Wadia family

The Wadia family (Gujarati: વાડિયા પરિવાર) is a Parsi family originally based in Surat.

Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia began the Wadia shipbuilding dynasty in 1736, when he obtained a
contract from the British East India Company for building docks and ships in Bombay (present-
day Mumbai). Although the Wadia's would eventually come to be considered a Bombay family,
many of them remained in Surat, where one branch of the family established a break-up port
(where ships are dismantled) that remains one of the largest of its kind in the world.

By the 1840s, the family was one of the leading forces in the Indian shipbuilding industry. By
that time they had built over a hundred warships for the British and had trading networks around
the world.

The Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States, was written in 1812 on a
Wadia built British Navy ship, the HMS Minden. A Wadia did not visit the United States until
1849, when Ardeshir Cursetji Wadia also became the first Parsi to do so

 Ardaseer Cursetjee

 Bahman Pestonji Wadia

 Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia

 Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia

 Neville Wadia

 Dina Wadia

 Nusli Wadia

 Ness Wadia Nina Wadia

 Jehangir Wadia

 Yohan Wadia

 Ardaseer Cursetjee
 Ardaseer Cursetjee (Wadia) FRS (October 6, 1808 – November 16, 1877) was an
Indian shipbuilder and engineer.

 He is noted for having been the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
He is also recorded as having introduced several (at the time) novel technologies to the
city of Bombay (now Mumbai), including gas lighting, the sewing machine, steam pump-
driven irrigation and electro-plating

 Ardaseer Cursetjee was the son of Cursetjee Rustomjee, scion of the Wadia family of
shipbuilders and naval architects, and master builder at the Bombay Dockyard (today,
Mumbai's Naval Dockyard).

 In 1822, aged 14, Ardaseer joined his father at the dockyards. He is described to have
been particularly interested in steam engines.

 In 1833, aged 25, he launched a small 60 ton ocean-going ship of his design. This ship,
the Indus, would subsequently warrant a mention in his nomination for the Royal Society.

 On March 10, 1834, in the presence of the Governor of Bombay, he had his house and
gardens at Mazgaon lit using gas lighting.

 In 1837, he was elected a non-resident member of the Royal Asiatic Society.

 In 1839, at the age of 31, he traveled overland to England to further his studies of marine
steam power on behalf of the East India Company. He recounted his journey in The
Diary of an Overland Journey from Bombay to England, which was published in London
in 1840. While in England, he constructed a steam engine, which he then had shipped to
India for installation on the Indus.

 On May 27, 1841, Cursetjee was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. The nomination,
made by Spencer Compton, Marquess of Northampton, the then President of the Society,
describes him as a "gentleman well versed in the theory and practice of naval architecture
and devoted to scientific pursuits." It credits him with both the introduction of gas
lighting to Bombay, as well as having "built a [sea-going] vessel of 60 tons to which he
adapted a Steam Engine."

 In 1855 he was elected a Justice of the Peace.

  Ardaseer Cursetjee remained Chief Engineer until August 1, 1857, when he retired. He
returned to England, where he settled. He died, aged 69, on November 16, 1877 in
Richmond.

 On May 27, 1969, the Indian Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in
recognition of his contributions as "pioneer and innovator."

Bahman Pestonji Wadia

Bahman Pestonji Wadia oder Bomanji Pestonji Wadia (BP Wadia, B.P. Wadia or BPW) (* 8
October 1881 in Mumbai, India; † 20 August 1958 in Bangalore, India) was a theosophist. He
was first a member of the TS Adyar, later of the United Lodge of Theosophists.

In 1903 he joined the TS in Mumbai and moved to Adyar in 1908. He worked for the journal The
Theosophist. He became president of the Madras Textile Workers' Union and engaged himself
for worker's rights.

In 1919 he visited the ULT in Los Angeles and was very impressed. When he returned to Adyar
in 1919, he tried to work for a change of direction in the TS Adyar, based on the ideals of the
ULT, but didn't succeed. He became disappointed and left the TS Adyar to work for the ULT in
Los Angeles.

In 1923 he founded several lodges on the east coast of the States. In 1925 he founded a lodge in
the UK. In 1928 a lodge was founded in France, in 1929 in Mumbai, and in 1930 he published
the journal "The Aryan Path". In 1928 he married Sophia Camacho (1911-1986). In 1945 he
founded The Indian Institute of World Culture (IIWC) in Bangalore. Other lodges of the ULT
were founded in the States, Europe and India

Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia

Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia (October 25, 1863 – 1969) was a geologist

for the Geological Survey of India. He was born at Surat in Gujarat. He helped establish
geological studies and investigations in India [1], specifically including the Institute of Himalayan
Geology, which was renamed the Wadia Instituate of Himalayan Geology after him in 1976.

