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British Travellers to Iran 1890S-1920S

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British Travellers to Iran 1890S-1920S Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia Corso di laurea magistrale (ordinamento ex D.M. 270/2004) in Lingue e Letterature Europee, Americane e Postcoloniali Tesi di laurea magistrale “A Land of Dust and Stones”: British Travellers to Iran 1890s-1920s Relatore Prof.ssa Emma Sdegno Correlatore Prof.ssa Jeanne Frances Clegg Laureanda Serena Vianello 822416 Anno accademico 2012/2013 “It would seem, however, that Persia is a country made for wandering onward; there is so much room, and no boundaries anywhere, and time is marked only by the sun. Nor is it only in the open country that one wanders, but in the bazaars too […]” Vita Sackville-West, Passenger to Teheran, p.91. 1 Contents List of illustrations and photographs……………………………….. p.3 List of maps…………………………………………………………. p.5 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………. p.6 2. Chap.1. British travellers and travel writing between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a. Innovations, expansion and the Middle East………………….. p.11 b. Travelogues, Orientalism and Persia………………………….. p.14 3. Chap.2. Persia and the British Empire: politics and travel a. Nineteenth and twentieth centuries: relations between Great Britain and Persia……………………………………………... p.18 b. British travellers to Persia in the nineteenth century: landmarks and recurrent topics……………………………....... p.24 4. Chap.3. British travellers in Persia, 1890s-1920s a. Women travelling for pleasure: Gertrude Bell’s travels in Persia in the 1890s…………………………………………….. p.38 b. An eminent diplomat-traveller: Sir Percy Sykes……………… p.61 c. Missionaries and doctors in Persia: Mr and Mrs Hume- Griffith………………………………………………………… p.78 d. Wives of ministers and diplomats: Vita Sackville-West……… p.94 5. Conclusion………………………………………………………….. p.105 Bibliography………………………………………………………... p.112 Maps………………………………………………………………... p.119 2 List of illustrations and photographs - An early morning start by carriage on the road to Teheran, from E.C. Williams, Across Persia, p.298…………………………………………….. front page - Henry Layard in Bakhtiari dress, from H.A. Layard, Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana and Babylonia, frontispiece………………………………. p.29 - The Karun River, from I. Bishop, Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, p.351………………………………………………………………………... p.41 - The British Legation, Teheran, from S. Townley, Indiscretions of Lady Susan, p.240………………………………………………………………... p.43 - Elburz Mountains and Mount Damavand in the distance, from Sir P. Molesworth Sykes, A History of Persia, vol.1, p.116……………………… p.48 - A Persian garden, from E. Sykes, Through Persia on a Side-Saddle, p.349……………………………………………………………………….. p.53 - Nomad women, from E. Sykes, Through Persia on a Side-Saddle, p.155………………………………………………………………………... p.60 - Sir Percy Sykes with Prince Farman Farma, from A. Wynn, Persia in the Great Game, pic.32………………………………………………………… p.67 - Makran scenery, from Sir P. Molesworth Sykes, Ten Thousand Miles in Persia, p.310……………………………………………………………….. p.71 - The Lut, from Sir P. Molesworth Sykes, Ten Thousand Miles in Persia, p.34…………………………………………………………………………. p.76 - Mr and Mrs Hume-Griffith in Bakhtian costume, from M. Hume-Griffith, Behind the Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia, frontispiece……………….. p.84 - A ward in the Julfa hospital, Isfahan, from M. Hume-Griffith, Behind the 3 Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia, p.148…………………………………... p.88 - Persian women in outdoor dress, from E. Sykes, Through Persia on a Side-Saddle, p.40…………………………………………………………… p.93 - Friends in Isfahan, captioned by Vita, from V. Sackville-West, Passenger to Teheran, p.113…………………………………………………………... p.94 - Vita Sackville-West across the Bakhtiari Country, from V. Sackville-West, Twelve Days in Persia, pic.9,22…………………………………………… p.99 4 List of maps - Map.1: Persia in the 1890s, from E.G. Browne, A Year amongst the Persians…………………………………………………………………… p.119 - Map.2: Iran today, from Carpatys website………………………………... p.120 5 Introduction From the beginning of the nineteenth century until the first decades of the twentieth, Great Britain was characterized by a wave of social, economic and political frenzy, which contributed to its hegemonic imperialistic role in the world’s scene.1 This rapid expansion obviously resulted in an increase of British contacts with other territories, either political powers, such as Russia or France, or countries which were under the influence of the British Empire.2 Consequently, these increasingly close connections, together with nineteenth-century transport innovations, enlarged the number of people travelling to more or less far-away countries for diplomatic and political reasons, or just for cultural interests and pleasure.3 Eastern countries were a particularly beaten