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#172 - Mohandas Gandhi Signature
Estimate: $3,000+
Autograph signed by Mohandas Gandhi while in London for the Second Round Table Conference
Vintage pencil signature, "M. K. Gandhi,” on a pink 6.75 x 4.75 album page, also signed in pencil by his close companion, Mirabehn ("Mira"), and in ink by a fellow social reformer, "Muriel Lester." The opposite page is annotated in ink by the collector: "Gandhi was staying at Kingsley Hall, Bow when he was attending the 'Round Table Conference.'" Signed on the reverse of the page by Nellie Lansbury (who quotes a poem by Charles Mackay) and elsewhere in the album by Violet Lansbury, both daughters of British politician George Lansbury. In fine condition. Accompanied by a brief letter of provenance, in part: "Gandhi came to London in 1931 to attend a conference on India's future. He refused to stay at a hotel, living instead at Kingsley Hall in Bow where he slept on the floor! Kingsley Hall was a small independent church, founded by sisters Muriel and Doris Lester, doing social work in London's east-end…My parents…gave a lot of their time to Kingsley Hall and were able to get the great man's autograph."
As the delegate acting on behalf of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi attended the second session of the British-organized Round Table Conference, a three-part conference series held in London from 1930 to 1932, with the aim of discussing the ongoing constitutional reforms in India. From September 7-December 11, 1931, Gandhi issued several claims—that Congress alone represented political India; the dalit, or 'untouchables,' were Hindus and not minorities; and that there should be no separate electorate for Muslims—all of which were rejected by the attending delegates. Unable to reach an agreement, Gandhi returned to India and was arrested in Bombay on January 4, 1932, for 'good and sufficient reasons.'
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