Juniors and Seniors

 Whilst going through the many Newspapers and publications of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries I have begun to notice that not only does the spelling of Alarakia differ in many ways, some individual articles are guilty of that trait when referring more than once to the same person. Furthermore I have noticed names like Allarakiabhoy, Mohamedbuoy and Nanjeebhouy along with names such as Peer Mohamed and Peerbhoy  and began to wonder where any such names might fit in the Alarakia family.

As best as I can determine use of the name Peer in South Asian cultures is similar to our use of the term  'senior' whilst the word 'bhoy' apparently is the 'Parsi' equivalent of the Indian 'bhai' for brother. So I was thinking are names such as Allarakhiabhoy and Peerbhoy a way of calling someone junior such as Nanjeebhoy Sazon* being the younger brother to Nanjee Sazon?. Like wise someone with the name Peer Mohamed being the 'senior' or elder of a family or clan.

* This might be a misspelling but he was listed as such and a HK resident  in  The China Directory 1862.

All of which brings me to a certain Allarakhia Peerbhoy who according to the 'Madras Weekly Mail page 25 dated 0.7.1879' appeared in the High Court charged along with another of forgery and banking fraud. Found guilty he was 'Transported for life' although it does not state to where he was banished.

During the trial it was stated that Peerbhoy had previously whilst in London , passed himself off as 'His Excellency' and who was the promoter of the notorious 'London and Bombay Bank' during another scandal. (naughty chap methinks).He obviously thought highly of himself and obviously senior to others. Well in this case he was because the other defendant in this case only got transported for ten years. I bet he was subsequently more careful of what he wished for.

Anyway this has certainly made a hard job harder trying to sort out all the names and different spellings whilst trying to determine who is brother to who etc. Onwards we go!

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