Wazir Ali Khan (19 April 1780 – 15 May 1817)
was the fourth
Nawab wazir of Oudh from 21 September 1797 to 21 January 1798, and the adopted son of
Asaf-Ud-Daulah
Mirza Asaf-ud-Daula (23 September 1748 – 21 September 1797) was the Nawab wazir of Oudh ratified by Shah Alam II, from 26 January 1775 to 21 September 1797, and the son of Shuja-ud-Dowlah. His mother and grandmother were the Begums of Oudh. ...
.
Life
He was the adopted son of
Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, who had no son.
He adopted a boy who was the son of his sister. At 13 years of age, Ali was married at the cost of £300,000 in
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the List of million-plus urban agg ...
.
After the death of his surrogate father in September 1797, he ascended to the throne (''
musnud''), with the support of the British. Within four months they accused him of being unfaithful. Sir
John Shore (1751–1834) then moved in with 12 battalions and replaced him with his uncle
Saadat Ali Khan II
Yameen-ud Daula Saadat Ali Khan II Bahadur ( fa, سعادت علی خان, hi, सआदत अली ख़ान, ur, ) (bf. 1752 – c. 11 July 1814) was the sixth Nawab of Oudh from 21 January 1798 to 11 July 1814, and the son of Sh ...
.
Ali was granted a pension of 3,00,000 Rupees and moved to
Benares
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tra ...
. The government in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commerc ...
decided that he should be removed further from his former realm.
, a British resident, relayed this order to him on 14January 1799 during a breakfast invitation at which Ali had appeared with an armed guard. During the ensuing argument, Ali struck Cherry a blow with his saber, whereupon the guards killed the resident and two more Europeans. They then set out to attack the house of
Samuel Davis, the Magistrate of Benares, who defended himself on the staircase of his house with a
pike
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to:
Fish
* Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus''
* Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes
* ''Esox'', genus ...
until rescued by British troops. The affair became known as the
Massacre of Benares.
Subsequently, Ali assembled a rebellious army of several thousand men. A quickly assembled force commanded by General Erskine moved into Benares and "restored order" by 21 January. Ali fled to
Azamgarh then to Butwal,
Rajputana
Rājputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs", was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day States of India, Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sin ...
where he was granted asylum by the Raja of
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...
.
On request of
Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington
Jemma Madeleine Wellesley, Countess of Mornington (née Kidd; born 20 September 1974), is a British make up artist, fashion model, and aristocrat.
She currently resides on the Stratfield Saye estate, Hampshire.
Biography
Early life
Lady M ...
, the Raja turned Ali over to the British on the condition that he neither be hanged nor be put in fetters. Ali surrendered to the British authorities in December 1799 and was placed in rigorous confinement at Fort William, Calcutta.
The colonial government complied with this: Ali spent the rest of life – 17 years – in an iron cage in
Fort William in the
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...
.
He was buried in the Muslim graveyard of ''Kasi Baghan''.
Children
*Mirza Jalaluddin Haidar Ali Jhan Bahadur born 1798, married and got Issue
**Nawab Mubarak ud-Daula, who moved to Ottoman Empire
*Mirza Muhammad Ali Khan
*Sahibzadi Saadatunnisa Begum
Timeline
Literature
* Baillie, Laureen (Hrsg.): ''Indian Biographical Archiv;'' München, , Fiche 492
* Davis, John Francis (1795–1890)
Vizier Ali Khan; or, The massacre of Benares: a chapter in British Indian history .. (1871)(Orig. 1844)
* Higginbotham, J. J.; ''Men Whom India has Known''. 1874
* Ray, Aniruddha; ''Revolt of Vizir Ali of Oudh at Benares in 1799;'' in: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 49th Session, Karnatak University, Dharwad, 1988: S 331–338
*''Kartoos'' by
Habib Tanvir
Habib Tanvir (1 September 1923 – 8 June 2009) was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He was the writer of plays such as, ''Agra Bazar'' (1954) and ''Charandas Chor'' (1975). A pio ...
Notes
References
External links
National Informatics Centre, Lucknow – Rulers of Awadh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Wazir
1780 births
People from Lucknow
Wazir
1817 deaths
Indian Shia Muslims
Mughal Empire people