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and against their warrior tradition. Three of Ranji’s nephews served in the war, including Lieutenant Kumar Shri Dajiraj, who served in France for a year and a half and was killed in action in September 1917. The Nawanagar Imperial Service Lancers


performed garrison duty at Karachi throughout the war. Half of the squadron was sent to Jacobabad on military duties, and a signalling party of the Imperial Service Lancers was in Egypt with the Expeditionary Force. The Indian government expressed a wish to bear the extra charges over and above the normal expenses, but with characteristic generosity and loyalty, Ranji proposed that the monies be found from the funds connected with the war effort. In the 1919 New Year’s Honours, Ranji was


promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, awarded the Insignia of a Knight Grand Commander of the British Empire (GBE) and granted a salute of 15 guns. He was also made President of the Princes’ Committee, campaigning on behalf of Indian troops overseas. The following year, Ranji became one of India’s three representatives at the League of Nations in Geneva. He took his lifelong friend CB Fry – another outstanding cricketer, as well as a politician, diplomat and writer – with him as his assistant. Ranji was almost solely responsible for


obtaining India’s place on the governing body of the International Labour Bureau in 1922, and in 1923, he was awarded the highest Order of Chivalry bestowed on the ruling princes and chiefs of India, that of a Knight Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (GCSI). The insignia of this order is more beautiful and certainly more valuable than that of any other order, as it is ornamented with a considerable number of diamonds. In 1931, he was appointed Chancellor of The Chamber of Princes – the


position also carried out by his successor, the Maharaja Sir Digvijay Sinhji of Nawanagar.


A LOVE OF LUXURY With the huge growth in the State Treasury during the Edwardian era, Ranji indulged in his passion for jewels. He had met Jacques Cartier (who had been running the London branch of the famous Parisian jewellers since 1909) at the 1911 Delhi Durbar. One of his last commissions was for an exceptional ceremonial necklace set with the Queen of Holland diamond. Described as internally flawless and having a definite blue tint, this one gemstone had a weight of 135.92 carats and was valued at approximately £250,000 – although the gemologist admitted at that time that no true market price could be given for such a stone. Cartier (the company) eventually bought the stone back and in 1978 it was sold by an American for $7 million. Sailing was another passion of Ranji’s. It was


reported in the Indian & Eastern Motors’ Journal of 1923 that “the Maharaja had just received delivery of four launches from Thorneycrofts. Further, the Maharaja, has at present under construction at Messrs Thorneycroft’s yard at Hampton-on-Thames, a substantial sailing yacht of some fifty-eight tons, in addition to a seventy- four foot motor launch, both of which, after completion, will be subsequently dispatched to his State in India”. He also owned the magnificent yacht Star of India. The 234-ft, 735-ton steam yacht was built in 1888 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company of Glasgow and in the autumn of 1927, Ranji spent more than £30,000 on putting the vessel in perfect order, regardless of expense, including the installation of two large state rooms.


Previous pages: Ranji sitting in the front of a Napier 24hp


Opposite: Spy’s cartoon of the great batsman from the August 1897 issue of Vanity Fair


Above: Ranji in his 1907 28hp Lanchester, pictured outside Pratap Vilas Palace in Jamnagar in 1911


THE ENTHUSIAST


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