A Janissary in America: The Extraordinary Story of Ibrahim Ben Ali

Nearly two years prior to Yusuf Agah Efendi's appointment as the first permanent Ottoman ambassador to England (1793-1797), another Ottoman individual was granted an audience with King George III, albeit under vastly different circumstances. In 1791, this 34-35-year-old man arrived in Liverpool, having escaped from the Ottoman Empire after enduring great hardship and seeking refuge in Great Britain. He subsequently relocated to Dublin. Unable to speak English, he sought individuals who could communicate in Arabic or Spanish and was referred to Adam Clarke (1762-1832). Through Clarke, he was baptized and eventually emigrated to America, where he married Susan Colvin, a member of a prominent New York family. The couple had a son and a daughter, who was just three weeks old when he passed away. He succumbed to illness in Baltimore, where he had been practicing medicine, in 1800, thousands of miles from his homeland.