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TWELVE MEN OF BENGAL

wander further east. He finally settled in Behar, his great grandson again, Muhammad Rafi being the first to make his home at Barh in the Patna district. He married the daughter of Kazi Syed Muhammad Mea and greatly distinguished himself in the service of the Naib Nazim of Bengal. He was much in favour with Ali Verdi Khan and it was through his recommendation that he received the title of Shaikul Mashaikh from the Imperial Court at Delhi. His son Waris Ali took little part in politics, being content to remain at home and manage his zemindari. For his own son, however, he expected greater things and he gave him the best education possible, sending him as far afield as Moradabad and Bareilly where he was present at several actions during Lord Lake's campaign against the Mahrattas. He returned to Barh on his father's death and there his son the future Nawab Bahadur was born on the 1st of March, 1810.

Amir Ali Khan early showed signs of the qualities which were to win him so prominent a place in later life. Until the age of nineteen he prosecuted his studies at home, becoming proficient in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. It is typical, however, of Muhammadan conservatism and of the prejudices of the time that he was not taught English, and it is an astonishing fact that, in spite of his own broad and liberal views and of the place he eventually won for himself in the regard of all the European officials with