Mahatma Gandhi traveled to England in 1888 to study law.
At age 18, Gandhi left India for London in September 1888. He enrolled at the Inner Temple, one of London’s four Inns of Court, to train as a barrister. He was called to the bar in 1891 and returned to India that year.
His time in England exposed him to new social settings, Western law, vegetarian organizations, and religious writings. Gandhi joined the London Vegetarian Society and later described his efforts to remain vegetarian as an important part of his personal discipline. He also read the Bhagavad Gita in English translation and encountered Christian and other religious ideas.
Gandhi’s legal qualification did not immediately produce a successful career in India. In 1893, a legal assignment took him to South Africa, where racial discrimination and a famous train incident helped redirect his life toward civil-rights activism and political organizing.