Jawaharlal Nehru was born in Allahabad in the Indian state, Uttar Pradesh. He moved to England to study and attended Trinity College, Cambridge, later qualifying as a barrister. In 1912, Nehru moved back to India to practice law but soon became interested in politics and the Indian independence movement.

Nehru joined the Indian National Congress in 1919, a time when India was recovering from its role during the First World War. He was elected as President of Congress in 1929 at which time they started to call for full independence from Britain. Nehru began to work closely with Mohandas Gandhi in calling for independence, and joined him on his campaigns of non-violent civil disobedience. These campaigns led to both Nehru and Gandhi’s imprisonment on a number of occasions throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. Nehru’s final arrest was in 1942 after he joined Gandhi’s ‘Quit India campaign’, a protest against India’s role in the Second World War.

After his release from prison, Nehru played a key role on behalf of Congress in negotiating independence from Britain. He initially rejected the partitioning of the sub-continent but reluctantly agreed when no alternative path to independence seemed possible. On 15th August 1947, when British India was granted full independence and partitioned into two states, India and Pakistan, Nehru became the first Prime Minister of independent India.