He was awarde Padma Bhushan by Indian Government in 1958.

Dr.V.C.Thakur, former director of the WIHG, in his Resonance article of Feb 2003, 65-75 [2],
writes

D N Wadia was one among the great geologists in the Geological Survey of India who laid the
foundation of the geological investigations in India by their pioneering work. Not only was his a
pioneering work in a little known territory but also a signal contribution to the understanding of
the geological evolution of a spectacular but unique feature in the mountain arcs of the world.
The elucidation and explanation he offered won him universal approbation. Most of his
observations and interpretations in those early days of Indian geology still hold good. The
remoteness and arduous nature of the terrain did not deter him from carrying out extensive and
prolonged field work in Kashmir, Hazara, Nanga Parbat and Gilgit regions of northwestern
Himalaya. He explained the abnormal sequence of rock formations of varied ages in
northwestern Kashmir, analysed the structure of the unique knee-bend of the mountain chains
around the knot called Nanga Parbat and gave an in-depth geological account of the terra-
incognito that Chilas, Astor-Deosai and Hazara districts then were. His book, "The Geology of
India", written in 1919 and published by MacMillan, became the source book for students for a
long period of time. It made six editions – the last one in 1966.

Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia

Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia (1702–1774) was a Parsi from Surat, India and was a member of
the Wadia family of shipwrights and naval architects.[1][2]

Known for his high standards of workmanship, Lovji Wadia secured contracts with the British
East India Company to build ships and docks in Bombay in 1736.[3] This, and subsequent efforts,
would result in Bombay becoming a strategic port for the British colonial undertakings in Asia.

The Bombay dry-dock, the first dry-dock in Asia, was built by Lovji and his brother Sorabji in
1750.

Lovji is considered the founder of the shipping and shipbuilder industry in Bombay. To this day,
Surat remains the largest break-up (where ships are stripped and disassembled) beaching port in
the world.

The first Atash Adaran in India was established in Siganpur, near Surat, by Lovji Wadia, around
1760. His descendants are the Wadia family of Nusli Wadia, Ness Wadia and Jehangir Wadia

Neville Wadia
Neville Ness Wadia (22 August 1911—31 July 1996) was an English businessman,
philanthropist and a member of the Wadia family, an old Parsi family which, by the 1840's, was
one of the leading forces in the Indian shipbuilding industry, having built over a hundred
warships for the British and having established trading networks around the world.

Born in Liverpool, Neville Wadia was educated at Malvern College and Trinity College,
Cambridge.[1] He married Dina, the daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
Although he was born a Parsi, his father renounced the Zoroastrian faith and converted to
Christianity. Wadia converted from Christianity to Zoroastrianism later in life.[1]

During the late 19th century, his father, Sir Ness Wadia, played an important role in turning the
city of Bombay into one of the world's largest cotton trading centres.[1] In 1952, Neville Waida
succeeded his father as chairman of Bombay Dyeing and under his leadership the company
became one of India's most successful and quality-conscious textile concerns. He was also
heavily involved in the real estate business in Mumbai and he contributed to building new wings
and upgrading several hospitals in Bombay founded by his family, he established a business
school in Pune and a host of charitable trusts for Parsees.

After his retirement as chairman of Bombay Dyeing in 1977, he was succeeded by his son, Nusli
Wadia. Neville Wadia died in Mumbai three weeks before his 85th birthday

Dina Wadia
Dina Wadia is the daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founding father of Pakistan, and
Rattanbai Petit.

Nusli Wadia (Gujarati: નુસ્લી વાડિયા) is an Indian Parsi entrepreneur, a textile magnate
and an important person in the real-estate business. He is the son of Neville and Dina Wadia, and
the grandson of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. His mother Dina Wadia is the
daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The Economic Times once described Nusli Wadia as "the epitome of South Bombay's old money
and genteel respectability". He was also famously accused as being the only man who could
walk in and out of the residences of Lal Krishna Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, when the BJP
was in power, and talk frankly to both of them.

Nusli Wadia is the chairman and majority owner of Bombay Dyeing, a major Indian textile
company, and has vast holdings in real estate across Mumbai.

