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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [154v] (311/1814)
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.
162
KALAT-I-NADIEI
Kurds are the men in whom the Shah might find excellent material
for an army, if he would but put down embezzlement with a strong-
hand and establish a competent system of supervision over all depart
ments and grades of his army. He allows from 10,000 to 15,000
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
per annum to the colonel of each regiment of infantry for its
pay, uniform, etc. Half of that sum, perhaps, is embezzled. The
paper strength of a regiment is 1,000 rank and file. The real strength
is, perhaps, 500. If the colonel is threatened with an inspection of
his regiment, he has previously arranged for temporarily placing the
required number of men in the ranks. This is known and tolerated
by the Shah and by his third son, Naib-us-Sultana, who is War
Minister, with the title of Amir-i-Kabir; and so long as it lasts the
Persian army will remain inefficient. The sons of men of rank in
Persia are promoted while still in their infancy or boyhood to the
grade of major or colonel. As is well known, the same thing went
on in Great Britain in the eighteenth century. “ The major crying
for his parritch ” is an echo from the Scotch nursery of that period.
Later on, perhaps, they attend L’Ecole d’etat Majeur in Teheran,
where they receive instruction in tactics, geometry, mathematics,
military drawing, the use of artillery, etc., and are then given the
command of a regiment. Such is the case of the Sartip Abdullah
Khan here (Kalat-i-Nadiri). His father before him was a soldier,
and, it appears, one of the most noted Persian generals during the
reigns of the present Shah and his predecessor Mohammed Shah.
He attained the rank of Amir-i-
Toman
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
(practically equivalent to a
general of division, but relatively greater in Persia), and to the title
of I’timad-ud-Daula. At the age of thirteen the son was granted the
rank of sarhang, or colonel, and later on attended the Staff College
at Teheran, where, he tells me, he highly distinguished himself. He
then obtained the command of the Fauj-i-fadawi, or Hamadani Regi
ment, which is composed mainly of peasantry from his own estates.
He is a Turk of the tribe of Karaguzlu. He has now—and he is still
a young man of thirty or so, I should say—attained the rank of
Sartip-i-Awwal, or first-class brigadier. Such is the career of a man
with interest. He now draws a salary of 4,000
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
(£1,333),
and an income of double that amount from his estates at Hamadan.
He was apparently born with the proverbial silver spoon. But for
a man without interest there is little hope of promotion. He may
attain the rank of Naib, Sultan, or Yawar (lieutenant, captain, or
major), and remain in that rank until he is placed on the shelf.
It was last year (1884) about this time, I am informed, that the Per
sian Commissioner for the settlement of the Russo-Persian frontier,
Sulaiman Khan, accompanied by his Russian confrere, arrived here.
The commandant, pursuant to the instructions given him by the
Shah, refused to let them enter the fortress. They were conse-
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 [154v] (311/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000076> [accessed 2 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
- 151r:157v
- Author
- Yate, Arthur Campbell
- Usage terms
- Public Domain