also in 1919, he became the first Indian member of the British House of Lords;
he was appointed Governor of the Province of Bihar and Orissa in 1920, becoming the first Indian to be appointed governor of an Indian province, but retired on grounds of health in 1921.
From 1886, he and his wife became followers of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, becoming leading members of the Brahmo community. He had three sons (Aroon Kumar Sinha, Sirsir Kumar Sinha and Sushil Kumar Sinha, born on 22 August1887, 22 September1890, and 9 June1894 respectively) and four daughters (Tarun Kumar Sinha, born 9 February1899, and three others).
Career
After returning to India in 1886, Sinha established has a successful legal practice in Calcutta. He was a member of the Indian National Congress from 1896 to 1919, when, along with other moderates, he left the organisation. He was elected to preside over the Bombay session of the Congress in 1915.
Sinha became Standing Counsel of the Government of India in 1903. He was the first Indian to be appointed as Advocate-General of Bengal in 1908, and the first Indian member of the Governor-General's Executive Council in 1909. He went to England in 1914 as a member of the War Conference following the outbreak of the First World War, and represented India in the Peace Conference in Europe in 1919.
He was knighted in the New Year's Honours List on 1 January1915. He was the first Indian to be appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India in 1919. In the same year he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Sinha, of Raipur in the Presidency of Bengal, becoming the first Indian member of the British House of Lords, taking his seat in February 1919. After his ennoblement, he navigated a bill regulating the Government of India through the House of Lords, which became the Government of India Act 1919, which transferred legislative power from the Governor-General of India to an Indian Legslature as a step towards self-government. Sinha also became a member of the Privy Council.
He became Governor of the Province of Bihar and Orissa in 1920, the first Indian to be appointed such a high rank in the administartion. But he retired on grounds of health in 1921. He became a member of the judicial committee of the Privy Council in 1926.