destination, especially India, which was a colony of great importance for the British, and the territories to the west of the Indian border, which were strategically significant as defensive buffers for India.4 Besides these political motives, British travellers were also fascinated by the culture of these Oriental countries, in particular Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Iran and Arabia, which, in the British mind, were associated with stereotypes derived from the Arabian Nights.5 In this dissertation, I aim at providing an overview of the intertwinement of political, cultural and Orientalist motives in British travel and travel writing in the Middle East between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focussing on a country that, more than others, was at the centre of this phenomenon, that is to say Iran, or Persia, as it was called at that time. In the first chapter, I deal with the main features of nineteenth- and twentieth- century British travel and travel writing. Firstly, I consider the innovations which changed the British way of travelling and the significance of the Middle East as a destination for travellers. 1 T. Youngs, Travel Writing in the Nineteenth Century: Filling the Blank Spaces, London, Anthem Press, 2006, pp.7-8. 2 Ibid. 3 D. Wright, The English amongst the Persians: during the Qajar Period, Heinemann, 1977, p.149. 4 G. Nash, “Politics, Aesthetics and Quest in British Travel Writing in the Middle East” in Youngs, op.cit., p.60. 5 G. Guadalupi, Orienti. Viaggiatori scrittori dell’Ottocento, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1989, p.8. 6 Secondly, I take into account how British travel writing developed in the nineteenth century and how it was imbued with Orientalist attitudes when referred to the Middle East. In the second chapter, I focus on Persia and its controversial connections with the British Empire. Firstly, I deal with the main events that characterised Anglo-Persian political relations between the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, emphasizing British interference into Persian affairs in this crucial period, which saw the passage from the ancient Qajar dynasty to the newly born Pahlavi dynasty. Secondly, I take into account the travel books of some of the most significant British travellers who visited Persia in the nineteenth century and became landmarks for the following travellers, that is to say James Morier, James Fraser, Henry Rawlinson, Henry Layard, Edward Browne and Lord Curzon. Through the experience of these travellers it is possible to detect some of the main features that characterized nineteenth- and twentieth-century British travel writing in Persia, such as the importance of nature, exoticism and cultural clash. These two first chapters function as a background for the third, and last, chapter, where I focus on British travellers who visited Persia between the 1890s and the 1920s, and on the analysis of their travel books, on the purpose of retracing the aforementioned characteristics or other recurrent topics as well as unconventional perspectives. As has been explained, the nineteenth century was characterized by increasingly considerable connections between Iran and the British Empire, which persisted, despite some interruptions due to temporary hostilities,6 until the first decades of the twentieth century, and became gradually more complicated. At the time, Persia maintained political relations with other foreign powers, particularly Russia and France, but Great Britain managed to become the most influential one, organizing an extensive network of socio-political interventions that ranged from the establishment of innovative devices, like the electric telegraph, to the intensification 6 G.N. Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1892, vol.1, p.7. 7 of diplomatic action.7 The period between the 1890s and the 1920s was particularly intense, since it was characterized by an increasing British influence into Persian affairs and by crucial events, such as a mass demonstration in 1890, a revolution in 1906 and a coup in 1921, which transformed Persia and progressively restructured its relations with the British Empire.8 Therefore, it is interesting to examine this decisive period through the words of British travellers, in order to realize how Persia changed, but, most of all, how British travellers’ gaze on Persia and their way of travelling developed over these decades between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. The third chapter is divided into four sections according to two principles. First of all, it is chronologically structured, in order to portray how travel and travellers changed along the decades between the 1890s and the 1920s, in reference to travellers’ attitudes, means of transport, tracks, and Persian society. Secondly, I attempt to provide an overview of the different types of British citizens who
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