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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [418r] (838/1814)
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.
—
—
and two Horse Batteries. There are three
Russian captains and a dozen Russian under-
officers ; most of the 200 officers of the Brigade
are Persians; on the General’s Staff there is a
Chief who is a Persian, and an Armenian, and
both these officers were educated in Russia.
The Adjutant of the Brigade is also
Armenian.
The training and internal economy is all
lutely Russian, even the nniform. The men are
volunteers, and mostly long service men ; they
enter into no contract with the Government as
to their length of service, but can leave when
they like ; but there is a system somewhat
resembling our “ deferred pay,” as two months’
pay is cut and given to the man when he resigns.
The men are recruited but little from the Per
sians, but mostly consist of the Tartar, Turkoman
and Kurdish tribesmen in the neighbourhood of
the Northern Frontier ; they appear to be in every
way enormously superior to the Regular Army.
The headquarters of the Brigade are in Teheran,
where barracks of the usual Russian pattern
are provided ; but a considerable proportion is
always “ on commando ” doing a variety of
duties.* They are employed as escorts for Pro
vincial Governors, frontier guards, escorts for
bullion, which mostly belongs to foreign banks,
suppression of dacoity and rebellions, and guards
for the foreign Ambassadors. For two months
very year they go into camp and undergo a
eegular course of training. The connection of
the Brigade, actually and morally, with Russia,
is never lost sight of, and along with Russian
loans and roads and other things forms a link
which serves to bind Persia to that country.
Any one seeking for further enlightemqent
about the army of Persia may be recommended
to consult the first volume of Lord Curzon’s
work, which contains the only complete histori
cal account thereof. They will find there an
explanation of the efforts made by British officers
to rehabilitate Persian arms during the early
part of last century ; and also a prophetic
suggestion that “ it may well be that the nomad
tribes of the South, from the Persian Belnchis
on the east to the Iliat Bakhtiari and other Lurs
on the west, may one day stand in line with
British red-coats in the defence of their native
country.”
I
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 [418r] (838/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x00002d> [accessed 5 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 417r:418v
- Author
- Unknown
- Usage terms
- Public Domain