A True Tragic Love Story :Khair un Nisa Hyderabadi Princess & James Kirkpatrick British Resident at the court of the Nizam

Love is a powerful feeling, and it is often a little different depending on what a person is giving to or receiving from the person who they love.

 

Let's look at one such tragic love story that emerged from the streets of Hyderabad, a love that did not fear society, and a love story that lives on to amaze us.

Long back in the 1790s, Hyderabad sensed a breath of new air that, later on, changed the way people perceived love. A handsome, young gentleman from Madras, James Achilles Kirkpatrick, had a love story to narrate that would be etched in the golden history of Hyderabad.

 

Before the War of Independence in 1857, after which India became part of the British Empire, many British men working for the East India Company, who came  in India in the prime of their youth. To make their fortune, got married to local women and settled down to raise families.

There were very few white women available and they were compelled to visit brothels or, like well-to-do Indians, maintain harems of Indian concubines or mistresses.

They were not particularly concerned about the religious divide: if they wanted to marry Muslim women, they underwent nominal conversion to Islam; if they took on Hindu wives, they observed Hindu customs and gave up eating beef.

A True Tragic Love Story: Among the most celebrated liaisons followed by a secret marriage ending in painful separation was that of Begum Khair-un-Nissa, niece of the Prime Minister of Hyderabad, and a Scotsman, Colonel James Achilles Kirkpatrick, British Resident at the court of the Nizam.

 

James Achilles Kirkpatrick: The White Moghul

A True Love Story: The tale of the romance between James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the British Resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad and his Muslim wife Khair-u-Nissa Begum for whom he converted to Islam and with whom he had two children.

 

James Achilles Kirkpatrick was born at Fort St. George, Madras in 1764 but sent back to Britain where he attended Eton College.

 

To make his name and his fortune, the ambitious young man returned as a self-confident young imperialist intending to conquer India by working for the British East India Company and became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Company’s Army.

James Kirkpatrick

Nizam-ul-Mulk Nawab Mir Nizam Ali Khan Siddiqi Bayafandi Bahadur Asaf Jah II reigned Hyderabad from 1762 to 1803.

 

James was initially appointed as the translator at the Nizam’s court during his elder Brother William Kirkpatrick’s tenure as the Companys Resident (ambassador) in Hyderabad.

 

In 1795, savvy and skilled at diplomacy, at only 33 years of age, he replaced his brother as the Resident.

 

A good looking and charming young diplomat, he was responsible as the East India Company’s Resident in Hyderabad for nurturing relations with the State’s rulers and keep them on the side of the British.

 

Taking his diplomatic tasks very seriously, he fluently conversed in Persian, Hindustani, Tamil and Telegu and immersed himself in Hyderabadi Indo-Persian culture.

 

One his first tasks was to build a stately Residency at Hyderabad. The Palladian style house was designed by Lt Samuel Russell of the Madras Engineers, the son of the Royal Academician John Russell.

British Residency Hyderabad -Now Koti Women's College

James smoked hukkahs, chewed paan, attended mujras and even had a zenana, living the life of a genuine White Mughal. He fathered many children with various local women that he kept there, just like the Hyderabadi elite.

British Residency-Hyderabad

Living like a Hyderabadi out of choice, Kirkpatrick related to them and understood their point of view, which he would present to his superiors.

 

Nizam awarded him with titles like Mutamin ul Mulk (Safeguard of the kingdom), Hushmat Jung (Valiant in battle) and Nawab Fakhr-ud-Dowlah Bahadur (Governor, pride of the state, and hero).

 

In 1800 James Kirkpatrick met the fourteen year old grand daughter of the Vizier of Hyderabad, Nawab Mahmood Ali Khan.

 

Khair-u-Nissa fell in love with James Achilles Kirkpatrick

Though Khair-un-Nissa (the matchlessly beautiful) was kept in strict purdah (veil), during the engagement ceremonies for her elder sister, she saw James Kirkpatrick in the court and fell in love.

 

She somehow managed to leave the confines of the zenana (ladies quarter) one evening, presented herself before Kirkpatrick and pleaded her love.

Hyderabadi Princess -- "Khair un Nisa"

Kirkpatrick met all the conditions plus the Nizam made him his adopted son. The couple was duly married in a nikkah ceremony. Kirkpatrick was elevated to the ranks of Hyderabadi nobility. The couple became known in Hyderabadi circles as Sahib Begum and Sahib Allum.

 

James built a separate zenana in the Residency compound for Khair-u-Nissa who still observed purdah.

 

The couple lived in an enthralled world of aromatic gardens, delicious fruits, cooing pigeons, sparkling jewels, veils fluttering in the gentle evening breeze.

Khair un Nissa

Khair became renowned for her fair complexioned, delicate featured beauty. Her portrait was said at the time to do no justice to her good looks.

 

The good looking couple had two children: a son, Mir Ghulam Ali Sahib Allum, and a daughter, Noor-un-Nissa Sahib Begum.

 

Shortly after the marriage in as early 1801, a major scandal broke out in Calcutta over the nature of Kirkpatrick’s role at the Hyderabad court.

