On the morning of June 8, 1920, as the SS Vasna set sail from Bombay’s Ballard Pier, the British colonial authorities breathed a sigh of relief. On board the hospital ship riding the Arabian Sea was a passenger whose demands had become uneasily persistent.
Mirza Ali Muhammad Khan was once the governor of the wealthy province of Bushehr in Iran. He had been exiled to Poona in 1915, in the early days of the First World War, along with his family and a few servants. For the next five years, he stayed unhappily in western Indian city, constantly petitioning the British for money and better living conditions.
When he left from Ballard Pier, on his way to Tehran via Baghdad, he was accompanied by seven men, four women, two children, a car and 60 suitcases. Before the send-off, the authorities made one more accommodation request.
In a telegram to the British Political Resident in Baghdad, the Indian Foreign Secretary wrote, “[The] government of India will be grateful if you will consider whether any courtesies are desirable and can afford him facilities for the onward journey.”
Strategic battleground
Located at the intersection of India, Afghanistan and the Ottoman Empire, Iran was in a precarious geopolitical position in the early 20th century. The major powers of the day – Britain and Russia – were playing the Great Game, carving out spheres of dominance, and Iran had become a battleground for influence.
On Iran’s southwestern coast, Bushehr was seen as a valuable geostrategic site by the British, who called it Bushire. Before the First World War, they helped develop modern port infrastructure in the city and built a Customs post there. To them, the opening of a German consulate in the lead-up to the hostilities was a real threat. So when two British officers were killed by Iranian tribesmen near Bushehr in July 1915, they used it as an excuse for an invasion.
On the morning of August 8, Percy Cox, the chief political officer of the Indian Expeditionary Force, which consisted of soldiers from the British Indian Army, sent a telegram to Bushehr Governor Mirza Ali Muhammad Khan, warning him of imminent action:
“This morning the British Government will be taking at Bushire measures to which she has been driven by the persistent neglect of the Persian Government to act up to its obligations to Great Britain and by allowing its German agitators to use Persian soil as a base for making war upon us; it is a matter of sincere regret to Major Trevor and myself that the measures thus taken will unavoidably involve some personal worry and inconvenience to Your Excellency, whom we both regard as an old friend and to whom we are grateful for much friendly help and cooperation during the many years in which we have been associated in the work of the Gulf. This has been the more appreciated owing to the knowledge of the adverse circumstances under which it has been rendered.”
Cox added that Major Trevor would discuss with Khan, “the question of his immediate future” and that he would be treated with “every possible consideration” for his “personal comfort” and “distinguished position”.
The Iranian forces in Bushehr offered no resistance to the Indian Expeditionary Force, which took the city uncontested. “This was a protest against the failure of the Persian Government to punish the tribal chiefs who, it is known, were acting, assisted by Germans, and other breaches of neutrality,” the Press Association said in a report.
The British removed Khan as governor and established a temporary military administration. Their strong relations with Khan before the invasion had led to accusations that he put British interests before that of Iran. The British referred to him as Muwaqqar ed-Dowleh (revered of the state in Persian), a title used for royalty during the Qajar Dynasty era in Iran (1789-1925).
In a letter to the colonial authorities in India in 1920, Khan mentioned how his name and reputation were tarnished because of his friendship with the British.
“Do you remember when Passeck was the Russian Consul-General at Bushire and the troubles he used to cause me simply because I was friendly with you,” he asked in the letter. “I made the piece of land at Neidi a present to the Government of India in 1905 for the site of your Consulate, he, combined with the man you have put in my place, sent a report to Tehran that I had ‘ceded the most strategic point in the island’ to the British as by possessing the land you could control the whole water supply for Bushire.”
The British told Khan that the occupation of Bushehr would be temporary and decided to move him out of the port city. But where should he be sent was the question.
One suggestion was to relocate Khan to another city in Iran, but Cox and Trevor believed this would put him “in an invidious position as he would have to show himself especially hostile to the British in order to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Persian government”. Khan had similar concerns and told Trevor that “he dare not go to his house in Shiraz”.
