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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [749r] (1514/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
THE
PERSIAN GULF
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
419
British 1 and Persians, after capturing the Portuguese castle on
Kishm, moved in conjunction against Ormuz. On February 9, the
Persians attacked and gained possession of the city, the Portu
guese retiring to the castle ; a regular siege followed and breach
ing works were pushed forward until, on April 22, the garrison
surrendered. The number of pieces of ordnance found in the
castle was variously returned as from 200 to 600. The Portuguese,
expelled from Ormuz, Kishm, and Gombrun, fell back upon
Muscat, and in 1625 concluded a treaty with Shah Abbas by which
they restored to him all his coast possessions, retaining only the
pearl banks at Bahrein, and a moiety of the customs of Kong, of
their
factory
An East India Company trading post.
at which place I have previously spoken. 2
The alliance between Persia and the East India Company had
no sooner succeeded in its object than the Persians began con-
Persian veniently to forget the terms of their bargain, which
malafides were ne ver carried out, and which were the cause of
disputes that were protracted for many years. 3 The English did
not get the castle ; they only got half the ordnance ; of the spoil
their share did not amount to more than 20,000?., of which 10,000?.
went to the purse of James I., and 10,000?. to the Duke of
Buckingham, 4 whilst their moiety of the customs of Gombrun
was never fairly paid, 5 and dwindled in a few years from 40,000 to
1,000
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
. As the factors plaintively remarked, ‘ Now we have
1 The British force consisted of five vessels (the ‘ London,’ ‘ Jonas,’ ‘ Whale,’
' Dolphin,’ and ‘ Lion ’) and four pinnaces (the ‘ Shilling,’ ‘ Rose,’ ‘ Robert,’ and
‘Richard’), under Captain Richard Blithe and Captain John Weddall. The Portu
guese fleet consisted of 5 galleons and 15 or 20 frigates; their admiral, Don Ruy
Frera d’Andrada, was taken prisoner at Kishm.
2 The privileged position of the Portuguese at Kong only continued as long as
-they had a fleet in the Gulf strong enough to compel vessels to frequent that port.
As their power declined, merchant vessels went elsewhere, and the Kong governor
refused to pay the stipulated share of the customs. The Portuguese sent a fleet,
and for a while the payment was compounded for 15,000 crowns a year. In 1711
it was stopped altogether.
3 State Papers, vol. iii. Nos. 330, 388, 687. As early as August 1623 the
factors presented a letter to Shah Abbas from James I., complaining of the mala
fides.
4 Assuming 100,000^. as the value of the various prizes taken by the forces of
the Company in the Indian waters, the King and Buckingham, as Lord High
Admiral, demanded one-tenth each {State Papers, East Indies, vol. iii. No. 303).
5 Mandelslo, who was at Bunder Abbas in 1638, says : ‘ The English should by
right receive one half of the customs, but they have hardly the tenth part allowed
them, nay, they are obliged to take that little which they have in commodities ’
^{Travels into the Indies, pp. 11-12).
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [749r] (1514/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000073> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain