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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
The coincidence of the appearance of two Circassian women as wives of ambassadors on the Anglo-Persian diplomatic and political stage has generated more than passing interest in academic and lay literature. Though the story of Sir Robert Sherley and Lady Teresia Sherley is better known in British circles, and has even generated renewed interest with two simultaneous exhibitions in 2009 in London, the story of Fath Ali Shah's Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Abol Hassan Khan, has not received sufficient attention, and has certainly not been fully explored in the context of the politics of Regency England. The present article revisits key moments of the life of the Sherleys and of Abol Hassan Khan and Delaram, his Circassian wife, but goes beyond the retelling of their journeys to focus on how the latter two's visit to England generated bawdy depictions in the popular press and became the vehicle for political satire quite unconnected to their persons.
This article is an expanded version of a paper presented at the seventh annual IQSA conference in Paris, France, in June 2007 on the subject of Travelers and Diplomats in the Qajar era, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Gardane Mission to Persia. Elements of this paper were also published under the title “The Story of the ‘Fair Circassian’ and Mirza Abol Hassan Khan Shirazi ‘Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary’ of Fath Ali Shah Qajar to the Court of St. James,” Qajar Studies, the Journal of the International Qajar Studies Association, 7 (2007): 60–77.
1 According to the racial theories of the originator of the concept of “human races,” Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840), first presented in his doctoral thesis De generis humani varietate nativa [On the Natural Varieties of Mankind] (Goettingen, 1776), the Caucasian or white race was found in its purest form in the Circassian people. The region referred to as Circassia was shown on maps of the time variously as bordering the northern shores of the Black Sea or as extending from the Black Sea all the way to the Caspian Sea. For the latter depiction of Circassia, see for instance Carte de la Turquie, de l'Arabie et de la Perse, by Guillaume de L'Isle, 1701, from his Atlas de Geographie (Paris, 1701), in Cyrus Alai, General Maps of Persia 1477–1925 (Leiden, 2005), 109, or alternately, Guillaume de L'Isle, Carte de Perse dressee pour l'usage du Roy (Paris, 1724), in Alai, General Maps of Persia, 112, showing Circassia as a small province only on the northern shore of the Black Sea.
2 On the question of the fascination with skin color see Andrea, Bernadette, “Lady Sherley: The First Persian in England?,” The Muslim World, 95, no. 2 (2005): 286 and 290CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 Andrea, “Lady Sherley: The First Persian in England,” 279–295; Davies, David William, Elizabethans Errant: The Strange Fortunes of Sir Thomas Shirley and His Three Sons (New York, 1967)Google Scholar; Wright, Denis, The Persians Amongst the English: Episodes in Anglo-Persian History (London, 1985)Google Scholar; Ghani, Cyrus, Shakespeare, Persia and the East (Washington, DC, 2008)Google Scholar.
4 The Sherley brothers, Thomas, Anthony and Robert were the sons of Thomas Sherley, a descendant of Hugh Sherley (Shirley), who had fought valiantly for England and fallen in battle in 1403 during the reign of Henry IV and is mentioned in Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part I, in Act 5, scene 4. Sir Denis Wright states that Sir Thomas Sherley “was a gentleman of some standing, having been Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex and Treasurer of War in the Low Countries when England and Spain were fighting each other there. He possessed a fine country seat, Wiston House, at Steyning in Sussex, and was well connected with Court circles” (Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 2). For a sketch of Wiston House see Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 2–3 insert. The Sherleys, both father and sons, lost much of their reputation and fortunes due to questionable dealings and allegiances. See Davies, Elizabethans Errant, passim, for a full account of their fortunes.
5 The story is actually more complicated than that. As Bernadette Andrea and others intimate, Elizabeth I wanted an alliance with the Ottoman Empire against Spain. It was the Sherleys who wanted the alliance to be with Persia against Spain instead, but since Persia was at war with the Ottomans this would put their policy at odds with that of Queen Elizabeth's. (That the Ottomans offered assistance to the Protestant rulers of Europe as they considered their rivalry to be with “Rome” and not with Christianity per se, is not a widely known fact. For a recent study of Ottoman–Protestant relations see Almond, Ian, Two Faiths, One Banner (London, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, especially 158-167, covering the period under discussion here.) Additionally, several sources, including Davies, argue that the Sherleys' mission to Persia was inspired by honor and patriotism to be sure, but also undertaken at the behest of the Earl of Essex (Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex) and not the Queen, the Earl having had designs of his own, and, who would shortly thereafter, in 1601, be executed for treason at the Tower of London. The charges of treason against him also had to do with the same matter the Sherleys (notably Sir Anthony) were suspected of, namely secret partisanship with the Catholics and by extension with Rome and Spain. The fact that they were Catholics themselves fanned these flames further. Finally, it is also instructive that Sir Anthony paid allegiance to King James VI, as did the Earl of Essex, and that King James, upon inheriting the throne of England as James I was highly displeased with the behavior of Sir Robert Sherley, when Sherley presented himself in Persian garb at Court, seeing it as a double betrayal. Once James became king of England, the Catholic/Protestant equation shifted and England's policies shifted accordingly. Regarding Sir Anthony as a suspected Catholic spy, see Davies, Elizabethans Errant, chapter VI. On the story of the Earl of Essex see, among others, Ghani, Shakespeare, Persia and the East, 67–75. On the question of Essex's involvement with the Sherleys and the rationale for their voyage, see also Ghani, Shakespeare, Persia and the East, 77–78. On the actual proposal made by the Sherleys to Shah Abbas, Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 110–113. Regarding the “Turban episode” of Robert Sherley, see Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 4, among others.
