Abdullah bin Isa Al Khalifa

Abdullah bin Isa Al Khalifa (1883–1966) was a Bahraini politician, minister and judge: a son of the ruler Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa and a younger brother of the ruler Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. He presided over Bahrain's first municipal council, founded its first girls' school, became its first Minister of Education and ended as chief judge of its Court of Cassation. He is not Hamad's son of the same name (1915–1973). ^{1 2}

Abdullah was born in Manama in 1883 — the Arabic biography's text places his birth at the Diwan fort in Manama, while its lead gives Al-Muharraq, a variant the data record preserves — the son of Sheikh Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa, and was raised in his father's house with private tutors, growing up around the poets and orators who frequented his father's council. When the municipality of Manama was founded in 1919, he became the first president of its municipal council, chairing it until 1929, and he also chaired the board of the country's first regular school, founded the same year. ^{1 3}

Against the opposition of some conservatives he established the first school for girls in 1926, helped send the first government scholarship students abroad in 1928, and in 1931 was appointed the first Minister of Education, with wide powers over schooling. In 1938 he was appointed in addition chief judge of the Court of Cassation, sitting with his nephew, the future ruler Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and the adviser Charles Belgrave. He later replaced his brother Mohammed as mayor of Muharraq, widening its streets and improving its markets. An avid falconer, he made many hunting trips into Saudi Arabia. He died on 23 April 1966. His brotherhood with Hamad bin Isa is recorded once, in his elder brother's data record; his father has no record in this museum, so no filiation edge is written from this one. ^{1 2}

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