Wellesley, the family of Qavam Shirazi and Iran

Authors: Abdollah Shahbazi
In the late eighteenth century and in the eve of the nineteenth century, King of Afghanistan was a serious threat for the colonial Great Britain in the East namely the era of Shah Abdali.
In the era of Shah Abdali, Timor Shah's son and grandson of Ahmad Shah Darani took the power after the death of his father in 1793. He was an "insolent bravery, sword extremely proud and ambitious king" like Ahmad Shah and he had an aggressive policy adopted towards the Indian subcontinent. In 1796, he seized Lahore and defeated the Sikhs. Thus, the memories of occupation of India by Ahmad Shah Darani was alive and the Shah of Afghanistan was a serious threat to the eastern colony of Great Britain.
Richard Wellesley tried to have close relationships with Nezam ol Molk, the ruler of Hyderabad Deccan, to defeat Tipu Sultan. He also began close relations with Qajar government of Iran to stave off the threat of Afghan Shah. A. Taheri writes:
When king sat on the throne, it was coincided with the start of various riots by Indians especially the region of Maysoor against the Britain and company of eastern India. Zaman Shah decided to send his most famous rulers of the provision by an army to India and defeat the enemies who had violated the innocent people and this frightened Lord Wellesley.
Taheri, citing the writings of Sir John William Kay, adds that:
According to a trustworthy historian, there was no doubt for Wellesley that the news of a possible invasion of Zaman Shah has made people restless. In those days, that every Muslim even in the remotest part of the Deccan was eagerly looking forward to the coming of the Savior who was known as a hero of the Islamic world, then the English Viceroy of India thought to repel the evil of such hero by the king of Qajar.
Political activities of the East India Company to create chaos on the borders of Iran and Afghanistan and diverting the attention of the Afghan king of India, before the arrival of Wellesley had been started during the ruler of Lord Charles Cornwallis. Mahmoud Mirza, the rebel brother of Zaman Shah and Fatah Khan, the head of the Barakzai tribe were the main ring of these movements.
The revolt of Mahmoud Mirza had begun from the first year of Fath Ali Shah Qajar’s monarchy (1212 AH. / 1797M.) And he began to gain the support of Qajar king so he took refuge in Iran. Reports mentioned in historical sources of Qajar era indicate the relationship between two families of Qavam Shirazi and Alam to the riot of Mahmoud Mirza Afghan:
Mahmoud Mirza in his first asylum to Iran was backed by Ibrahim Khan Etemad o Dole (Qavam Shirazi), the chancellor of Fath Ali Shah, thus he received the support of king of Qajar and he lived at the home of Asadullah Khan, the son of Abraham Qavam and Ruler of Qom and Kashan. He then accompanied Mir Alam Khan II, the ruler of Qaenat (the ancestor of Abraham Shokat ol Molk Alam and Amir Asadullah Alam, the powerful minister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), and went to Herat and Kabul for the conquest of Afghanistan. The forces of Mahmoud Mirza and Mir Alam Khan in the face of Afghan forces were defeated by Zaman Shah. Mahmoud Mirza once again took refuge in Iran, on the orders of Fath Ali Shah, he settled in Isfahan and poised for an opportunity to attack to Kabul. This coincides with the end of 1798 and the beginning of the movements of Richard Wellesley.
The first one who was sent to the court of Iran by Richard Wellesley was a man named Mehdi Ali Khan.
Mehdi Ali Khan was an influential man from Khorasan that fled to India in the late 1770s because of a dispute with the boys of Nadir Shah and he sojourned in the court of Oudh. He then went to Varanasi, and he had close relations with Jonathan Duncan in this city (1756-1811). Duncan became the governor of Bombay in December 1795 and he was on this position for 16 years until his death. Mehdi Ali Khan also migrated to Mumbai and worked on Duncan. In October 1798M, Duncan sent M. Ali Khan as a representative of the East India Company in Bushehr and the company in the court of Fath Ali Shah of Iran.
Mehdi Ali Khan in Bushehr received the active support of Haji Mohammad Khalil Malik o Tojar.
Mohammad Khalil apparently is the son of a Qazvini businessman that after visiting Mecca named himself "Haji Mohammad Khalil" and settled in Bandar Bushehr, and gradually he became one of the famous merchants. For long years he had trade with East India Company in Bombay. At the time of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar he was nicknamed as "Malik o Tojar".
Haji Mohammad Khalil had a close relationship with Samuel Mansty. Mansty is Jewish, he was the representative of British East India Company at Bushehr, and later he had the same post at the port of Basra.
The wife of Haji Mohammad Khalil Agha Shirazi Malik o Tojar was the girl of Agha Kochak Shirazi and her mother was Shahrbanoo. Mother of Shahrbanoo was a Zoroastrian woman called Turquoise. Turquoise before marrying Agha Kochak Shirazi had apparently an informal life with an employee of the English East India Company in Bushehr named Douglas. Douglas was the representative of company at Bandar Abbas in 1761 he was the same man who proposed the transfer of this company to Bandar Bushehr. Douglas and Turquoise had a daughter that was raised in England and married a British men and was called Lady Blake.
