Mahmud Mes'ud Paşa
Profile summary
Highlights
Born in Amasya in 1820, Mahmud Mes‘ud Paşa belonged to the first generation of staff officers trained by the Military Academy. He graduated first in the General Staff class at the Academy and later taught mathematics at the same school for 14 years.
Mahmud Mes‘ud Paşa also served in the administration of the Military Academy and was one of the prominent military education administrators of the period when the Harbiye building in Pangaltı was completed during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz.
In 1279 he was appointed Chief of the General Staff and served for many years in the central staff organization of the Ottoman army. The construction of the Dâire-i Umûr-ı Askeriyye, located around today’s main gate of Istanbul University, was also carried out by him.
One of the noteworthy aspects of Mahmud Mes‘ud Paşa is his Muâhedât Mecmuası, a collection of treaties. This work, which brought together the treaties made by the Ottoman Empire with foreign states, was prepared so that state officials could more easily access treaty provisions.
In the process leading to the proclamation of the First Constitutional Period, Mahmud Mes‘ud Paşa’s name also appears around the preparations for the Kanûn-ı Esâsî. In his later years, with the rank of müşir, or marshal, he served as President of the Muhakemat Department of the Bâb-ı Seraskerî. While heading this office responsible for military judicial and trial affairs, he also served as President of the Meclis-i Âlî-i Rüesâ.
Alongside his military identity, Mahmud Mes‘ud Paşa also stood out as a mathematician. As Bursalı Tahir Bey relates in his memoirs, he sent some of the mathematical problems he prepared to Europe, where they were received with appreciation by European mathematicians.
Mahmud Mes‘ud Paşa died on 9 February 1891 at the age of seventy and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.
Epitaph
He is the Eternal. This is the grave of Mahmud Mesud Paşa, one of the leading marshals and President of the General Staff Judicial Proceedings Department. A Fatiha for his soul. 8 February 1891. Written by the calligrapher Aziz Efendi.
The person buried here is Marshal Mahmud Mesud Paşa, President of the General Staff Courts. He graduated in 1846 as first of the first staff class produced by the Military Academy. He remained at the school as an instructor and in 1862 became head of the staff officers. He served in that presidency until 1877. The buildings that still exist were built by the named paşa. In November 1884 he was appointed to the presidency of the courts with the rank of marshal, and until his death he also presided over the Meclis-i Âlî-i Rüesa. On the night of 9 February 1891, at the age of seventy, he left this mortal world and went to the realm of Paradise. Because he was very courteous and of fine character, he was loved from the heart by all soldiers. As he was worthy of respect among people in this world, may he, God willing, be deemed worthy of forgiveness in eternity.
A Fatiha for his/her soul