Ayşe Nihal Hanım

Ayşe Nihal Hanım, whose date of birth has not been identified, was the daughter of Hasan Sırrı Bey, Director General of the Customs Administration. Hasan Sırrı Bey was trained at the Mülkiye and became one of the late Ottoman bureaucrats and authors known for his work as translator at Yıldız Palace, his offices around the Imperial Privy Chamber and the Şûrâ-yı Devlet, his service in the Customs Administration and his teaching at the Law School. He also has a place in our literary history through his translations of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Sehv-i Mudhik.

Ayşe Nihal Hanım was the elder sister of Nahid Sırrı Örik, one of the important writers of Republican Turkish literature. In Nahid Sırrı Örik’s family memories, the loss of his sister Ayşe Nihal Hanım, who married at an early age and died shortly afterward, appears as one of the family sorrows that left a mark on his childhood and youth.

Ayşe Nihal Hanım married Osman Nuri Bey, but only a month and a half after her marriage she fell seriously ill and died young. The elegy on her gravestone reflects the deep grief she left on her family and close circle.

Ayşe Nihal Hanım died in Rabi‘ al-akhir 1330, corresponding to 1912, and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.