Ross Masood

Syed Sir Ross Masood bin Mahmood Khan (15 February 1889 – 30 July 1937), was the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University starting in 1929.[1][2]

Ross Masood
Ross Masood, with Sulaiman Nadwi and Allama Muhammad Iqbal in Afghanistan
Academic background

Early life and career

Ross Masood was the son of Syed Mahmood. His grandfather was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.[2] He had three children: one daughter, Nadira Begum, and two sons, Anwar Masood and Akbar Masood (1917–1971). Ross Masood was educated at Aligarh Muslim University and the University of Oxford.[3]

On his return from England, Masood was elected a trustee of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College and started his own legal practice in Patna. He then entered the Indian Education Service as headmaster of the Patna High School, a professor at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack (Orissa), and one of the founders of Osmania University.[3]

From 1916 to 1928, he was Director of Public Instruction in Hyderabad Deccan. He became the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in 1929. He was knighted by the British Government in the 1933 Birthday Honours list.[1] Here, he introduced new courses, upgraded the syllabi and established laboratories for various science subjects.[4]

Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu published a biography of Masud in 2011.[5] He was the president of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu.[6]

A residential hall constructed in the year 1969 in Aligarh Muslim University is named after him.

Ross Masood was linked to the British novelist E. M. Forster. Forster's novel A Passage to India (1924) is dedicated to Masood.[7][8]

References

1. Ross Masood on The London Gazette Published 6 June 1933, Retrieved 9 October 2019
2. Peerzada Salman (28 April 2014). "This week 50 years ago: Tributes paid to Ross Masood". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved 9 October 2019.
3. Syed Ross Masood - Pursuit of Excellence in Higher Education on aligarhmovement.com website Retrieved 11 October 2019
4. Matai-e Garan Baha Masood by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Souvenir Federation of Aligarh Muslim University Alumni Association of North America, USA, 2003
5. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (2011), Rās Masʻūd, Naʼī Dihlī: Anjuman Taraqqī-yi Urdū (Hind), ISBN 817160160X, OL 25056019M, 817160160X
6. "Ross Masud – Bahaisiyat Sadr-e Anjuman Tarraqi-e-Urdu" by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Hundredth Anniversary of Anjuman Tarraqi-e-Urdu Hind, New Delhi, 28 February – 2 March 2003
7. Scheherazade Alim (9 April 2001). "Forster Chacha: A Personal Reminiscence (of Ross Masood)". Outlook magazine website. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
8. Forster-Masood letters / edited by Jalil Ahmad Kidwai. Karachi, Pakistan : Ross Masood Education and Culture Society of Pakistan, 1984.

External links