Nawab Sayyid Murtaza Ali Khan Bahadur,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(22 November 1926 – 29 January 1982) was the titular

Nawab of Rampur Rampur State was a 15 gun-salute princely state of British India. It came into existence on 7 October 1774 as a result of a treaty with Oudh. Following independence in 1947, Rampur State and other princely states of the area, such as Bena ...

from 1966 to his death in 1982, succeeding his father,

Nawab Nawab (Balochi language, Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi language, Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian language, Persian, Punjabi language, Punjabi , Sindhi language, Sindhi, Urd ...

Raza Ali Khan Bahadur Sir Raza Ali Khan Bahadur GCIE, KCSI (17 November 1908 – 6 March 1966) was a nawab of the princely state of Rampur from 1930 to 1966. A tolerant and progressive ruler, Sir Raza expanded the number of Hindus in his government Including h ...

Early life

Sayyid Murtaza Ali Khan Bahadur was born on 22 November 1926 at the Rafat Mahal, Khasbagh Palace in Rampur, the eldest son of Shia Nawabzada (Crown Prince) Raza Ali Khan Bahadur. At the time, Murtaza's grandfather

Hamid Ali Khan Bahadur Nawab Sayyid Hamid Ali Khan Bahadur (31 August 1875–19 June 1930) was Nawab of the princely state of Rampur from 1889 to 1930. He was only thirteen (but turning fourteen years of age) when he ascended the throne of Rampur, he ruled under a r ...

was the Nawab. Upon his grandfather's death in 1930, Murtaza's father became Nawab of Rampur and Murtaza became the heir apparent. He was educated at the Doon School in Dehradun, then at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

in Britain and at St.Stephen's College in New Delhi. In 1943, Murtaza was commissioned into the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

and served as an aide-de-camp to the

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company rule in India and the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

, General (later Field-Marshal) Sir Claude Auchinleck. He was promoted to Captain in 1946 and in that year was made the Brigadier of the Rampur State Forces. Also that year, Murtaza was appointed an

. From 1946 until Independence, Murtaza served as the Minister of the Army for Rampur State and as the Minister for the Household, Education and Public Works until 1949, when Rampur State formally merged with the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...

Titular Nawab of Rampur

Following the death of his father in 1966, Murtaza succeeded as titular Nawab of Rampur. From 1969 until 1971, he served as a member in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, as well as an MP in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

. It is an interesting historical fact that Murtaza Ali contested an election from Rampur opposite his own mother Rafat Jamani Begum in 1972 and won. In 1971, the Indira Gandhi regime stripped Nawab Murtaza and his fellow former rulers of what little rights they had left, formally ending Nawab Murtaza's standing as a monarch.

Personal life

In 1946, Nawab Murtaza married Her Highness Nawab Aftab Dulhan Sakina uz-Zamani Begum Sahiba of Pirpur (11 September 1928 – 3 August 1994), the daughter of a minor chieftain. The couple had a son and a daughter. Nawab Mohammed Ali Khan (born 19 August 1948) is the eldest son of the late Nawab Murtaza. He has since married and is now blessed with two children, which consist of a son and a daughter, namely Nawabzadi Zahra Ali Khan (born 5 August 1999) and Nawabzada Akbar Ali Khan (born 27 November 2001).

Last years

From 1966 to 1975, Nawab Murtaza served as President of the Raza Rampur Library Trust. He became a vice-chairman on its board of trustees in 1975 and remained in that capacity until his death on 29 January 1982 after a 16-year reign, aged 56.

Titles

*1926-1931: Nawabzada

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali ...

Murtaza Ali Khan *1931-1943: Nawabzada Sayyid Murtaza Ali Khan, Wali Ahad Bahadur *1944-1946:

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Nawabzada Sayyid Murtaza Ali Khan, Wali Ahad Bahadur *1946-1966:

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Nawabzada Sayyid Murtaza Ali Khan, Wali Ahad Bahadur,

*1966-1982: Brigadier

His Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style (manner of address), style used to address (in grammatical person, second person) or refer to (in grammatical person, third person) certain members of a reigning or formerl ...

'Ali Jah, Farzand-i-Dilpazir-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Mukhlis ud-Daula, Nasir ul-Mulk, Amir ul-Umara, Nawab Sayyid Murtaza 'Ali Khan Bahadur, Mustaid Jang,

, MBE

Honours

(ribbon bar, as it would look today) Order of the British Empire (Military) Ribbon

*Order of Hamid of Rampur (''Nishan-i-Hamidiya''), 1st Class *Order of Good Fortune of Rampur (''Nishan-i-Iqbal''), 1st Class *

1939-1945 Star World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

-1945 *

War Medal 1939-1945 War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

-1945 *India Service Medal-1945 *

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE)-1946

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Khan, Murtaza 20th-century Indian Muslims Nawabs of Rampur Indian people of Pashtun descent Uttar Pradesh politicians 1926 births 1982 deaths Members of the Order of the British Empire Indian Shia Muslims St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni The Doon School alumni People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire People from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh