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Sobha Singh (builder)
Honorary Magistrate, Sardar Bahadur, Sir Sobha Singh Kt, O.B.E., M.L.C., M.P. (March 5, 1888 – 18 April 1978) was an Indian civil contractor, prominent builder and real estate developer of the modern day Delhi.
Not only a builder, but he was also a subordinate architect and part of the Council of States laying the foundation of development schemes across cities and running various businesses. He came to be described as "Adhi Dilli ka Malik" (the owner of half of Delhi) as he virtually owned half of Lutyens' Delhi. He played the largest part in early industrial construction in Delhi in the 1920s and 1930s along with being a main participant in the Westernization and modernist collective Indian identity. He was a proficient real estate developer and a Sikh business icon.
He also became the first Indian president of the New Delhi Municipal Council and held the post four times, in 1938, 1942, and 1945-46. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) in the 1938 Birthday Honours, he was subsequently appointed a member of the Council of States. He was knighted in the 1944 Birthday Honours. He also built Sujan Singh Park, named after his father, New Delhi's first apartment complex, which only had bungalows till then, in 1945, designed by Walter Sykes George. He became a member of the Central Legislative Assembly, but opposed and desisted from any sort of politics.
Sir Sobha Singh was born in 1888, in the village of Hadali in Khushab, Shahpur District – then part of British India (now Pakistan). He was the elder of the two sons of Sardar Bahadur Sujan Singh and Lakshmi Devi, the younger one being Sardar Bahadur Ujjal Singh, who was a member of Parliament in India along with the governor of Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
He was pulled out of school before giving his final exams, as his father believed that to make money one only needed was addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and how to calculate simple and compound interest, although he wanted to learn English, he could not till much later. He was married at the age of 17 to a 13-year-old girl from a village named Mitha Tiwana neighboring Hadali, her name was Varyam Kaur- but to others she was known as Lady Sobha Singh. She was the daughter of Sardar Harbel Singh, Rais, of Jaranwala who owned cotton spinning factories. Sobha Singh's father, Bhai Sujan Singh Hadaliwale, constructed many buildings in Sargodha and Multan.
Sujan Singh and Sobha Singh were called to the Central Public Works Department to start plans for the construction of New Delhi. He started with developing the roads of Delhi, including Alipur Road. Sobha Singh and his father were guests for celebrations of the Coronation of the King and Queen near Delhi in 1911 due to their work in canal irrigation, development and construction of roads and rail tracks, invited by Sir Malcom Hailey, Baron of Shahpur. Hailey knew Sujan Singh since 1905 while constructing sites in the Shahpur area. Compared to the other contracting families they were more experienced, they owned land in Shahpur, had an extensive camel transport business and contracted the Kalka-Simla Railway line.
On 23 December 1912, he was an eyewitness to the Delhi Conspiracy Case, when the Viceroy's elephant was bombed, although no one except an umbrella-bearer was killed. When people dispersed after seeing the bombing, all the witnesses believed that the English would massacre the local Indians, hence Sujan Singh and Sobha Singh went to Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib and shut the gates of the Gurdwara to make sure the Guru Granth Sahib was safe. Once night fell, they both walked back to their residence in the dark, while Sujan Singh muttered, 'Wahe Guru, Wahe Guru'.
Sobha Singh's first job was to relocate the foundation stones from where the King and Queen had laid them, in Kingsway. Under cover of darkness (so it would not be taken as a bad omen), he moved them to the new site 11 kilometers away on Raisina Hill, and was only given 16 rupees for the job. Sobha Singh was accepted as a senior-grade contractor in the Construction of New Delhi. He lived in his fathers house on the Old Mill Road now known as Rafi Marg.
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Sobha Singh (builder)
Honorary Magistrate, Sardar Bahadur, Sir Sobha Singh Kt, O.B.E., M.L.C., M.P. (March 5, 1888 – 18 April 1978) was an Indian civil contractor, prominent builder and real estate developer of the modern day Delhi.
Not only a builder, but he was also a subordinate architect and part of the Council of States laying the foundation of development schemes across cities and running various businesses. He came to be described as "Adhi Dilli ka Malik" (the owner of half of Delhi) as he virtually owned half of Lutyens' Delhi. He played the largest part in early industrial construction in Delhi in the 1920s and 1930s along with being a main participant in the Westernization and modernist collective Indian identity. He was a proficient real estate developer and a Sikh business icon.
He also became the first Indian president of the New Delhi Municipal Council and held the post four times, in 1938, 1942, and 1945-46. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) in the 1938 Birthday Honours, he was subsequently appointed a member of the Council of States. He was knighted in the 1944 Birthday Honours. He also built Sujan Singh Park, named after his father, New Delhi's first apartment complex, which only had bungalows till then, in 1945, designed by Walter Sykes George. He became a member of the Central Legislative Assembly, but opposed and desisted from any sort of politics.
Sir Sobha Singh was born in 1888, in the village of Hadali in Khushab, Shahpur District – then part of British India (now Pakistan). He was the elder of the two sons of Sardar Bahadur Sujan Singh and Lakshmi Devi, the younger one being Sardar Bahadur Ujjal Singh, who was a member of Parliament in India along with the governor of Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
He was pulled out of school before giving his final exams, as his father believed that to make money one only needed was addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and how to calculate simple and compound interest, although he wanted to learn English, he could not till much later. He was married at the age of 17 to a 13-year-old girl from a village named Mitha Tiwana neighboring Hadali, her name was Varyam Kaur- but to others she was known as Lady Sobha Singh. She was the daughter of Sardar Harbel Singh, Rais, of Jaranwala who owned cotton spinning factories. Sobha Singh's father, Bhai Sujan Singh Hadaliwale, constructed many buildings in Sargodha and Multan.
Sujan Singh and Sobha Singh were called to the Central Public Works Department to start plans for the construction of New Delhi. He started with developing the roads of Delhi, including Alipur Road. Sobha Singh and his father were guests for celebrations of the Coronation of the King and Queen near Delhi in 1911 due to their work in canal irrigation, development and construction of roads and rail tracks, invited by Sir Malcom Hailey, Baron of Shahpur. Hailey knew Sujan Singh since 1905 while constructing sites in the Shahpur area. Compared to the other contracting families they were more experienced, they owned land in Shahpur, had an extensive camel transport business and contracted the Kalka-Simla Railway line.
On 23 December 1912, he was an eyewitness to the Delhi Conspiracy Case, when the Viceroy's elephant was bombed, although no one except an umbrella-bearer was killed. When people dispersed after seeing the bombing, all the witnesses believed that the English would massacre the local Indians, hence Sujan Singh and Sobha Singh went to Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib and shut the gates of the Gurdwara to make sure the Guru Granth Sahib was safe. Once night fell, they both walked back to their residence in the dark, while Sujan Singh muttered, 'Wahe Guru, Wahe Guru'.
Sobha Singh's first job was to relocate the foundation stones from where the King and Queen had laid them, in Kingsway. Under cover of darkness (so it would not be taken as a bad omen), he moved them to the new site 11 kilometers away on Raisina Hill, and was only given 16 rupees for the job. Sobha Singh was accepted as a senior-grade contractor in the Construction of New Delhi. He lived in his fathers house on the Old Mill Road now known as Rafi Marg.