page_title: Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney
section_title: Public service and philanthropy
hierarchical_section_title: Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney / Public service and philanthropy
caption_attribution_description: Fountain erected by Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney in Regent's Park, London.
context_page_description: Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, CSI was a Parsi community leader, philanthropist and industrialist of Bombay, India.
context_section_description: Readymoney was appointed Justice of the Peace for the town and island of Bombay and a member of the Board of Conservancy.
  He was invested as a  Companion of The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (C.S.I) in 1871; and in 1872 he was created a Knight Bachelor of the United Kingdom in recognition of his donations to the Indian Institute in London and other charitable causes in Bombay amounting to approximately £200,000.  Readymoney built colleges, hospitals, insane asylums; founded a refuge for people of "respectability" who found themselves destitute or friendless in Bombay; erected several drinking fountains of artistic merit; gave donations to the Catholic and the Presbyterian missions in India.  Readymoney also financed the erection in 1869 of the Readymoney Drinking Fountain in Regent's Park, London, which was opened by the Princess of Teck, as a mark of gratitude from the Parsi community to the protection that British rule in India had given them.
  Readymoney had a particular association with University of Bombay and he financed the erection of several notable buildings there, including the Convocation Hall designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Readymoney was also a member of the University's Faculty of Civil Engineering and its Senate.  A statue of Readymoney, by Thomas Woolner, stands on the campus grounds.  There is also a small bas-relief sculpture of him at the University of Edinburgh but Readymoney's connection to that establishment is unknown.
  During his lifetime, Readymoney was known as the Peabody of Bombay. The reason for this epithet is unknown, but may be a reference to London's Peabody Trust, since Jehangir owned several large housing estates and is said to have identified himself with George Peabody.
  After a long illness, Readymoney died in 1878.  His nephew and adopted son and heir, Jehangir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, was created a Knight Bachelor (in 1895) and a Baronet (in 1908).
caption: Readymoney Drinking Fountain, erected by Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney in Regent's Park, London
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