Mithan J. Lam

Mithan Tata

1919 – December 1923

Born in 1898, Mithan Lam was the daughter of Ardeshir and Herabai Tata. Her father was the manager of a textile mill and went to Lancashire in 1913 to learn new ideas about the cotton industry. In 1911, on a holiday in Kashmir, Herabai and Mithan met Sophia Duleep Singh, who told them about the suffrage movement in Britain and inspired Herabai to become involved in women's rights.

Mithan was awarded a first-class degree in economics from Elphinstone College, Bombay, winning a medal for the highest marks. Through her mother's connections, who was Honorary Secretary of the Women's Indian Association in Bombay, they were invited to go to Britain in 1919 to give evidence to a Royal Commission on Indian Reforms chaired by Lord Southborough.

Mithan spoke to MPs in the House of Commons and at public meetings in London on the issue of female suffrage in India. She then decided to stay on in England, enrolling on a master's course at the London School of Economics in October 1919. Her mother remained in England to look after her. In 1920 the Inns of Court were opened to women and Mithan joined Lincoln's Inn in April 1920. She was one of the first ten women to be called to the Bar in 1923.

Upon her return to Bombay in December 1923, Mithan enrolled in the Bombay High Court and became active in women's organizations and reform. She edited Stri Dharma, the journal of the All India Women's Conference, for five years. She married Jamshed Shorab Lam in 1933. 

Lam was the first Indian woman to be made Sheriff of Bombay, in 1947. She was an Indian delegate at various United Nations seminars. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, in 1961.

Lam died in 1981. She was survived by her son, Sorab Jamshed Sorabsha Lam (1934–2010), who became a notable orthopaedic surgeon in England following his move there in 1950.