Tafazzul Husain Khan
| Tafazzul Husain Khan | |
|---|---|
| Nawab of Farrukhabad | |
 Tafazzul Husain Khan, last Nawab Rais of Farrukhabad | |
| Reign | 1846–1857/1858 |
| Predecessor | Tajammul Husain Khan |
| Successor | None (title abolished) |
| Born | c. 1816 – c. 1826 Farrukhabad, India |
| Died | 19 February 1882 Mecca, Ottoman Hejaz |
| Spouse | Unknown |
| Issue | Zafar Husain Khan, Asghar Husain Khan, Karim Dad Khan, Ghulam Nabi Khan |
| House | Bangash |
| Father | Name unknown |
| Mother | Unknown |
| Religion | Islam |
Tafazzul Husain Khan (also spelled Tafazzul Hussain Khan; Persian: تفضل حسین خان) was the last Nawab Rais of Farrukhabad and a member of the Pashtun Bangash dynasty. He ruled from 1846 until the upheavals of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, after which the nawabship of Farrukhabad was abolished by the British authorities.
Background
Tafazzul Husain Khan belonged to a collateral branch of the Bangash family, a Pashtun dynasty that established control over Farrukhabad in the early eighteenth century under Muhammad Khan Bangash. He succeeded his first cousin, Tajammul Husain Khan, in 1846. The name of his father is not recorded in surviving administrative or genealogical sources.
Farrukhabad under British rule
By the early nineteenth century, Farrukhabad had ceased to exist as a sovereign state. Under treaties concluded in 1801–1802 between the British Government and the Nawab Rais of Farrukhabad, sovereignty of the territory was ceded to the British East India Company in return for a fixed stipend and the recognition of certain proprietary rights for the ruling family.[1]
Indian Rebellion of 1857–1858
During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Tafazzul Husain Khan supported the uprising in the Farrukhabad region. He surrendered under the proclamation of amnesty and was tried before a Special Commission on charges including rebellion and waging war against the British Government. He was convicted and sentenced to death, and his property was ordered to be confiscated.
The sentence was not carried out, as it was established at trial that assurances had been given prior to his surrender. Instead, he was permanently expelled from British territories and transported to Aden, from where he travelled to Mecca. He was warned that any return to British territory would result in the execution of the original sentence.[1][2]
Death
Tafazzul Husain Khan died in Mecca on 19 February 1882, where he had settled following his exile from British India.[3]
Family and descendants
Tafazzul Husain Khan had several sons, among whom the following are recorded in administrative and genealogical sources:
- Zafar Husain Khan – little is recorded about his later life in surviving sources.
- Asghar Husain Khan – described in British records as receiving a hereditary pension following his father’s exile; he was later granted the title of Khan Bahadur in December 1911.[3]
- Karim Dad Khan – recorded in later genealogical material as having a military association.
- Ghulam Nabi Khan – no registered descendants are known from surviving genealogical records.
From Karim Dad Khan descended Alim Dad Khan, likewise recorded in family genealogies as having served in a military capacity. His sons included Ahmed Nabi Khan (d. 1977) and Mohamed Nabi Khan, who are recorded as brothers in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century genealogical sources. Ahmed Nabi Khan, like his father Alim Dad Khan, is described as having pursued a military career, while Mohamed Nabi Khan is described in family and genealogical records as having been trained in medicine.
Ahmed Nabi Khan was married twice. The name of his first wife is not recorded in surviving sources. His second wife was Kausar Khatoon Siddiqui of Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. She later settled in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, where she died on 21 February 2002.
Mohamed Nabi Khan is traditionally credited with compiling a handwritten genealogical chart of this branch of the Bangash family in the late nineteenth century, which has been preserved in later family records.
Later generations of the family are known to have dispersed across South Asia and beyond following the abolition of the Farrukhabad nawabship.
Nawabs of Farrukhabad
The Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhabad ruled the region from the early eighteenth century until the suppression of the nawabship following the events of 1857–1858:
- Muhammad Khan Bangash (d. 1743) – founder of the Farrukhabad state
- Qaim Khan Bangash (r. 1743–1748)
- Imam Khan Bangash (r. 1748–1749)
- Ahmad Khan Bangash (Ghalib Jang) (r. 1749–1771)
- Muzaffar Jang Diler Himmat Khan (r. 1771–1796)
- Nasir Jang Imdad Husain Khan (r. 1796–1802)
- Khadim Husain Khan (r. 1813–1823)
- Tajammul Husain Khan (r. 1823–1846)
- Tafazzul Husain Khan (r. 1846–1857/1858)
Sources and historiography
The life and career of Tafazzul Husain Khan are primarily documented in British colonial administrative records, including treaty collections, gazetteers, and official reports produced in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These sources form the principal basis for reconstructing his political role, the legal consequences of the rebellion of 1857–1858, and the abolition of the Farrukhabad nawabship.
Later summaries of the Bangash family lineage, preserved in genealogical compilations and family records produced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, provide supplementary information on the descendants of Tafazzul Husain Khan. While such materials are not contemporary administrative records, they reflect how the family’s genealogy was recorded and transmitted in subsequent generations and are useful for contextualising the later history of the Bangash family.
References
Further reading
- Pashtun genealogical overviews of the Bangash dynasty (late nineteenth–twentieth century compilations).