PRESENT RULER: The Honorable Syeda Ashiqua Akbar, the 3rd Mutawalli (Custodian) of Bogra-Dhanbari Estate (The Nawab Palace, Bogra)

a former Member of the Bangladesh Parliament, elected from the Dhanbari constituency.

PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: The family claims descent from Iraqi Hazrat Ghausul Azam who came to Eastern Bengal from Baghdad and received the estate of Dhanbari during the time of the Padshah Jahangir in the 1600s. Hazrat Mohammad Shah, a saint (Pir) of Dhanbari also comes from this family. The title of Nawab was granted to the zamindar in 1803. The palace, mosque and the entire complex has been formed into the Nawab Ali Hasan Ali Royal Resort, after the Zamindari system was abolished. It is now a heritage site used as a tourist attraction in the area. A museum in Bogra houses family antique furniture, books and appliances. Estate holders were.....

• Syed Janao Ali Choudhury, Zamindar of Bogra, married a daughter of Khan Bahadur Muhammad Ali Khan Chowdhury, a zamindar of Natore, and had issue, two sons.

  • Nawab Syed Abdus Sobhan Choudhury (qv)

  • The Honourable Nawab Bahadur Sir Syed Nawab Ali Choudhury Khan Bahadur (qv)

• Nawab Syed Abdus Sobhan Choudhury, Zamindar of Bogra, he owned extensive landed property in the district of Bogra in Bengal and also in Bihar; he was the founder of the Tahwmissia Female Hospital; appointed Honorary Magistrate, Bogra; he was granted the title of Nawab on 2nd January 1893 as a personal distinction; married 1stly, (name unknown), died 1890, ?married (unequally) 2ndly, Mozelle Cohen, a Jewish lady who converted to Islam, and had issue. He died 2nd July 1915 ^(#1).

  • Nawabzadi Syeda (name unknown), married The Honourable Nawab Bahadur Sir Syed Nawab Ali Choudhury Khan Bahadur (qv)

  • Syeda (name unknown) (by Mozelle Cohen), born 1891.

  • Syed Habibur Rahman Chowdhury (by Mozelle Cohen), born 1893.

• The Honourable Nawab Bahadur Sir Syed NAWAB ALI CHOUDHURY Khan Bahadur, Zamindar of Bogra-Dhanbari 1915/1929, born 1863, son of Syed Janao Ali Choudhury, and his wife, a daughter of Khan Bahadur Muhammad Ali Khan Chowdhury, a zamindar of Natore; a founder of Dhaka University, the Senate Bhaban is named after him, educated at the Rajshahi Collegiate School and St Xaviers College, Calcutta; he served as Honorary Magistrate of Mymensingh, Municipal Commissioner of Mymensingh town and a member of the District Board of Mymensingh; Member of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Legislative Council from 1906 to 1911, of the Bengal Legislative Council from 1912 to 1916 and of the Imperial Legislative Council of India from 1916 to 1920, he was made a Minister in March 1925; Member of the Governor's Executive Council; Member of the Bengal Legislative Council 1920/1925 and Vice-president of the Bengal Legislative Council; Member of the Governor's Executive Council 1925/1929; Vice-President of the All-India Muslim league; President of the central national Muhamadan association; Trustee of the Aligarh MAO College; Honorary Secretary of the Provincial Muslim League of Eastern Bengal and Assam and later of Bengal; President of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League; Member of the Calcutta University Senate; Member of the Dhaka University Committee; Member of the Governing Body of the Presidency College; he was granted the titles of Khan Bahadur in 1906, Nawab in 1911, made C.I.E. in 1918 and Nawab Bahadur in 1924 by the British Government; married the daughter of Nawab Abdus Sobhan of Bogra, and had issue. He died 17th April 1929 at his residence, The Eden Castle at Darjeeling and was buried at Dhanbari.

  • Nawabzada Syed Altaf Ali Choudhury, an Honorary Magistrate and Justice of the Peace, in Barisal of British India. Stood for the Bengal election (upper house of the parliament) and was elected under the Krishak Proja Party (Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Huq); married and had issue.

    • Nawabzada Muhammad Ali Chowdhury (qv)

  • Nawabzada Syed Hasan Ali Choudhury, former Minister of Commerce and Industry and a Member of Parliament.

    • Syeda Ashiqua Akbar (qv)

• Nawabzada MUHAMMAD ALI Chowdhury, Zamindar of Bogra-Dhanbari 1929/1963, born 19th October 1909, educated at Hastings House in Calcutta, and at Calcutta Madrassah, and then at Presidency College of Calcutta University; he served as the chairman of the Bogra municipality, chairman of the District Board. Member of the Waqf Board in Calcutta. Awarded the title of Khan Bahadur by the British (later relinquished to protest against The British rule). In 1937, he was elected to the legislature of undivided Bengal in Calcutta from the Muslim League. Became parliamentary secretary to the chief minister to Sir Nizamuddin of Dhaka (link here). Served as minister of health, minister of finance and minister of local self-government in the cabinet of chief minister of Bengal, Hussein Suhrawardy. Elected to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan from Bogra in 1947. Became the first High Commissioner of Pakistan in Canada in July 1949 and then, the Ambassador to the United States. Attended the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952. Became Prime Minister of Pakistan in April 1953, resigned under Sahibzada Major General Iskandar Mirza. Served as ambassador to Japan in Tokyo, Member and later Chairman of U.N.C.U.R.K., the United Nations Committee for the Re-unification and Rehabilitation of Korea. Elected by a landslide and preceded to Islamabad in the 1962 elections under General Ayub Khan under whom he served as de facto Chief Minister of East Pakistan, the leader of the house in the national assembly, then the minister for external affairs and commonwealth relations; married Begum Hamida Mohammed Ali, an elected member of the national assembly of Pakistan, and had issue. He died in January 1963.

  • Nawabzada Syed Hamde Ali

• The Honourable Syeda Ashiqua Akbar, Zamindarani of Bogra-Dhanbari (see above)