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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [318r] (638/1814)
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 SHAH—ROYAL FAMILY—MINISTERS
411
'\ - -
t
I
A
also names the 5,000 descendants, but as existing at an epoch
fifty years later (which has an air of greater probability); she
reduces the wives to 700, but increases the children to 600.
Rawlinson represents 3,000 direct descendants as existing at the
time of his death. The two historians of modern Persia likewise
fail to agree ; for while Watson mentions 159 children, Markham
allows for 300 wives, 150 sons, and 20 daughters. The estimate
which appears in the Nasekh-et-Tavarikh, a great modern Persian
historical work, fixes the number of Path All’s wives as over
1,000, and of his offspring as 260, 110 of whom survived their
father. 1 Hence the familiar Persian proverb c Camels, fleas, and
princes exist everywhere.’ The talent ot paternity was by no means
exhausted in the next generation, for several of Path All’s sons
could boast of 40 or 50 male offspring ; and one of their number—
Sheikh Ali Mirza—used to ride abroad with a bodyguard of 60 of
his own sons. No royal family has ever afforded a more exemplary
illustration of the Scriptural assurance, 4 Instead of thy fathers thou
shalt have (A. V. shall be thy) children, whom thou mayest make
princes in all lands; ’ 2 for there was scarcely a governorship or a
post of emolument in Persia that was not filled by one of this
beehive of princelings; and to this day the myriad brood of
Shahzadehs, or descendants of a king, is a perfect curse to the
country, although many of these luckless scions of royalty, who
consume a large portion of the revenue in annual allowances and
pensions, now occupy Very inferior positions as telegraph clerks,
secretaries, &c. Praser drew a vivid picture of the misery entailed
upon the country fifty years ago by this 4 race of royal drones,’ who
filled the governing posts not merely of every province, but of
every beluk or district, city, and town; each of whom kept up a
court, and a huge harem, and who preyed upon the country like a
swarm of locusts. 3
In contrast to these surprising totals, it is with an air of relief
that we learn that the reigning Shah has only had a family of
about 40 children, of whom half are ^till living, viz., 9 sons, and
1 None of these figures can be compared with those of Augustus the Strong,
Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, who left a child for every day in the
year. Either of these monarchs might well have spoken in the language of our
own Charles II., who, when addressed by an effusive courtier as the Father of his
People, replied, ‘ Well, say of a considerable proportion of them ! ’
2 Psalm xlv. 16. Compare what is said of Rehoboam in 2 Chron. xi. 23.
3 A Winter's Journey, vol. i. p. 400.
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 [318r] (638/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00002d> [accessed 13 June 2026]
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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