Ali Khan Vali

Ali Khan Vali (, 1262 – 1318 Hijri; c. 1845 CE – c. 1901 CE) was an Iranian photographer and political figure of the era of Naser al-Din Shah and Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar.

Biography

Early life Ali Khan, son of Mohammad Gasem Khan Vali, son of Dust-Ali Khan Mo'ayyerolmamalek, was born in Tehran on 1262 Hijri. After returning from the post of consulate general of Tbilisi, Mohammad Gasem went to Saint Petersburg with grand ambassador Abbas Goli Khan Nuri as an embassy advisor to congratulate the coronation of Alexander III, Tsar of Russia and after returning, he was appointed first as minister resident and then minister plenipotentiary in Saint Petersburg. During youth, Ali Khan was living in Russia with his father and started studying French language, history, geography and geometry there and learned the new art of photography along with it. After returning, Mohammad Gasem was appointed as the governor of Gilan and performed valuable services there, including checking law enforcement of the cities, building the Iraq road and checking the stations along the roads. Mohammad Gasem became known as Vali for frequent governances until it became their surnames.

Reign of Maragheh In 1285 Hijri, Gasem Khan Vali was dismissed from ruling Gilan and Ali Khan Vali was appointed as special servant of the royal court and achieved the chance to go to Atabat-e Aliat (Karbala) along with Naser al-Din Shah the next year. In 1288 when Gasem Khan Vali was appointed by Zell-e Soltan to serve in the government of Fars, Ali Khan did not accompany Gasem and stayed in Tehran. After Gasem's death (1289), Saheb Divan was removed from governor of Azerbaijan in 1296 and Ali Khan was assigned to Azerbaijan along with a group with the crown prince and was appointed as governor of Maragheh. Ali Khan began photography en route to Maragheh and added pictures of the city hall and authorities of Maragheh to the first pages of his album. During Ali Khan's reign in Maragheh, the city was cleansed from thieves and security was established. At the beginning of Ali Khan's reign, some powerful figures hired some scoundrels in disguise of servants and sent them to the houses of the people for theft, and the victims did not dare to complain and sue their lost properties due to fearing the recruiters of the thieves. Ali Khan tried to fight those actions since the start of his reign and in order to do that, he personally lurked in alleys with some of his agents during cold nights of winter until he eradicated theft and arrested and imprisoned the thieves.

In the same year, Ali Khan became affected with a dangerous disease and left Ardabil for Tehran for treatment.

Death After three years of illness, Ali Khan died in Tehran on 1318 Hijri.

Personal life Ali Khan had much interest in exercise. Dust-Ali Mo'ayyeri has described his interest this way:

Ali Khan Palace On the upstream of the village Ja'far Abad, Shemiran, Ali Khan founded a summer mansion and a large garden. During summer, he invited the ministers and important figures of his time to the garden and arranged large feasts. A while later, Ali Khan's son, Gassem Khan had another mansion built beside the mountain, which formed one side of the walls of the mansion. The garden and the mansions were titled Ali Khan Palace and were attached to the foundations of Sa'dabad Complex in Pahlavi era.