Mehdi Ali Khan after the establishment in Bushehr sent a long and important letter by the servants of Haji Mohammad Khalil for Haji Ibrahim Khan (Chancellor) to Tehran. According to Sir Denis Wright, [Mehdi Ali Khan in this letter] had described his plan that how tens of thousands of Iranian soldiers from troops stationed in Khorasan led by two Afghan princes [Mahmoud Mirza and his brother Firuz Mirza] will attack in Herat ... Mehdi Ali Khan then had explained that if the Iranians defeat in this battle, then thirty to forty Iranian soldiers will attack Kabul or Qandahar. Mehdi Ali Khan at the end of his letter had written that I have some valuable treasure of England and India about the worth of tens of thousands rupees here and send it to your service and I hope that it was considerable and excellent."
Thus, by the design and conduct of Richard Wellesley, a new round of joint movements of Mahmoud Mirza Afghan and some political institutes of Iran began against the Zaman Shah of Afghan.
On January 9 1799M. / 3 Shaban 1213Q. Mehdi Ali Khan reported Duncan that two Afghan princes with a thousand horsemen have left Yazd to Khorasan.
This was the first phase of their campaign to Herat and Mehdi Ali Khan was confident that Zaman Shah Darani] will not be able to flush out "the flames of chaos".
Following the invasion, Zaman Shah withdrew his forces from Lahore. Then Mahdi Ali Khan came to Tehran in December 1799M. / Rajab 1214 AH.
The trip of Mehdi Ali Khan to the court of Tehran was coincided with a visit of Tipu Sultan's envoys. Tipu Sultan in his vast diplomatic movement against the influence of English in India noted Iran and thus sent his ambassador with great gifts to the court of Fath Ali Shah Qajar. The following events Q. Etemad o Saltant 1214 / 1799M is writing:
In this year Tipu Sahib sent the king of the Deccan, with three chained elephants and several caged hens and a whimsical air and alkyd bejeweled SB to the capital, presented his gifts to you, benefited by this royal visit, with good answers and returned with a competent reward.
It should be added that at the same time the representatives of Tipu Sultan came from Bushehr to Tehran with Mehdi Ali Khan and in their path to Shiraz they were faced with the conspiracy of Mehdi Ali Khan and his Iranian accomplices and they were insulted and persecuted severely. Without a doubt, this plot was possible with the help of influential clan of Qavam Shirazi.
Mohammad Hasan Khan says the reason of defeat of Tipu Sultan was due to "". The cause of the disaster is not only “lack of France help ". Qajar government, as a Muslim state was a potential ally of Tipu Sultan and, more importantly, if there were no moves of Mahmoud Mirza and affiliated centers of the East India Company in Iran, Zaman Shah could respond to the request of Tipu Sultan for help positively. If the arrangement of forces in the region was the same thus undoubtedly the beginning of nineteenth century colonialism was coincided with expel of Great Britain from the Indian subcontinent, and consequently the East. Thus, the position and function of the colonial oligarchy's affiliates of the West in the court has a tremendous importance in particular two families of Qavam Shirazi and Alam, from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Mehdi Bamdad has stated the outcomes of Mehdi Ali Khans mission in this way:
He worked very well and the mission went well. After giving back the money to the king, they agreed to help the Prince Mahmood and he also gave money to the Afghan princes to send them to Afghanistan and Herat.
Mehdi Ali Khan’s mission was not ending the movements of Richard Wellesley in Iran. Now with the capture of Mysore and murder of Tipu Sultan, a full expulsion of the king of Afghanistan is concerned. Thus, an important mission of Captain John Malcolm was started in Tehran.
Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833), is one of the famous companies of East India and he is affiliated to Wellesley's family. He is the son of a poor Scottish farmer named George Malcolm. When he was 13 years old, he was employed by the East India Company army and the next year he was sent to Fort St George (Madras). In 1792 he was the Persian translator of Hyderabad army and he attended in occupying the city of Sryngapatam. In the years 1795-1797 he was the Vard Clark's private secretary, the military commander teacher, and then for a year he was the private secretary of Major General George Harris. In 1798, he was appointed as the assistant resident agent of company in Hyderabad and in the story of the last battle of Mysore (1799) he was involved in the army of Hyderabad. After the fall of Sryngapatam and murder of Tipu Sultan, he was responsible for setting and implementing the company's dominance with Thomas Monroe. Shortly after this incident, he was sent to Iran as a special envoy by Lord Richard Wellesley.
John Malcolm returned to India in 1801 and he was appointed as private secretary of Lord Wellesley. And by early 1803, he was on this position. In 1802, he went to Mumbai to carry out a special mission and in February 1803 he became the server of company in Mysore. In the battle of Mahratta (1803) he was present as the political officer in the army of General Arthur Wellesley and in the following years he was settled as the broker resident in court of the Mahratta. Ozli was one of the organizers of Masonic lodges in England, during the nine-month stay in London, Hasan Khan, took him to join Freemasonry (June 15, 1810), and they granted Hasan Khan, a prominent official "former Grand Master" Grandlzh of England and " regional supreme Master " of Iran.
Haji Ibrahim was the son of Haji Hashem or Jewish Usher, and his father or grandfather had converted to Islam.