Charles Alison

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Charles Alison CB (November 28, 1860) (* 1810 - April 29, 1872 in Tehran ) was a British diplomat .

Life

Charles Alison was Oriental Secretary at the British Embassy in Constantinople from 1844 to 1857. At the end of December 1855 and January 1856 he was on special missions in the Danube principalities .

From April 7, 1860 to April 29, 1872 he was envoy extraordinary, Ministre plénipotentiaire and consul in Tehran . On October 13, 1860, he reported on the Ottoman government's request to move a telegraph line from Tehran to Baghdad. In 1866 he negotiated a contract with the Persian government to set up a telegraph line through Persia to British India .

Alison handed over a petition from Moses Montefiore to Mirza Sa'id Khan Ansari, with copies of letters from Sidi Muhammad IV and Abdülmecid I in which they expressed the impartial treatment and protection of all subjects . The intention was that Naser ad-Din Shah also issued an edict promising the Jews religious freedom and that of their state oppression. Since no notice was taken of the petition, Alison turned to Naser ad-Din Shah personally, albeit unsuccessfully. Alison then complained to Mirza Muhammad Khan Qajar Sipahsalar (Commander in Chief of the Army and Prime Minister) about Mirza Sa'id Khan Ansari, who did not negotiate with him. The British people, along with the civilized world, were concerned for the Jews, and as long as Persia did not comply with British demands by Persia, it would be perceived as an uncivilized country. The Shah confirmed in writing to Muhammad Khan Qajar Sipahsalar that he had received knowledge that Jewish subjects were subject to oppression and that this was against his wishes. He strictly instructed Sipahsallar to treat Jews fairly and with kindness in the future. In June 1866 it became known in Tehran that a pogrom had taken place in Babol . Alison asked Mirza Sa'id Khan Ansari to investigate the case and sent Rasht's consul , William George Abbott, to Barforoosh to investigate.

After Alison's death in 1872, his office in Tehran was taken over by William Taylour Thomson .

Publications

  • The Church of England and its Convocation: A Letter to H. Hoare, 1859
predecessor Office successor
Henry Creswicke Rawlinson British ambassador to Tehran
1860–1872 		William Taylour Thomson

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Public bills p. 3
  2. ^ Daniel Tsadik, Between foreigners and Shi'is: nineteenth-century Iran and its Jewish minority, p. 58
  3. ↑ Edw Hertslet, The Foreign Office List, forming a complete British Diplomatic and Consular p.51
  4. ↑ Frederick Martin, Handbook of contemporary biography p. 275
personal data
SURNAME Alison, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British ambassador
DATE OF BIRTH 1810
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1872
Place of death Tehran