Mehdi Qoli Hedayat: A Conservative of the Late Qajar Era

Mehdi Qoli Hedayat, Mokhber al-Saltaneh, was born in 1863 into an aristocratic family in Tehran. He was the son of Ali Qoli Khan, Mokhber al-Dowleh, the pioneer in Iranian telegraphy, and the grandson of Reza Qoli Khan Hedayat, the famous historian and teacher of the Qajar period.

Mehdi Qoli went to school at age seven. At fourteen he was sent, in the company of his brother, Morteza Qoli (Sane ‘ al-Dowleh), to study in Germany. His stay lasted a little more than two months. He had intended to study medicine but returned home with his brother when their sister died. Feeling nostalgic for home, he did not heed his father's advice to stay and study. Later, reflecting on this decision, he said, "Alas, that if I had studied medicine I would be a free man and, now, I am bound, bound to a people...." Thus, Mehdi Qoli's education in Europe was limited to learning the German language and sightseeing in Germany and Switzerland.