Background
Abolhassan was born in 1776 at Shiraz. He was the second son of Mirza Mohammad-Ali, a secretary of Nader Shah, and a daughter of Ebrahim Khan Kalantar, thus making him part of the influential Qavam family.
Abolhassan was born in 1776 at Shiraz. He was the second son of Mirza Mohammad-Ali, a secretary of Nader Shah, and a daughter of Ebrahim Khan Kalantar, thus making him part of the influential Qavam family.
He also served as the ambassador to Imperial Russia and Great Britain, and was the main Iranian delegate at the signing of the notorious Treaty of Gulistan (1813) with neighbouring Russia. As a young man, Mirza Abolhassan was appointed as the governor of Shushtar. While many were blinded or killed, some managed to flee.
Mirza Abolhassan however, was captured by Iranian troops, and was exiled in his native Shiraz.
Abolhassan shortly afterwards fled from Shiraz, reaching Basra, where he then took a vessel to Hyderabad in India. Luckily, he was some time later pardoned, and went back to Iran, where he served Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, and quickly rose to high offices.
Abolhassan was chosen in 1809 as ambassador to lead a diplomatic mission to London at the court of the British king George III to seek support against growing ambitions of Russia in Caucasia. His escorting officer or "mehmandar" in Great Britain was Sir Gore Ouseley, who later encouraged Abolhassan to join the Free Masons in 1810.
Upon his return of that mission, Mirza Abolhassan obtained the title "Khan" and "Ilchi" (envoy).
Abolhassan was the main delegate for Iran in the Gulistan of 1813 and Turkmenchay treaties, under which Iran lost most of her Caucasian territories to Russia. In 1818 Mirza Abolhassan Khan was sent again to London to find British support against Russia. Accordingly, good relations of Great Britain with Iran had a lesser weight to those with Russia.
In 1835, Abolhassan sealed himself in the Shah-Abdol-Azim shrine as a protest to Prime Minister Ghaem Magham Farahani.
Abolhassan Khan later died in 1845.
In April 1801, however, the family lost much of its power and influence during the downfall of Ebrahim, and thus all members of the family were persecuted by the Iranian government.
