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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [882r] (1780/1814)
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.
moment, down to 1860, when Sir H. Rawlinson resigned his pos
BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA 62
M
as Minister at Teheran upon the final restoration of that office to
the department at Whitehall. Throughout the century, indeed,
English statesmanship has been quite unable to make up its mind
as to which was the better solution, and has chopped and changed
about in this respect quite as irrationally as in almost every other
branch of Persian politics. The East India Company, as I have
said, were first in the field; but they were soon ousted by the
Crown. In 1823, however, Anglo-Persian relations were restored
to the Indian Government, and an envoy of the Governor-General
took the place of a Plenipotentiary of the Sovereign. In 1834,
the process was again reversed. The see-saw continued until
1859, when, upon the government of the East India Company being
transferred to the Crown, the Teheran establishment was placed
under the Secretary of State for India, although the post of minis
ter remained a Crown appointment. In the following year the
Teheran Legation was restored to the Foreign Office, under whose
charge it has remained ever since. The question of a change has
been frequently mooted; and the House of Commons Committee,
appointed to inquire into the constitution of the Diplomatic and
Consular Services in 1870, reported as follows:—
That, while they have received conflicting evidence of the highest
authority, on either side of the question, your Committee on the whole
incline to the opinion that the Persian Mission should be placed under
the authority of the Secretary of State for India ; but that if the
responsible advisers of the Crown decide that such a change is not foi
the public interest, your Committee recommend that the members of
the Persian Mission generally should be selected by the Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs from Her Majesty’s Indian Service, and that
the present charge of 12,000^. a year on the Indian Revenues foi the
expense of such Mission should be diminished, so as to thiow a largei
proportion of the expense upon Imperial revenues.
Nevertheless this recommendation has never been acted upon.
The Teheran Legation retains its English, or rather European,
complexion and the 12,000h are still drawn from the Indian
Exchequer. There is undoubtedly a good deal to be said on eithei
side of the question. It seems fair that India, paying so laige a
contribution, should be allowed a somewhat larger control, the
more so as the remaining Anglo-Persian establishments at Bushire
1 Vide Sir H. Rawlinson, England and Russia in the East, pp. 98, 289.
TT S S
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 [882r] (1780/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000b5> [accessed 21 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