Sir Surendranath Banerjea (1848–1925) was one of the founders of modern India and a proponent of autonomy within the British Commonwealth.
He served as an Indian Civil Service officer till 1874, before becoming a teacher.
He founded Ripon College, later renamed after him, in Calcutta and worked on the idea of nationalism. He purchased The Bengalee, a newspaper he edited for 40 years to propagate his nationalist viewpoint. He was twice appointed the president of Indian National Congress, appealed to the British to modify the 1905 Partition of Bengal, and in 1921 he was knighted and accepted office as minister of Local Self-government in Bengal.
He retired to write his autobiography, A Nation in Making in 1925.
