Nawab Syed Hussain Bilgrami, Imad-ul-Mulk Bahadur, CSI (1842-1926) was an Indian civil servant, politician, educationalist and an early leader of the

All India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim League lat ...

Early life

Syed Hussain Bilgrami was born in 1844 in Gaya from ancestors of Sadaat-e-Bilgram, and was educated at the Presidency College,

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. His brother was Syed Ali Bilgrami. He was married in 1864 and had four sons and one daughter.

Career

After holding the post of Professor of Arabic at Canning College,

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 the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

from 1866 to 1873 he entered the service of the

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

. He was the Private Secretary to Sir Salar Jung till his death. During his tenure, Sir Hussain Bilgrami accompanied Sir Salar Jung on a memorable mission to England where he had the honour of meeting and speaking with

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and also of meeting other distinguished people such as

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creat ...

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903), known as Lord Salisbury, was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United ...

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and others. Later, he was Private Secretary to the

in a number of roles. He was made the Director of Public Instruction for the Nizam's Dominions from 1887 to 1902. In 1901-1902 he was a member of Indian Universities Commission 1902. Soon afterwards he was made a member of the

Imperial Legislative Council The Imperial Legislative Council (ILC) was the legislature of British Raj, British India from 1861 to 1947. It was established under the Government of India Act 1858 by providing for the addition of six additional members to the Governor General ...

and a member of the Secretary of State's Council from 1907 to 1909. He retired from the service of the Nizam in 1907 as a result of ill health. His most important work was that of an educationalist. He founded the institution that was to become Nizam College. He along with Sir Agha Khan (Agha Khan III) and many others was one of the founding members of the "All-India Muslim League" which was a political party set up for the sole purpose of protection of the rights of the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent.He also founded a girls’ high school in 1885, which was the first institution of its kind in India. He was instrumental in the formation of three industrial schools (helping revive declining industries) at the three principal centres of local industries, namely

Aurangabad Aurangabad (), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

and

Warangal Warangal () is a city in the Indian state of Telangana and the district headquarters of Warangal district. It is the second largest city in Telangana with a population of 811,844 per 2011 Census of India, and spreading over an . Warangal serv ...

. The State Library was also started by him. He received, for his services, the titles of Nawab Ali Yar Khan Bahadur, Motaman Jung, Imad-ud-Dowla and Imad-ul-Mulk and also the CSI from the Government of India for his services to the British Empire.

Publications

*Life of Sir Salar Jung *Lectures and Addresses *Historical and Descriptive Sketch of His Highness the Nizam's Dominions, 2 vols. *Verses

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilgrami, Syed Hussain 19th-century Indian Muslims 20th-century Indian Muslims All-India Muslim League politicians People from Bilgram

Hussain Hussein, Hossein, Hussain, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein, Hussin, Hoessein, Houcine, Hocine or Husain (; ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-N (), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "handsome" or ...

1844 births 1926 deaths