6 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 2. See also Ghani, Shakespeare, Persia and the East, 79–80.
7 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 3.
8 The question of Sir Robert Sherley's ambassadorship has been addressed by Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, and more thoroughly by Stevens, Roger, “Robert Sherley: The Unanswered Questions,” Iran, Journal of Persian Studies, 17 (1979): 115–125Google Scholar.
9 The matter of Anthony and Robert being military advisors to Shah Abbas has been debunked greatly by Savory, Roger, “The Shirley Myth,” Iran V (1967): 6–7Google Scholar; Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 108–110 and Ghani, Shakespeare, Persia and the East, 80–82.
10 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, refers to her as Teresa, more recent sources such as Irvin Cemil Schick, Cerkes Guzeli [Circassian Beauty] (Istanbul, 2004), and Ghani, Shakespeare, Persia and the East, 85 ff., refer to her as Teresia. The “Teresia–Teresa” confusion remains however. See catalogues of British Museum and Tate Gallery exhibitions (for full source citation see below, n. 15) with “Teresia” (British Museum exhibition catalogue, p. 57) and “Teresa” (Tate Gallery exhibition catalogue, p. 54). This despite the fact that her tombstone as quoted in the British Museum catalogue, p. 57, and reproduced in Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 174–175 insert, refers to her as “Theresia.” While reproducing the marble slab with the inscription, Davies continues to refer to her as “Countess Teresa Sherley” however, right below the reproduction of the marble plate itself and throughout!
11 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 3.
12 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 3–4 fn., relates that Robert Sherley had been knighted by Emperor Rudolf while in Prague on his circuitous way back from Persia to England, and was thus henceforth styled Sir Robert Sherley. Anthony Sherley not only received a knighthood from Emperor Rudolph but also received a knighthood from Henry of Navarre (Henry IV, King of France), a fact which, according to Wright, “infuriated his own sovereign, Queen Elizabeth I.” Unlike their father, and perhaps as a consequence of their foreign allegiances therefore, none of the Sherley brothers ever received an English knighthood. See Davies, Elizabethans Errant, 35–39, regarding Sir Anthony's knighthood. See also Ghani, Shakespeare, Persia and the East, 76–77, regarding Anthony's knighthood, and 86, regarding Robert's knighthood from Emperor Rudolph. The Queen's fury over the knighthood of Sir Anthony also had religious dimensions, as the knighthood was conferred to Sir Anthony by a king who, though formerly a Huguenot, had renounced Protestantism in favor of Roman Catholicism. England, then, was in direct rivalry with Spain, the leader of Catholic forces, and though England and France under Henry IV fought several wars against Spain, still the Catholic aspect of the equation prevailed in importance in the mind of the Queen of England.
13 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 2; see also Andrea, “Lady Sherley: The First Persian in England,” Davies, Elizabethans Errant, and Ghani, Shakespeare, Persia and the East, passim.
14 Nixon, Anthony, The Three English Brothers (London, 1607)Google Scholar, as quoted in Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 2.
15 Rather coincidental to the revising of this article, two exhibitions in London underscored well the point of the popularity of the Sherleys, then and now. They are “Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran,” at the British Museum (February to June 2009) and the almost simultaneous exhibition of the works of Van Dyck at the Tate Gallery (Tate Britain) entitled “Van Dyck and Britain” (February to May 2009). Reproductions of the famous Berkeley House and Petworth Castle portraits of the Sherleys can be seen in a variety of places, most prominently and currently in the exhibitions and the catalogues accompanying these respective exhibitions: Canby, Sheila R., Shah ‘Abbas The Remaking of Iran (London, 2009), 56-57Google Scholar (with smaller insets of the Van Dyck portraits juxtaposed next to each of the Berkeley House portraits); and Hearn, Karen, ed., Van Dyck and Britain (London, 2009), 52–55Google Scholar (with smaller Berkeley House portraits of the couple and working sketches by Van Dyck of both, inset on pp. 52 and 54 respectively). For interesting recent articles on these portraits see among others: Gordon, Stewart, “Suitable Luxury,” Saudi Aramco World, 59, no. 5 (September/October 2008)Google Scholar, http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200805/suitable.luxury.htm, on Ibn Battuta's travels. See also the review of the British Museum exhibition “Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran,” by Jones, Jonathan, “The 17th-Century Couple who Straddled the East and West,” Guardian of London, 16 February 2009Google Scholar, featuring the Berkeley House portraits of Robert and Teresia Sherley side by side as they are shown in the exhibition, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/feb/16/couple-shah-abbas-van-dyck.