Nusli Wadia is a member of the Wadia family, and a direct descendant of Lovji Nusserwanjee
Wadia, Sir Cowasji Jehangir (Readymoney) and Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, as well as a distant
relative of JRD Tata. On January 19, 2007, Nusli Wadia was involved with carrying a gun with
live bullets on plane, he was flying from Mumbai to Dubai.[2]

In 2003 Nusli accompanied his mother Dina on a visit to Pakistan, during which he visited the
mausoleum of his grandfather Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi

Nusli Wadia is married to Maureen Wadia, a former airhostess, who heads Gladrags Magazine
and is one of the forces behind the Mrs India beauty pageant. They have two sons: Ness and
Jehangir.[4] Ness Wadia is managing director of Bombay Dyeing and co-owner of Kings XI
Punjab team in the IPL, and Jehangir Wadia heads Go Air.

Ness Wadia
Ness Wadia (Gujarati: નેસ વાડિયા; born May 30, 1970) is an Indian businessman. He is the heir to
Bombay Dyeing, the flagship company of the Wadia Group , of which he is the Joint Managing Director. [1]
[2]
Wadia is a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kings XI Punjab along with his ex-
girlfriend, actress Preity Zinta.

Wadia initially joined Bombay Dyeing in 1993 as a Management Trainee. During his earlier
period he was closely involved in marketing and retail distribution of the textile division of the
company and was active in various organisations such as the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion
Council (TEXPROCIL) (a council he once chaired), Millowners’ Association (MOA),
Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry, etc.[4]

In 1998, he took a leave of absence to complete his master's degree in Science of Engineering
Business Management from the University of Warwick with a thesis titled "Leading to Success
in India", which focused on leadership, trust and knowledge. After receiving his master's degree
in 2001, he returned as Deputy Managing Director of Bombay Dyeing and was later promoted to
Joint Managing Director.[1] He was appointed to this position on August 1, 2001.[4]

In 1998, 1999 and 2000 he was appointed on the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry
and in September 1998 was appointed the Convenor of the Special Group Task Force on Food
and Agro Industries Management Policy in September, 1998.[4]

Wadia also serves as chairman and director of The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd.,
Britannia Industries Ltd., Wadia BSN Ltd., and Nowrosjee Wadia & Sons Ltd.[4] He is also a
director of Gherzi Eastern Ltd., Tata Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., Tata Chemicals Ltd., and other
companies and is also a member of the Managing Committee of the Nehru Centre in Mumba

Nina Wadia
Nina Wadia (born 18 December 1968[1]) is an Indian British actress

Career
[edit] Television and film

Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters
such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers. She
took over from her Goodness Gracious Me co-star, Meera Syal, in the role of Rupinder in the
sitcom All About Me.
In 2007, Wadia was cast as Zainab Masood in the long running BBC soap opera EastEnders. She
also had a minor role in the show in 1994, playing a nurse named Viv who treated Michelle
Fowler (Susan Tully) when she was hospitalised with a gunshot wound. She also appears as
Zainab in the 2010 spin-off

Personal life
Wadia is married to the composer Raiomond Mirza. She met him in Canada and married him
there in July 1998. They live in Staines, Surrey. Like Wadia, Mirza is also a Parsi and they had a
traditional Parsi wedding.[3] The couple have two children, Tia and Aidan.

She was a student at Island School, Hong Kong

Wadia was involved in the Pakistan Earthquake Appeal Concert and Fashion Show, at the Royal
Albert Hall in 2005. She has also been involved in campaigning for Save the Children[4] and for
increased organ donation from Asians in Britain

Jehangir Wadia
Jehangir Wadia (Gujarati: જહાંગીર વાડિયા), also known as Jeh Wadia, is an Indian
entrepreneur. He is the great-grandson of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founding father of Pakistan,[1]
and part of the industrialist dynasty, the Wadia family.

He is the son of textile and real estate magnate Nusli Wadia, and Maureen Wadia.

He was educated at the Lawrence School Sanawar. In 2004, he established the budget airline
GoAir based in Mumbai, and is currently managing director.[2]

His older brother is Ness, who is the heir to Bombay Dyeing, the flagship company of the Wadia
Group.

Wadia appeared in the 2009 drama-documentary The Age of Stupid

Yohan Wadia
 Wadia family (redirect from Wadia)

The Wadia family. (. is a Parsi family originally based in Surat . ... Notable members :
Ardaseer Cursetjee ... Yohan Wadia.