Abdol-Hossein Farman-Farma (Persian: عبدالحسین فرمانفرما; 1857 – November 1939) was a prominent Iranian prince in the Qajar dynasty and one of the most influential Iranian politicians in the Qajar era. Born in Tehran to Prince Nosrat Dowleh Firouz in 1857, he was the 16th grandson of the Qajar crown prince Abbas Mirza. He fathered 26 sons and 13 daughters by 8 wives. He lived to see four sons of his first wife die within his lifetime.[2]
Biography
Portrait of Prince Abdul Husayn Mirza (Farma Farmaian), One of 274 Vintage Photographs. Brooklyn Museum.
Prince Abdol-Hossein Farmanfarma was born to Prince Nosrat Dowleh Firouz and Hajieh Homa Khanoum in 1858 in Tabriz, and was a grandson of the Qajar crown prince Abbas Mirza.
He was extensively educated at home by private tutors in traditional subjects such as poetry, literature, mathematics, Arabic, and religion, along with modern sciences and Western languages. In 1878, at age 21, he continued his education at the Austrian Military Academy in Tehran, where he distinguished himself as a soldier and strategist.[3]
After the death of his father in 1885, he assumed his father's former title of "Nosrat-ed-Dowleh". In 1891, as commander of the Azerbaijani troops, he received the title "Salar Lashgar", and subsequently in 1892 he received the title "Farmanfarma" upon the death of his elder brother.
In 1885 he married Ezzat ed-Dowleh Qajar, daughter of the Mozzafar al-Din Shah. Following the marriage, out of respect for Ezzat ed-Dowleh and also due to her high social rank, he took no other wives for the next twenty years.[4]
Following the accession of Mozzafar al-Din Shah in 1896, Farmanfarma led the entourage of the new Shah from Tabriz to Tehran and established himself firmly within Persian politics. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the army and Minister of War and quickly took over the government as a self-appointed premier and emerged as the real power behind the throne. It is said "he acted as the true sovereign". During this time he drafted the first laws relating to national conscription and worked towards establishing a military academy in Iran.
Farmanfarma's power grab was resented by many within the court and ultimately resulted in the Shah dismissing him and assigning him to govern the province of Fars, and eventually sending him into exile in 1898. He went to Egypt, and then to Baghdad in Ottoman Mesopotamia.[5] His wife Princess Ezzat ed-Dowleh, voluntarily followed him and stayed with him for four years until she was able to orchestrate his return to court life.
During the constitutional revolution, Farmanfarma, like many of the landed aristocracy, tried to balance the demands of the constitutionalists against the royalists. His deft manoeuvring allowed him to take the post of the minister of justice in the new constitutional government. In the same year he was appointed governor general of Azerbaijan where with considerable personal courage, he took action against an incursion of Kurdish and Ottoman forces into Persia.
In 1909, Farmanfarma was also appointed minister of the interior and once again as minister of justice. In his role as Minister of Justice he introduced the Western custom of secular court trials into the Persian legal system.
In 1912, the Majlis dispatched Farmanfarma as commander-in-chief of the army to reassert the authority of the constitutional government and repel royalist forces in Kurdistan and Kermanshah. In this expedition, Reza Khan, who would become later the Shah of Iran, served under Farmanfarma 's command. Farmanfarma returned to Tehran to become the minister of interior a second time.
Throughout most of the First World War period, Farmanfarma sided with the British and worked closely with them receiving numerous payments and subsidies for his activities. He was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1916. During this time he also became Prime Minister for a brief period of time, but he resigned within the first three months. In his short tenure as Prime Minister, he established the Ministry of Health. He would later go on found the Pasteur Institute of Iran in 1920 whose first action was to introduce a smallpox vaccine in the country.
The Shah appointed Farmanfarma as governor general of Fars for a second time in 1916. His time in Fars coincided with a widespread famine as well as the Great Influenza Pandemic. He successfully managed both events and in the process organised Iran's first agricultural cooperative. He remained in Fars for four years until he was replaced by his nephew Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh.
In 1921 a successful coup d'état organised by Sayad Zia-al-Din Tabatabai took place effectively ending Qajar rule and bringing Reza Khan to power. Farmanfarma was arrested with his two eldest sons, Nosrat-ed-Dowleh who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, and Abbas Mirza Salar-Lashgar. Nosrat-ed-Dowleh was a leading candidate for accession to the Qajar throne after Ahmad Shah Qajar's exile and the new government kept all three in the Qasr-e-Qajar jail until it could consolidate its power base. FarmanFarma paid a significant ransom in order to secure the safe release of his two sons and himself.
