The House of Lords in London played host to a special reception in honour of the 200th birth anniversary of Dadabhai Naoroji, the nationalist leader who became the first Indian to win a popular election to the British Parliament during the colonial era. Naoroji was born in September 1825 in Mumbai and first travelled to England in 1855 for business reasons before going on to become an influential figure in its political landscape. The Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, reflected upon the legacy of Dadabhai Naoroji and the impact of the Parsi community in the political and social life of India and the UK. The nationalist leader eventually returned to India in 1907 and died in Mumbai in June 1917.