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Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, 1st Baronet (30 June 1823 – 5 May 1901), Parsi entrepreneur and founder of the first textile mills in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. He was also the grandfather of Rattanbai Petit
Rattanbai Petit

Rattanbai "Ruttie" Petit after marriage Maryam Jinnah , was the second wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah - an important figure in the Indian Independence Movement and later founder of Pakistan....
 Jinnah, who later became the wife of the founder of Pakistan, Mr. Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

As broker to Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an firms he amassed a large fortune during the period of speculation in Bombay at the time of the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
.

In 1854 Dinshaw Maneckji Petit founded the "Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund" with the aim of improving the conditions for the less fortunate Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster, after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e., the worship of Ahura Mazda, exalted by Zoroaster as the supreme divine authority....
 co-religionists in Iran.






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Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, 1st Baronet (30 June 1823 – 5 May 1901), Parsi entrepreneur and founder of the first textile mills in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. He was also the grandfather of Rattanbai Petit
Rattanbai Petit

Rattanbai "Ruttie" Petit after marriage Maryam Jinnah , was the second wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah - an important figure in the Indian Independence Movement and later founder of Pakistan....
 Jinnah, who later became the wife of the founder of Pakistan, Mr. Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

As broker to Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an firms he amassed a large fortune during the period of speculation in Bombay at the time of the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
.

In 1854 Dinshaw Maneckji Petit founded the "Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund" with the aim of improving the conditions for the less fortunate Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster, after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e., the worship of Ahura Mazda, exalted by Zoroaster as the supreme divine authority....
 co-religionists in Iran. The fund succeeded in convincing a number of Iranian Zoroastrians to emigrate to India (where they are today known as Irani
Irani

The Iranis are an ethno-religious community of the Indian subcontinent; descendants of Zoroastrianism who emigrated from Greater Iran to the Indian subcontinent within the last few centuries....
s), and may have been instrumental in obtaining a remission of the jizya
Jizya

Under Sharia, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria....
 poll tax for their co-religionists in 1882.

In 1886 he became a member of the governor-general's legislative council. He devoted his wealth to philanthropic objects, among the public and private charities which he endowed being the Towers of Silence and fire temples of the Parsi, a hospital for animals, a college for women, and the Petit hospital.

For the advancement of technical education, Sir D. M. Petit also donated premises worth Rs. 3,00,000 at Byculla
Byculla

Byculla or Bhaykhala is a neighbourhood in South Mumbai. It is also the name of a railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Central Railway line....
, Bombay to the famous Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute (VJTI) (recognised by the Government of Bombay as the Central Technological Institute, Bombay Province). In winter 1923, that institute relocated to its present location in Matunga, Bombay.

He was knighted in 1887, created a baronet
Baronet

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown known as a baronetcy....
 in 1890, and died in 1901.

The Petit surname is not traditionally Parsi and had come about in Sir Dinshaw's great grandfather's time in the 1700s. He had worked as a shipping clerk and interpreter for the British East India Company
British East India Company

The East India Company was an early England joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the Indies, but that ended up trading with the Indian subcontinent and China....
. French merchants who dealt with the lively, short Parsi clerk called him 'le petit Parsi'.

Sir Dinshaw was survived by Sir Dinshaw Petit (2nd Baronet).