 

His reputation had become suspicious of late but it was not unheard of British officers to dress and even live like the natives. However, in James case his loyalty was questioned. 

James Achilles Kirkpatrick with his Entire Family

Worse, Kirkpatrick had formally married the girl, by converting not just in name but in deed and had become a practising Shia Muslim.

 

Governor General Wellesley was not kindly willing to Kirkpatrick’s relationship with the Nizam. Wellesley, having decided to dismiss Kirkpatrick, summoned him to Calcutta.

 

Upon questioning, James at first denied his marriage with Khair un-Nissa, but upon the Company’s further investigation into the matter he confessed that he had married her in an Islamic ceremony.

He was summarily dismissed and as a punishment for his religious conversion it was decided that his two Anglo-Indian children would be taken away from the parents and sent to Britain to be raised as Christians.

Governor Genaral "Richard Colley Wellesley

A tearful Khair-un-Nissa had secured a settlement of £10,000 each on five year old William and three year old Kitty, a substantial sum at the time.

 

The great Tragedy: James Achilles Kirkpatrick died young at 41. Khair-un-Nissa was only 19

 

James, perhaps already perhaps fatally ill, died of a fever on October 15 1805 in Calcutta, young, aged 41 shortly after his kids were shipped off. Khair-un-Nissa was only 19.

Khair-u-Nissa heard of his death 18 days later. In his will, Kirkpatrick stated: the excellent and respectable Mother of my two children for whom I feel unbounded love and affection and esteem.

 

The two children were elated under the care of a Mrs Ure and an entourage of servants. Their baggage included shawls, jewellery and valuables worth £2000 and Captain George Elers, a fellow passenger, bribed the customs officials at Portsmouth twenty guineas to clear their baggage unopened.

 

Without her children and her husband, Khair-un-Nissa turned for protection to Kirkpatrick’s assistant Henry Russell who replaced him as the Resident in Hyderabad.

William Dalrymples -Author of "White Moghuls"

After spending a few years with the widow, Russell tired of her and married a younger half-Portuguese heiress he had met in Madras.

 

The Sad Ending: Khair-un-Nissa too died young at 27.

Hyderabad aristocracy hadn’t approved of Khair-un-Nissa’s suspected liaison and exiled her to the coastal town of Masulipatam for a while. She died heart broken at the young age of 27 in 1813.

 

Further Story of the two children after death of their parents  "Khair-un-Nisa & James Achilles Kirkpatrick"

Kitty was (born on 9 April 1802) initially named Noor un-Nissa, Sahib Begum ("Little Lady of High Lineage") and was raised alongside her brother William (known as Mir Ghulam Ali, Sahib Allum) in the mansion her father built, living in the zenana with her mother and maternal grandmother.

Kitty Kirpatrick & and her Brother William Kirkpatrick

 In 1805, Kitty and William were sent to live in England at age three and five years, respectively, with their paternal grandfather, Colonel James Kirkpatrick.

 

The two children were baptised as Christians on 25 March 1805, at St Mary's Church in London, and were thereafter known by their new Christian names, William George Kirkpatrick and Katherine Aurora "Kitty" Kirkpatrick.

 

James Achilles Kirkpatrick died on 15 October 1805, around 8 months after Kitty and William had left India. In his will, James describes William and Kitty as his "natural children," leaving large fortunes to each, and left money to his nieces and nephews, the children of his brother William Kirkpatrick, to whom he was deeply indebted.

 

William Kirkpatrick was elder brother of James Achilles Kirkpatrick

William Kirkpatrick, who had needed to retire to England mid-career due to increasingly poor health, had arranged for James Achilles Kirkpatrick to step into his prestigious position as Resident at Hyderabad.

William Kirkpatrick (Elder Brother of James Kirkpatrick

James used his fortune to support William Kirkpatrick and his children out of his love for and gratitude toward his elder brother.

 

In 1812, William suffered a severe burn injury resulted in the elimination of one of his arms, and became isolated thereafter, though he successfully graduated from Oxford University in 1820, married, and had three daughters before his early death in 1828.

 

Her brother's death, as well as that of her grandfather and other relations, left Kitty with a substantial inheritance estimated at about £50,000.

 

Into maturity Kitty became known for her charm, and in 1822, she met the Scottish philosopher and historian, Thomas Carlyle, who swiftly became lovesick with Kirkpatrick.

Prtrait of Young "Kitty Kirkpatrick"---1830 In England

 

The romance was encouraged by another of Kitty's cousins, Julia (who married Edward Strachey, grandfather of the writer Lytton Strachey).

 

However, Carlyle was penniless and not believed by the rest of the family to be a suitable match for the wealthy and well-connected Kitty.

On 21 November 1829, Kitty married James Winslowe Phillipps (1802-1859), a British Army officer in the 7th Hussars Regiment, and a member of the Kennaway family, which also had Indian connections.

 

It was evidently a happy marriage, Kirkpatrick and Phillipps went on to have seven children, of whom four survived to adulthood.

Kitty Kirkpatrick died at her home, the Villa Sorrento, in Torquay, Devon, in 1889.

Khair, the lovely princess, is still remembered by the Telangana Government. They named a tourist boat after her!

Boat "Khair un Nisa"

The End

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