Founders of YMCA
Sir George Williams (11 October 1821 – 6 November 1905) was an English philanthropist, businessman and founder of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). The oldest and largest youth charity in the world, its aim is to support young people to belong, contribute and thrive in their communities.
He was knighted by the Queen Victoria in her 1894 Birthday Honours, and is buried in St Paul's Cathedral. Appalled by the terrible conditions in London for young working men, on 6 June 1844 Williams gathered a group of 11 fellow drapers in the living quarters of Hitchcock & Rogers to create a place that would not tempt young men into sin. They were James Smith (from W D Owen drapers), Christopher. W Smith, Norton Smith, Edward Valentine, Edward Beaumont, M Glasson, William Creese, Francis John Crockett, E Rogers, John Harvey and John C Symons.The name, Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), was settled on at the suggestion of Christopher W Smith, a fellow draper at Hitchcock & Rogers. It promoted Muscular Christianity.
Madhusudan Das (28 April 1848 – 4 February 1934) was the first graduate and advocate of Odisha. He was born in the village of Satyabhamapur, 20 kilometers (12 mi) from Cuttack, Odisha. He is known as Kulabruddha, which means Grand Old Man, Madhu Babu, and Utkala Gouraba, which means Pride of Utkal, and was referred to as a poet and freedom fighter. Madhusudan Das Was born to a Zamindar family, his father was Choudhury Raghunath Das and his mother, Parbati Debi. They had initially named him Gobindaballabh. Madhusudan had adopted 2 Bengali girls namely Shailabala Das and Sudhansubala Hazra. Sailabala was an educationist who had been trained in England, and in whose name the famous Sailabala Women's College of Cuttack was founded.Sailabala was Bengali, and her parents had left her in the care of Madhusudan Das and his wife Soudamini Devi at Calcutta. In 1864, he passed Matriculation from Cuttack and thereafter he was inclined to become a teacher and began his career as a teacher at Balasore for three years. The year 1866 was the year of a acute famine in Odisha, called the "Naanka Durviksha" When more than One Lakh people died of hunger. This year he converted himself to Christian and changed his name as Madhusudan Das from his earlier name of Gobinda Ballav Choudhury. Sudhansubala Hazra was also Bengali and she was the first female lawyer of British India. Madhu Babu was the resident tutor of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, the former Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University in Calcutta and Janakinath Bose, father of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose at Ravenshaw College.
He founded Utkal Samilanni which brought a revolution in the social and industrial development of Orissa. He was elected as a member of the legislative council of Bihar and Odisha province and under the Diarchy scheme of Government of India Act 1919, he was appointed as Minister for Local Self-Government, Medical Public Health, Public Works in 1921.He was the first Odia to become a member of both the legislative council and the Central Legislative Assembly of India. By his long political fight he united Orissa and modern Odisha took birth on 1 April 1936. This day is celebrated as Utkal Diwas. He was also the first Odia to sail overseas. He founded the Utkal Tannery in 1905, a factory producing shoes and other leather products. In 1897 he founded the Orissa Art Ware Works. With his support, the Tarakasi (filigree) work of silver ornaments achieved commendable feet. Literature - As a writer and poet, patriotism was always at the forefront of his mind, and that was reflected in all of his literary works. He penned a number of articles and poems in both English and Odia. Some of his important poems are "Utkal Santan", "Jati Itihash" and "Jananira Ukti". He was also an influential speaker in Odia, Bengali and English.