Emine Hayriye Hanım

Emine Hayriye Hanım belonged to a family circle connected with the central bureaucracy and the learned establishment. Her brother Nasır Bey was a retired beylikçi. She was the wife of Hacı Ahmed Tevhid Efendi, who served as Minister of the Imperial Pious Foundations.

Ahmed Tevhid Efendi was born in Istanbul in 1807 and studied with Kethüdâzâde Ârif Efendi. He taught at the Mekteb-i İrfâniye and in the circle of the Mûsikâ-i Hümâyun, served in the Bosnia mevleviyet, became mufti of the Military Council, sat on the Meclis-i Vâlâ, and rose to the ranks of Anatolian and Rumelian Kazasker. In 1867 he was appointed Minister of the Imperial Pious Foundations and died two years later.

Ahmed Tevhid Efendi was known not only as a statesman but also as a man of learning in poetry, prose and the sciences. He gave lessons at his mansion, and this intellectual household formed the environment in which Emine Hayriye Hanım lived.

Emine Hayriye Hanım died on 5 Shawwal 1336, corresponding to 14 July 1918, and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery. Her gravestone was written by the calligrapher Kâmil Akdik.