List of families of Lahore

The city of Lahore, now in Pakistan, has had many notable families in its history, who have contributed significantly to politics, society, the creative arts, sports and other fields. Notable individuals are listed elsewhere.

List

• The Fakir Khana Family, who own and run the famous Fakir Khana Museum in the Old City.

• The Hakim Khana Family which has produced Hakim Ahmad Shuja, the writer and poet who chronicled the life of the Bhati Gate area of Old Lahore, and his son Anwar Kamal Pasha, the noted early film director of Pakistan who married the actress Shamim Bano. American feminist Islamic scholar Dr Riffat Hassan, Pakistani jurist and legal expert Syed Afzal Haider, Pakistan Television Corporation's former director-producer Yawar Hayat Khan and renowned Pakistani poet and scholar Omer Tarin are also related from their maternal side to this family.

• * The family of Masih ul Mulk Hakim Ajmal Khan renowned physician, healer, philanthropist and an advocate of social harmony. He belonged to Khandan e Sharifi who were Royal Physicians at the Mughal Court.

• The Syed Maratib Ali Family,^[1] of businessmen, diplomats and philanthropists, including Syed Amjad Ali, Syed Babar Ali, Syed Wajid Ali and others. Founders, among other things, of the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

• The Ansari family, of Wazir Khan^[2] the Mughal minister who made the famous Wazir Khan Mosque.

• The famous Arain Mian Family Baghbanpura, Lahore, traditional custodians of the famed Shalimar Gardens, which produced many important figures from Mughal to British times.

• The Chughtai Mughal family of exquisite craftsmen, who have long lived in the Old/Walled City of Lahore and gave the world a painter and artist of the calibre of Abdur Rahman Chughtai.

• The Qizilbash family, of Nawab Fateh Ali Khan Qizilbash, Nawab Muzaffar Ali Khan Qizilbash and others, including Shahtaj Qizilbash in more recent times.

• The "Sheikh family" of one of the great philanthropists and a saint of the pre-partition times, Maulvi Sultan Muhammad (alias Notan Wala Baba) and his nephew- a well-known publisher (late)Sheikh Muhammad Bashir (Sheikh Muhammad Bashir and Sons Urdu Bazar Lahore).

• The very notable Shaikh/Qadir family, of Sir Abdul Qadir and his son, Justice Manzur Qadir.

• The Mian (Barood Khana) family,.^[3] The Kashmiri family owners of the Haveli Barood Khana. Including former Lord Mayor of Lahore Mian Amiruddin, his brother ex-Governor Mian Aminuddin and Lahore's very popular socialite and cultural figure, Mian Yousuf Salahuddin.

• The Majithia Sardars, the family of the valiant Sikh Khalsa Army general Sardar Lehna Singh, whose son Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia was later a big banker/financier of Lahore and a social reformer, establishing and donating generously to such projects as the Dayal Singh College, Lahore and the Dyal Singh Memorial Public Library, and who was a disciple of Raja Rammohun Roy and follower of the Brahmo Samaj.

• The Mangtanwala/Doulat Ram Family, which produced the famous engineer and philanthropist, Sir Ganga Ram—designer of the General Post Office, Lahore, the present Lahore Museum,^[4] Aitchison College, the present National College of Arts and others; and he also established the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, as a charitable cause.

• Famous Kashmiri families of three Khwajgaan, Khan Bahadur Khwaja Rahim Bakhsh, Khwaja Karim Bakhsh and Khwaja Amir Bakhsh. They resided in their famous house, Lily Lodge in Bhatti Gate. Renowned Lawyer Khwaja Ferozuddin Ahmad, Bar-at-Law, his sons legendary Composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, legendary English journalist and Chief Editor of The Pakistan Times Khwaja M.Asif, legendary lawyer Khwaja Sultan Ahmad and Khwaja M.Afzal, lawyer Khwaja Haris Ahmed, English Poet Khwaja Waqas Ahmad.

• The Sialkoti Kashmiri family of Pakistan's national poet, Allama Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal, and his son former Justice Javid Iqbal.

• The Faiz-Hashmi family, to which belong such celebrities as poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Alys Faiz, Salima Hashmi, Shoaib Hashmi and Adeel Hashmi.