After his release, Farmanfarma made several gestures of support towards Reza Khan. Reza Khan had previously served under Farmanfarma as head of a machine gun detachment and had earned the nickname "Reza Maxim". Perhaps uncomfortable that he had once served under Farmanfarma's command, and certainly resentful of his wealth, Reza Khan did not reciprocate, and even confiscated numerous assets belonging to Farmanfarma. The first being Farmanfarma's family home and garden in Palace Street, Tehran. The family was given only 24 hours to vacate the colossal property, which then went on to become the primary residence of Reza Khan.
In 1937, Farmanfarma's son, Nosrat-ed-Dowleh, was arrested and ultimately assassinated. The demise of Nosrat-ed-Dowleh was a deep personal blow for Farmanfarma from which he never truly recovered. Farmanfarma had by then retired from politics and dedicated himself to managing his estate and overseeing the education of his surviving children. He also channelled a significant portion of his personal wealth into philanthropic activities.
Farmanfarma passed away in November 1939 at the age of 81 and is buried in the Shrine of Shazdeh Abdol Azim. He fathered 26 sons and 13 daughters by 8 wives. One his daughters married to Mohsen Rais, a diplomat.[6]
Among the Cossacks accompanying Farman-Farma during the 1912 campaign to Kermanshah was an officer known as "Reza Maksim" because he was good at maneuvering a Maxim gun. This was none other than Reza Khan Mirpanj, who would become known as Sardar Sepah, and then as Reza Khan Pahlavi, the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty.[7]
Later Reza Khan, leader of the Cossacks brigade, became involved in a British operation and shortly afterwards in a British backed coup, to establish himself as the new Shah in 1921. The once friendly relationship between Farman-Farma and Reza Khan, who had once been his subordinate, became more tenuous as Reza rose in stature and power, first as minister of war and then as shah.
Name and title
His full official name and title was Hazrat Aghdas Vala Shahzadeh Abdol Hossein Mirza Farman Farma. This translates approximately as "His Highness, Prince Abdol Hossein, the Eminent and Exalted One, the Greatest of All Commanders." When surnames became compulsory he took his last title as his family name, viz. Farman Farma, which literally translates as "giver of an order", and is roughly equivalent to "viceroy".[8]
The title "Farman Farma" did not originate with Prince Abdol-Hossein Mirza Farman Farma. It was first held by his grand-uncle Hossein Ali Mirza Farman Farma, a son of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar.
Prince Abdol Hossein's father, Prince Firouz, would battle his own uncle, Prince Hossein Ali Farman Farma, in support his brother Prince Mohammad (later Mohammad Shah Qajar) and win the right to the succession for Prince Mohammad. Forty years later, Nasser-al-Din Shah, Firouz Mirza's nephew, would bestow the title Farman Farma on Prince Firouz in gratitude for his role in consolidating the succession to the Qajar (Kadjar) Throne. The title Farman Farma then passed on to his son Prince Abdol Hossein Mirza, during the reign of Nasser-ed-Din Shah. Nasser-ed-din Shah and Prince Abdol Hossein were cousins, but Nasser-ed-Din Shah was about thirty years his senior. Only Prince Abdol Hossein carried the title "Farman Farma", while most of his offspring carry the family name derived from the former title "Farman Farmaian" (lit. Those belonging to Farman Farma). His elder son Firouz Nosrat-ed-Dowleh III however chose the family name "Firouz", which is carried by his offspring.
Non-Persian honors
He was awarded the following honors outside of Persia:
Farmanfarma differentiated his family from most others through his many children. Contrary to many Persian politicians and royal household members at the time and due to the uncertain political climate, he emphasized classical Persian training as well as a modern Western education and foreign languages. This applied equally to his daughters as well as his sons, and women from his family were among the very first members of the social elite to appear publicly in Western dress after Reza Shah outlawed the veil. He saw to it that his children were each sent to different countries to cultivate global relationships as well as to further their education.
He ensured that they worked particularly hard towards this goal throughout their lives. As a consequence the vast majority of his sons and daughters, after having obtained first class educations, went on to work in senior and key roles throughout the Iranian government from the turn of the century until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
(Main source: "Shahzdeh's Tree, A Family Genealogy of Abdol Hossein Mirza Farman Farma", compiled by Mitra Farman Farmaian Jordan, 1997, Universal Printing, Washington).
^A chronology of the life of Abdol Hossein Mirza Farman Farma, p. 42-58; p. 66-67; in Shahzdeh's Tree. Two other sons and one daughter died in infancy.
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