William Digby moved to the Indian subcontinent in 1871 and worked as a sub-editor in The Ceylon Observer.,[2] and as the editor of The Madras Times in 1877.

[3] While working in Sri Lanka, Digby was involved in a temperance campaign and another one for abolishing food taxes.

[4] He contested the 1885 General Election as a Liberal Party candidate from the Paddington North constituency on a platform of legislative reform in India.

He lost to Conservative Party candidate Lionel Louis Cohen by a margin of 685 votes (out of a total 5345 polled).

He became a strong advocate of constitutional reform and acted as an unofficial guide to Indian National Congress leaders visiting London.

He used his political contacts (obtained through his position as the secretary of the National Liberal Club) to raise India's grievances in the British Public sphere.

As part of his lobbying, he wrote a book titled "Condemned Unheard" advocating the Kashmiri king's position.

This private lobbying and incidents of Digby and Bradlaugh receiving money from the Kashmiri king for presenting petitions to and raising questions in parliament alarmed Allan Octavian Hume.

[2] Gandhi wrote an obituary in the Indian Opinion on 29 October 1904 which praised him as follows : By the death of William Digby CIE, India has lost a champion, whom it will be difficult to replace.