Sir Alexander MacRobert, 1st Baronet was a self-made millionaire from Aberdeen, Scotland. He came from a working-class background and left school when he was twelve to start his working life sweeping floors in Stoneywood Paper Mill; his education was continued by attending evening classes and he gained several qualifications as his early career progressed. At the beginning of 1884 MacRobert travelled to India to take up employment in a woollen mill in Cawnpore, or Kanpur as it is now known. By 1920 he had built up a portfolio of companies enabling him to found the British India Corporation. He was raised to a baronet at the beginning of 1922, choosing to be named Sir Alexander MacRobert of Cawnpore and Cromar of the County of Aberdeen.

Kanpur ( ), formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is a large industrial city located in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in year 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations of British India. Kanpur is also the financial capital of Uttar Pradesh and part of upcoming Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority i.e. BIDA Nestled on the banks of Ganges River, Kanpur has been the major financial and industrial centre of North India and also the ninth-largest urban economy in India. Today it is famous for its colonial architecture, gardens, sweets, dialect, IT parks and fine quality leather, plastic and textile products which are exported mainly to the West.