Nellie Sengupta (1886–1973) was an Englishwoman who fought for Indian Independence and was elected President of the Indian National Congress

Born Edith Ellen Gray, she was the daughter of Frederick and Edith Henrietta Gray. She was born and brought up in Cambridge, where her father worked at a club As a young girl, she fell in love with Jatindramohan Sengupta, a young Bengali student at Downing Collegewho lodged at her parental home. Despite parental opposition, she married Jatindramohan and returned to Calcutta with him.Nellie as she was known and Jatin had two sons Sishir and Anil.

On returning to India, Nellie's husband Jatindramohan started a very successful career as a lawyer in Calcutta . However in 1921 he joined the Indian freedom struggle and was Mahatma Gandhi's right hand man in Bengal apart from being the Mayor of Calcutta for three terms and the head of the Legislative Assembly. Nellie joined her husband in participating in the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921. After his imprisonment during the Assam-Bengal Railwaymen's strike, she forcefully 'protested against the District authorities' imposition of a ban on assembly, addressed mass meetings and courted arrest. She defied the law by selling Khadi(hand spun cloth) door to door. In 1931 she suffered four months' imprisonment at Delhi for addressing an unlawful assembly. Jatin was imprisoned in Ranchi and died in 1936.

Sengupta (or Sen Gupta) is a surname of Bengali origin. They belong to the Vaidya-Brahmin community. "Gupta" is appended as a title (It's a practice hardly 250 years old), but during religious and marital rites, they use the original surname "Sen Sharma". Most of the Senguptas are mainly from two gotras : Dhanvantari (Rishi Angirasa lineage) and Shaktri (Rishi Vasistha lineage). Dhanvantari Sens are descendants of Pandit Budhsen (or his descendant Raja Shriharsha Sen) whereas Shaktris are descendants of Pandit Shaktidhar Sen. These two were Vedic scholars and Ayurvedic practitioners in Kannauj (U.P) and were invited to King Adishur's court in Bengal along with two other Ayurvedic Scholars Pandit Kavidas (ancestor of Moudgalya gotra Dasguptas) and Pandit Sumati Gupta (Kashyap gotra Guptas' ancestor) in 10th century. Senguptas of Vaishwanar (Related to Ballal Sena family), Krishnatreya, Mudgal, Atreya gotra are also found rarely.

Sen Vaidyas prefer to distinguish themselves from other caste people carrying the same surname Sen. Hence they started to append Gupta (From 'Goptri', a royal title) or Sharma (Their original surname) with Sen, but there are exceptions also, like the Nobel-laureate Amartya Sen's family and many more, who are Vaidyas but do not append 'Gupta' or the Caste-title Sharma.