The Petworth House portrait by Van Dyck of a seated Teresia Sherley exhibited at the Tate Britain, can also be seen in Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, p. 40. The Petworth House Van Dyck portrait of Robert Sherley can additionally be seen on the cover of Cyrus Ghani's book Shakespeare, Persia and the East. Black and white reproductions of both the anonymous portraits of Robert and Teresia (Berkeley Castle) and the Petworth House Van Dyck portraits are in Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, Plates 2 and 3, between pages 52 and 53, and in Davies, Elizabethans Errant, between pages 174 and 175 respectively.
16 Several prints of Sir Robert's portrait by Van Dyck as well as of the Berkeley Castle portraits also appear in subsequent print editions of Robert Sherley's own account of his travels and other works about his exploits. See for instance the engravings by Richard Cooper of Sir Robert and Teresia Sherley in The Three Brothers; or The Travels and Adventures of Sir Anthony, Sir Robert, & Sir Thomas Sherley (London, 1825), as reproduced and cited in Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, 42.
17 Conant, Martha Pike, for instance, in her book The Oriental Tale in England in the Eighteenth Century (New York, 1908), 96CrossRefGoogle Scholar fn. 1), mentions two plays from the late eighteenth century about the familiar theme of Circassians: Pratt, Samuel J., The Fair Circassian, a tragedy, 2nd ed. (London, 1781)Google Scholar and The Fair Circassian, “a dramatic performance by a gentleman-commoner of Oxford [Samuel Croxall]… Taken from the Song of Solomon.”
18 For the most complete account of the importance of these ambassadors to Persian foreign policy see Amini, Iradj, Napoleon and Persia: Franco-Persian Relations under the First Empire (Washington, DC, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
19 For sources in English on Mirza Abol Hassan Khan's life see among others: Margaret, Morris Cloake, ed. and trans., excerpts of Mirza Abol Hassan Khan's diary Heyrat naameh, A Persian at the Court of King George: 1809–1810: The Journal of Mirza Abul Hassan Khan (London, 1988)Google Scholar, Introduction by Denis Wright, 20 fn. 4; Fassa'i, Hassan, History of Persia Under Qajar Rule, trans. Busse, Heribert (New York, 1972), 128–129Google Scholar, and passim; Morier, James, A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor to Constantinople in the Year 1808 and 1809 (London, 1812), 220–223Google Scholar; Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, chap. 6, “Envoy Extraordinary,” 54; and “Meerza Abul Hassan,” The Penny Magazine, 3, no. 163 (London, 18 October 1834): 406–408Google Scholar and 3, no. 164 (25 October 1834): 413–415.
20 See Fassa'i, History of Persia Under Qajar Rule, 95–100. A moving account of the last days of Hajji Ebrahim Khan and his fate is given by Sir John Malcolm in his Sketches of Persia (London, 1845), 222–224. This little book deserves far more attention than James Morier's Hajji Baba as a study of Persia and the Persian character. It is a pity that it did not have more influence on Western—British in particular—writers, diplomats and politicians. This is true also of Sir John Malcolm's The History of Persia (London, 1829), which is a far superior and sympathetic study than the imperious and spiteful Persia and the Persian Question (London, 1892) by George N. Curzon.
21 There are several famous paintings of Abol Hassan Khan. The most famous is the full-length painting by Sir William Beechey (1753–1839), now in the India Office, of Abol Hassan Khan standing with his hand on a copy of the 1809 Preliminary Treaty of Friendship he was sent to sign between England and Persia. Another, by the same painter, is of Abol Hassan Khan in profile kneeling in Persian fashion holding a book which was sold in 2006 at Christie's of London and acquired by the Compton Verney Galleries, Compton House, Warwickshire, England, where it has been on display since 2007. A third is at the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A bequest to the museum in 1964 by William Chadbourne, it is a portrait of Abol Hassan Khan by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830), titled “Abul Hassan Khan (1776–1845). On the ornate frame of the painting itself, however, the painting is identified interestingly as “Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, ‘The Persian Ambassador,’ From the Collection of Sir Gore Ouseley.” The painting, dated 1810, had been commissioned by Sir Gore Ouseley with the intention to take it with him to Tehran on his journey there with Abol Hassan Khan in 1810. Interestingly the date of the painting and the title of Khan after the name of the subject would give further weight to the assertion that Abol Hassan Khan was given the title before he came to England in 1809 not after, this despite the explanatory note next to the painting to the contrary! For a reproduction of the Beechey and Lawrence paintings of Abol Hassan Khan and a brief discussion of their importance, see Ekhtiar's, Maryam, essay, in Diba, Layla S., ed., Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1785–1925 (New York, 1998), 197–199Google Scholar.
