Dr. Hari Singh Gaur was born on 26^th November 1870 in Shanichari Tauri ward of Sagar city. His grand father’s name was Bhura Singh. His actual name was Mansingh, but due to his colour he was called Bhura Singh. He came from Awadh to Gadpehra and then to Sagar and started working in village as carpenter. He fought with Mughals during Bundela Violence and in old age started doing furniture work. His only son was Takath Singh. Takath Sing was not interested in carpentry so he started living in Sagar so that his children may get good education. He was little bit educated . He  worked as Constable in Police department. He had four sons Onkar Singh, Ganpat Singh, Adhar Singh and Hari Singh and two daughters Lilawati and Mohanbai. OnkarSingh and GanpatSingh expired in young age. Only AdharSingh and HariSingh managed to do well in their family. Adharsingh passed Matriculation exam from Calcutta in 1860 in first division. At this very time father Takath Singh left his service and due to this Adhar Singh could not do higher studies. He started working as clerk in District Court and later on became Civil Judge. Later, he went to England  and got  various qualifications speicially in the area of law. He passed away on December 25, 1949.

Education

As a child, Dr. Hari Singh Gaur studied for two years in a private school and then studied in Municipal High School, Sagar. He evinced unusual intellect and interest in his studies from the very start of his formal education. After primary schooling, he completed his studied up to 8th standard in just two years and he got scholarship from the Government. He used to give all the money of scholarship to his mother asking her not to work hard. He passed the middle examinations in first division and went to Jabalpur on scholarship. At Jabalpur, due to some unavoidable circumstances he failed in Matric examination and his scholarship was stopped. So he came back from Jabalpur in search of job. With great hardship he could find a job and he used to work very hard, due to which he fell ill and lost his job. Then he went to Nagpur to stay with his brother. His brother was Dy. Registrar in Judicial Commissioner court at Nagpur. There he passed his Matric examination and came first in whole of region. Maths was his favourite subject and for this he got special prize. For further studies he took admission in free church institution now (Hislop College). From this very college foundation stone of his bright future were laid. He was only student to do Honours in English and History. He was sent to Cambridge by his brother to study further. He used to get a fixed amount from his brother, which was not sufficient so participated in various competitions to get the scholarship. After participating in Mathematics competition everybody hoped that Hari Singh would stand first, but the result of the competition was not declared. At that instance, he could not find the reason of it. But, after some years after getting degree of LL.D, when he participated in some function, he was told that a scholarship was not given to foreigners especially to blacks. As Harisingh came first in the competition scholarship was not given to any one.

In other competitions also he faced such type of treatments. He started writing poems. He was not discouraged by the treatment given to him by the British. He wrote the poem book 'Stepping Westward and other Poems' due to which he became famous in Literature world and was selected member of 'Royal Society of Literature’.

In 1891 he took the degree of Philosophy and Economics. In 1892 he took the degree in law. In 1905 he was awarded D.Litt. degree from London University and then from Trinity College.  

After getting the law degree in 1892, he returned to India.

Administrative Service

After meeting his elder brother Adhar Singh in Hoshangabad, he went to Jabalpur to meet Chief Commissioner of Central Province Shri Antony Mc'Donald. On seeing his certificates and other commendable works, he appointed him as EAC in Bhandara (Now in Maharashtra). The work of local court and revenue officer was given to him. At that time about 300 complicated cases were given to him and he finished them in just one year. Due to his workmanship and knowledge about law, he became good administrator and lawyer. Listening to popularity of HariSingh, four persons who were arrested on charge of murder, asked their mother to go to HariSingh in order to get justice. Their mother offered him 2000 Rupees and promised to give equal amount after winning the case. Dr. Gaur was in two minds whether to take the case or not. On one hand he had the Government service acquired by him with great difficulty and on the other hand he was in need of money for paying the installment of the loan he had taken. On studying the files of the four persons he saw the hope of winning the case. Desire of earning more money in future forced him to resign from Government service. This was his first case and after its success, his confidence

As Lawyer & Legal Expert Shri HariSingh became famous as very intelligent outspoken and knowledgeable lawyer. He worked as lawyer in Raipur, Nagpur, Calcutta, and Lahore. He also worked for four years in England's Privi Council as lawyer. He preferred to work as lawyer rather than as a Judge. Late Shri Ravi Shankar Shukla was his contemporary and worked as an advocate in Raipur.   In 1909 he wrote a book on ‘Comparative study of Indian Penal Code’. This book is useful till date. Young advocates buy this book for learning law and staring practice. In 1919 he published another  book of legal interest- ‘ Hindu Law’.  He also used to write novels and poems.

As Politician

Dr. HariSingh Gaur contested election for the seat of Emperial Council but was unsuccessful. He started living in Nagpur, where he became member of Congress Party. He contested the election of MLA and was elected. He was member of Legislative Assembly  from 1920 to 1935. He also became Mayor of Nagpur Nagar Palika. He also contributed  to the  writing of Indian Constitution. He was one of the main members of Indian Constitution framing team.   

AS Scholar

In 1921 Central Government established University of Delhi. Dr. Hari Singh was first Vice- Chancellor of the University and remained on the post till 1924. After that he became Vice- Chancellor of Nagpur University in 1928 and 1936. Dr. Gour’s love to his mother land made him to draw an outline for establishing University at Sagar. Rejecting the proposal of M.P. Government to establish the University in Jabalpur, he started the work of  establishing the  University in Sagar on his own. The great dream came true. The University was established. Dr Gour became the founder  Vice Chancellor of the University. After 1945-46 he  remained in Sagar. He had great ideas for making Sagar a beautiful city. He started this University with 20 lakhs rupees and gave 2/3 of his property as donation to the University that was about 2 Crore rupees.