M. Said (1832-1896)
1864 Colonel M. Said, Bey, Engineer, Turkish Service, 5 Lansdowne Place, Old Charlton, London S.E.[1]
1896 February 21st. Died.[2]
1896 Obituary [3]
MARSHAL M. SAID, Pacha, was born at Eghin in Asiatic Turkey, in 1832. He was only eight months old when his father, S. Mustafa Aga, died while he was governor of Ismid in 1833.
In 1847 he entered the Artillery and Civil Engineering College in Constantinople, and after completing his course of instruction there in 1853 he passed examinations, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, remaining in the college as assistant teacher. He was considered by Professor Sang of Edinburgh, then professor of mathematics in the college, as one of his most intelligent scholars.
After being promoted to the rank of lieutenant-major in 1854, he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he studied for five years, and passed well in his examinations, acquiring a thorough knowledge of English, and of natural science and mathematics.
Returning to Constantinople in January 1859, he was promoted to the rank of major in August 1861, and became a member of the Imperial naval staff. In the same month he was sent to the Herakli coal mines for surveying.
In 1863 he was sent to England by the ministry of artillery, as naval attaché to the Ottoman Embassy at the time when Musurus Paella was ambassador, to inspect the artillery purchased for the Turkish government.
Subsequently he was occupied with Mr. J. C. Frank Lee in improving the arsenal at Tophane, in which with the sanction of the war office they were assisted by the late Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Anderson of Woolwich Arsenal. Meanwhile he had been promoted in 1864 to be lieutenant-colonel and in 1865 to the rank of colonel.
In 1867 he was appointed a member of the Council of Marine, and became in 1868 vice-admiral and director of the Naval College, which he raised to the rank of European colleges by the introduction of judicious improvements.
Five years later he became a member of the commission for the construction of railways, under the Ministry of Public Works; and in 1875 was appointed director of the Technical Commission of the Ministry of Artillery.
In 1876, on the accession of the present Sultan, he was promoted to the rank of admiral and appointed adjutant-general of the Imperial Palace; and in the same year he became lieutenant of the Minister of Marine, and then Minister of Marine and Director of the Military College.
In 1877 he was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Imperial Palace; and in 1878 was appointed Governor-General of the province of Angora in Asiatic Turkey. After acting in a similar capacity in other districts he retired in 1887.
For his services he received the Order of the Medjidieh of the first class, and afterwards the Order of Imtiaz. He was the first native of Turkey to design a locomotive, and to give lessons in mechanical engineering and the higher branches of mathematics in the Naval College.
About a year before his death he had an attack of apoplexy, which deprived him of the use of his left side; another attack on 21st February 1896 proved fatal at the age of sixty-four.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1864.