'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎583] (650/714)

THE ARMY
583
P ia in 1832-3; and in March 1834, six months before the
death of the old king, Fath Ali Shah, there arrived in Teheran a
we detachment of officers and sergeants from India, with ample
provision for every branch of the military service. Include
among the officers were the names of Sir Justin Sheil and Sir H.
Rawlinson (both of them afterwards Ministers to the Persian
Court) Colonel Farrant (afterwards Charge d'affaires), Colone
Passmore, in command. Colonel Stoddart (murdered in Bokhara
in 184^) and Colonel D'Arcy Todd, who was placed at the head of
the artillery. Colonel Sheil was sent to recruit a regiment among
the Shekaki tribe in Azerbaijan ; Major Rawlinson was given
the command of regiments drawn from the two famous Kurdish
tribes of Kalhur and Guran, and in 1836 marched with part
of the army of Bahman Mirza, Prince Governor A Prince of the Royal line who also acted as Governor of a large Iranian province during the Qājār period (1794-1925). of Kermanshah,
through Luristan and Khuzistan to Shushter. 1 Sir H Bethune
was now again in Persia, and, upon the death of the old king, was
placed in command of the army, which safely and expeditious y
conducted the new sovereign, Mohammed Shah, to the capital, and
seated him upon the throne. In the same year (1835) he crushed
the rebellion of the king's uncle, Husein Ah Mirza, the Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’).
Firma, at Shiraz. In the re -awakened burst of military activity, a
sum of 2, BOOL was granted to him for two years for the ^-esta
blishment of a foundry ; and he was authorised to lay out 400L m
the purchase of musical instruments! Two thousand rifles an
accoutrements and 500,000 flints were despatched from England
as presents for the Shah; and Lieutenant Wilbraham and eight
.sergeants of the Rifle Brigade came out m 1836 to instruct the
Persians in the use of the European arms. Such weie t re c ^ ra c
and the dimensions of the last serious attempt made by t le
Government to remodel the army of Persia. i i ft-
A very good account of the army at this period has een e
by Colonel Stuart, who came to Persia in 1835 as private secretary
; , to the British envoy, Sir H. Ellis.' The relics of old
Moham- and the introduction of new uniforms, the varying age
m<KiS1 " 1 ' and character of the weapons employed, and the hmm
combination of Eastern and Western ideas, lendeiedit a c '
peculiar institution. When the envoy reached Zmjan, he was
■ He wrote an aoecmnt of this march, and ot the conntry
'Notes on a March from Zohab to Khuzistan, in the.Jovrtia of t( '
(1839). 2 Journal of a Residence, $0., pp.