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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [423v] (849/1814)
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.
A
598 PERSIA
or tribes, the selection of the individual and the command of the
whole being left to the chief or governor of the area concerned.
Regular Some districts, accordingly, supply far more than their due
infantry quota, others much less. There is great lamentation
when the order for a levy of recruits comes round, the lot of the
Persian serbaz being so supremely unattractive that few would
voluntarily espouse it. As a rule the villagers settle among
themselves the choice of recruits, clubbing together in order to pay
an allowance to the courageous individual (or to his family in his
absence) who is willing to go. This informal payment is known
as khaneh-wari (i.e. home pay), and varies from 3 to 20
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
a
year, the average being 8 to 10
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
, or about 31. 10s.; but the
soldier cannot count upon it with certainty, and in many cases it
is not paid at all. Service is for life, unless the soldier can scrape
together sufficient money to buy a discharge from his colonel, or
can bribe a substitute to take his place; and the ranks contain, on
the one hand, beardless boys of fifteen or sixteen, and, on the other,
many greyheaded and toothless old dotards who can scarcely
hobble through the movements on parade. Christians, Jews, and
Parsis, as well as the cultivators of crownlands, are exempt from
military service. Theoretically, out of every three years the
infantry soldier is supposed to spend two on service and one at
home. But if this were so, a far larger number would be found
with the colours than is actually the case. As a matter of fact,
considerably more than half the regiments are disbanded; and of
those that are mobilised, few display more than two thirds of
their nominal strength. In the case of each infantry regiment the
latter consists of ten companies, each of 100 officers and men—i.e.
a total of 1,000. The actual strength is ten companies, with an
average of seventy each, or a total of 700. The complement of
officers is as follows :—One commanding officer (sometimes
general, sometimes serhang = colonel), two majors (yawar), one
adjutant (ajudari), ten captains (sultan), ten first lieutenants
(naib-i-aival), ten second lieutenants (naib-i-doyum), ten ensigns
(begzadehs), one quartermaster (veMl-bashi —a captain or lieutenant),
one bandmaster (a captain or lieutenant). The non-commissioned
officers of each company are : one sergeant, four corporals (sar)uki),
and eight chiefs of tens (on-bashi).
The following is a table of the nominal pay of the Persian
infantry. While on active service all three allowances are supposed
e* ed ’. „ aS l
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llll
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# el" 1 of
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made on
private •
Corporal
Se< M ^
Sergeant-W 1
Ensign • .
Second Lieutenan
jjrst Lieutenant
Captain. •
Adjutant
| Standard Bearer
' Second Major
! First Major .
i Colonel (Serhang
: 3rd Class Sertip
1 2nd Class Sertip
1st Class Sertip
Outside the capi
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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 [423v] (849/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000038> [accessed 9 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