ABSTRACT
Nawab Ali Yavar Jung’s maternal grandfather, Syed Hussein Bilgrami, was brought to Hyderabad from Lucknow by Sir Salar Jung, then Prime Minister of Hyderabad, in the late nineteenth century. Sir Salar Jung appointed Bilgrami his personal secretary. He was later given the title Imad-ul-Mulk Bahadur. His only daughter Tayba Begum was the mother of Ali Yavar Jung.
Educated first at home and then at the Madrasa-e-Alia, the famous elite school of Hyderabad, Ali Yavar went to the Nizam College for a while, but then got a government scholarship and went to Oxford University. After graduating from Oxford in 1926, he went to France to study history– especially the history of the activities and campaigns of the French in India. After coming back, he was first appointed reader and then professor at Osmania University. After some years he was sent to the government and was appointed Director of Information.
He was twice Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University, then Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, India’s Ambassador to the United States and various other countries and, finally, Governor of Maharashtra. He died in office in December 1976.