In the end, it was agreed that Khan should go to India since it was close enough to Iran and he could move back when circumstances permitted. So, along with his wife, three children, an ayah and four servants, the former governor was put on a steamship for Bombay from Bushehr.
Adrift abroad
Although the British occupation of Bushehr lasted only a few months, they had no intention of restoring Khan to his old position.
The authorities in Bombay were told by their counterparts in Iran that Khan “should be treated with all respect and consideration, as he has been friendly in the past” and “that he should not be placed under any restraint but should be informed that he must not, without permission, leave Bombay”. They added that his movements were to be “unobtrusively watched” but, at the same time, he should “be accorded friendly attention and recognition in official ceremonies as far as possible”.
Khan had a slightly different idea, though. He told the authorities in Bombay he wanted to move to Pune, to which they happily agreed. In return, they asked that he “abstain from all political intrigue and unguarded language”.
In his communication with colonial officials, Khan listed his address as “Sangam Lodge, Poona”.
He was given a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500, which was half the salary he drew as the governor of Bushehr. He often complained to the authorities that his allowance was insufficient and made him borrow money, which made him fall into deep debt. Among his expenses was imported opium, which was legal but subject to import duties. The former governor unsuccessfully pleaded with the authorities to waive off the duties.
From his letters to the British, it was clear that Khan was unhappy in Pune and yearned to go back home.
“I was told by your representative that I would be away to India for a couple of months and the Government of India wished me to be close at hand for returning me to my post,” Khan wrote in a January 1919 letter to Percy Cox, which was sent through the District Magistrate in Pune. “I submitted to everything and did not murmur a word. You restored Bushire to the Persian Government after an occupation of some 70 days and put into my place the right-hand man of Mukhber-es-Saltaneh who had got up all the agitation against you in Fars and who came to Berazjan as Rais-ul-Mujahidin or head of the Fedaees and who wrote the scurrilous letters against you which are even now lying in your Brigade Office at Bushire.”
The internal communication between colonial officers in India, Iran and Britain seems to suggest that Khan’s prolonged stay in Pune was a result of the British being preoccupied by the First World War.
During his exile, Khan had other complaints. He spoke of his property in Iran being destroyed during the British invasion of Bushehr. He also lamented becoming a maligned figure in Iran. “Even to this day my detractors assert that I received a hundred thousand tomans from you and handed Bushire to you,” he wrote.
Khan appealed to Cox for compensation for his losses and to be allowed to leave India. When he persisted, the British awarded him Rs 10,000 as compensation for the damage to his property during the invasion of Bushehr and awarded him the honorary title of Knight Commander of the Indian Empire.
While Khan was pleased with the award, he was not entirely happy with the compensation. He demanded more money and, in April 1920, once again appealed for permission to return home.
“While war prisoners and political internees are repatriated and released, an Anglophile official of a friendly power with 30 years of good record of friendship for the British is still pining away at Bombay in the fifth year of an undesired banishment and unmerited punishment,” he wrote in a letter to the Indian Foreign Secretary. “Not only my whole health, career and whole fortune are ruined by this un-English treatment, but the lives of my children, 11 and 7 respectively, are in danger. I have already lost my youngest.”
Khan appealed to the Viceroy to be reinstated to his old post in Bushehr. While this was no longer possible, the British Charge D’Affaires in Tehran assured him that the Iranian authorities would give him meaningful employment. “Your return to Persia would be welcomed by His Highness Farman Farma and the Prime Minister Vossugh ed-Dowleh, who are both favourably disposed towards you,” he wrote.
Khan, his family and servants were finally allowed to leave India in May 1920 and boarded the SS Vasna a month later. Very little information exists in the public domain in English about his life after his return to Iran.
Ajay Kamalakaran is a writer, primarily based in Mumbai. His Twitter handle is @ajaykamalakaran.
