ", and for instituting the measures to suppress the organisation.Return to Britain
Nathan was appointed Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University in 1914, and the same year returned from India on account of ill-health.Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=219] He began his work for British intelligence against Indian revolutionaries in October 1914. After retiring from the ICS in 1915, Nathan joined the
MI5 's section dealing with the Indian seditionist movement in Europe, calledMI5(g) , that was formed at the time headed byVernon Kell . Nathan's fellow officer at the time was another ex-Indian police official, H.L. Stephenson. He headed at the time the political branch of the Secret service,Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=232] and along withBasil Thomson who headed the Special Branch of theScotland Yard , Nathan was closely involved in the interrogation of Indians who worked along with the Germans during the war.Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=220]Nathan's efforts, along with those of
John Wallinger 'sIndian Political Intelligence Office (with whom Nathan worked closely), were key in the British counter-espionage work. Nathan identified plans byGhadar Party and theBerlin Committee to assassinateLord Kitchener in 1915 through an associate ofHar Dayal , Gobind Behari Lal.Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=224] He was also responsible at this time, along with Basil Thomson, to turn Harish Chandra (who was associated with theBerlin committee ) into a double agent.Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=227] Nathan was also responsible for the plans made by British intelligence in late 1915 to assassinateVirendranath Chattopadhyaya through agent Donald Gullick.Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=229]Work in North America
Later, on instructions from British secret service, Robert Nathan transferred to the Pacific coast of North America where the
Ghadar Party worked closely with the German consulate at San Francisco to obtain arms and men for what came to be known as theGhadar Conspiracy . Nathan successfully brought the Ghadarites and staff at the German consulate to trial following the "Annie Larsen" arms plot. He organised theHindu-German conspiracy trial , which at the time was the longest in American legal history.Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=236] He was responsible for the arrest ofChandrakanta Chakraverty and his subsequent interrogation, along with that Ernst Sekunna. Through March 1917, Nathan worked closely withWilliam Wiseman , and negotiated with theUS State Department the details of the case against the Indian conspirators. He strongly supported granting a guarantee to the United States not to be held responsible for violation of neutrality.Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=250]Later life
Nathan returned to Britain at the end of World War I where he died in 1921.
Notes
References
*Dictionary of Indian Biography. by Charles Edward Buckland. 1906.p 313
*Development of University Education, 1916-1920.Suresh Chandra Ghosh.1977.p359.
*Sir Horace Rumbold; Portrait of a Diplomat: 1869-1941. Martin Gilbert, Michael Gilbert.1973.p52
*Who's who: An Annual Biographical Dictionary. Henry Robert Addison, Charles Henry Oakes, et al. p1117
*The Universal Jewish encyclopedia.Isaac Landman , Simon Cohen. 1939.p111
*Encyclopaedia Judaica.Fred. Skolnik, Michael Berenbaum.1972.p847
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