• The Zoroastrian Bhandara Family, originally from village Bhandara in Maharashtra, India, and owners of the Murree Brewery, Pakistan, including the late Peshton Bhandara, Minocher Bhandara, Isphanyar Bhandara and the renowned Pakistani novelist Bapsi Sidhwa (née Bhandara).

• The Najmuddin family of prominent Pakistani Christian educationalists, who run the famous Joan McDonald School in Lahore and Islamabad, and a lady from which family was one of the early principals/administrators of the Kinnaird College.

• The Kapur Family, including Indian filmmaker J.K. Kapur and Shekhar Kapur, acclaimed Indian film director and producer.

• The Saigol Family of businessmen and industrialists, owners of the Saigol Group.

• The Sharif family of businessmen-politicians, who own and run the Sharif Group and Ittefaq Group.

• The Kardar Arain family which produced the actor and director Abdur Rashid Kardar and the cricketer Abdul Hafeez Kardar.

• The Mian Saeed Arain family which also produced notable cricketers Muhammad Saeed and Yawar Saeed, also related to cricketer Fazal Mahmood.

• Members of the famed musical Patiala gharana, some of whom such as Ustads Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amanat Ali Khan, Asad Amanat Ali Khan, Fateh Ali Khan, Hamid Ali Khan and others, have long graced this city with their classical virtuosity.

• The Butt Kashmiri family of Pehlwans, famed for their Pehlwani wrestling skills, which includes The Great Gama, Zubair alias Jhara and others; originally from Amritsar, Punjab, British India.

• The Kashmiri Muslim Manto family, migrants from Ludhiana, of the writer Saadat Hasan Manto, and also his niece the historian Ayesha Jalal.

• The Cornelius family, Christian settlers originally from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, British India, the most famous member of which was Justice Alvin Robert Cornelius.

• The Nevile family, once residents of Lahore who migrated to India, and one of whom is the well-known Indian author, scholar and expert on Lahore's pre-1947 history, Pran Nevile, whose book 'Lahore – A Sentimental Journey' (1992) is a sympathetic and loving memoir to his ancestral home.

• The Syed Kazim family, which includes well-known lawyer Syed Raza Kazim and Juggan Kazim, actress.

• The 'Sheikh' family of Kucha Chabaksawaran Mochi Gate, produced Editor of 'The Civil and Military Gazette' and 'The Pakistan Times' Hamid Sheikh and his son daily 'Dawn' columnist Majid Sheikh.

• The Mian Family in Salamat Pura . Mian M Nafees Bashir, grand son of Mian Ghulam Muhammad noted in Medical and Banking industries along with Business.

• The Mir Kashmiri family of popular columnist and journalist 'Zeno' (Safdar Mir) and actor Asif Raza Mir.

• The Roman Catholic Chaudhrys who came from the Salt Range area of the Punjab and settled in Lahore, where Elmer Chaudhry remained the chief photographer of The Times, and his son Cecil Chaudhry was an officer of the Pakistan Air Force, and later a distinguished educational administrator.

• The Taseer family of former governor of the Punjab, Salman Taseer.

• The Mufti family headed by Azhaz ud din Mufti, which was prominent in business and has a street named after them.

See also

• Lahore
• Punjab region
• Punjabi people
• History of Punjab

References

Further reading

• Griffin and Massey, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab, revided edition 1910-11.
• WG Osborne, The Court and Camp of Runjeet Singh, London, 1846.
• Lady Emily Eden, Up the Country, new edition, London, 1983.
• Hakim Ahmad Shuja, Lahore ka Chelsea (Urdu), Lahore, 1969.
• Ian Talbot, Divided Cities: Lahore and Amritsar:1947-1957, Karachi, 2005 edition.
• FS Aijazuddin, Lahore: Illustrated Views of the 19th Century, Lahore, n.d.
• WJ Glover, Making Lahore Modern: Constructing and Imagining a Colonial City, Karachi, 2011.
• B. Gascoine, The Great Mughals, London, 1971.
• M. Athar Tahir, Punjab Portraits, Lahore, 1992.