22 In his memoirs, Sir Harford Jones, not unlike General Ironside with regard to Reza Khan a century later, takes credit for having suggested Abol Hassan Khan, whom he refers to as “Meerza Abdul Hassan,” as the most appropriate person for the job. That same passage also includes the remark that as a consequence of Jones' recommendation James Morier was elevated to the diplomatic post of Secretary of the Embassy in Persia. See Sir Brydges, Harford Jones, An Account of the Transactions of His Majesty's Mission to the Court of Persia, in the Years 1807–11 (London, 1834), 228Google Scholar for his remark about Mirza Abol Hassan Khan, and 229 for his remark about Morier. These passages are also cited respectively in Naghmeh Sohrabi, “Looking Behind Hajji Baba of Ispahan: The Case of Mirza Abul Hassan Khan Ilchi Shirazi” (forthcoming), and in Roger M. Savory, “British and French Diplomacy in Persia, 1800–1810,” Iran, Journal of Persian Studies, 10 (1972): 41. General Ironside's bon mot on the subject of Reza Khan, “I fancy that all the people think I engineered the coup d'état. I suppose I did strictly speaking,” is quoted in Wright, Denis, The English Amongst the Persians: Imperial Lives in Nineteenth-Century Iran (London, 2001), 183CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
23 Fassa'i relates that he got the title so he could go to England in an official capacity. Margaret Cloake and Sir Denis Wright say he received the title of Khan after he returned from England and before the second journey back to England because the shah was pleased with him for his successes on his first mission. See Fassa'i, History of Persia Under Qajar Rule, 129, Cloake, A Persian at the Court of King George, 9, and Wright's Introduction to Cloake, 18.
24 The explanation for the bestowing of the title “Envoy Extraordinary” by the British upon Abol Hassan Khan is given in Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 56.
25 Denis Wright's Introduction in Cloake, A Persian at the Court of King George, 17. Wright informs us that Abol Hassan Khan was the first Persian to become a Freemason in England. Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844) replaced Sir Harford Jones as British Envoy to Persia with the rank of ambassador. He was the first to serve in that capacity since Sir Dodmore Cotton was sent by Charles I to Persia, together with Sir Robert Sherley in the famous affair of the two ambassadors to sort out who indeed was Shah Abbas' Persian envoy to England. Sir Gore Ouseley served in Persia from 1810 until 1814 and was responsible for the way the Golestan Treaty ended the first Russo-Persian war to the great detriment of Persia. For his services to Russia in that negotiation he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky in St. Petersburg in 1814. Ouseley is one of the three British envoys featured in the famous Negarestan Mural of Fath Ali Shah, his twelve sons and all the delegations at his court. The three Englishmen featured there on the left panel are, from left to right, in order of their diplomatic service in Persia, Sir John Malcolm, Sir Harford Jones and Sir Gore Ouseley.
26 The James Morier in question here is the James Morier of Hajji Baba of Ispahan fame. James Justinian Morier (1782–1849), was private secretary to Sir Harford Jones Brydges, Envoy Plenipotentiary of England in Persia from 1809 to 1810. On Jones' recommendation Morier was appointed Secretary to the Embassy in Persia in 1809. Morier also became a travel writer and novelist of note, particularly with the two novels The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (1824) and its sequel The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, in England (1828). He is also the author in 1812 of A Journey through Iran, Armenia and Asia Minor to Constantinople in the years 1808 and 1809, and A Second Journey through Iran to Constantinople between the years 1810 and 1816, published in England after his return from his diplomatic posting in Persia in 1819. He was the travel companion of Abol Hassan Khan on the latter's first journey as ambassador of Fath Ali Shah to England in 1809–10, and was also Abol Hassan Khan's host on the latter's second journey to England in 1819. Their friendship cooled somewhat after 1810 and remained cordial but more distant in 1819.
27 The first half of Naghmeh Sohrabi's article on Abol Hassan Khan, “Looking Behind Hajji Baba of Ispahan,” is dedicated to the complex relationship between Morier and Abol Hassan Khan.
28 Delaram was her name according to statements made by Mirza Abol Hassan Khan to his British friends. According to Morier's fictitious account of Hajji Baba in England, it was the name she took after her conversion to Islam, her original name having been Mariam. See Morier, James, The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, in England, ed. Jast, Stanley (London, 1942), 65Google Scholar. This, like everything else about the ambassador's wife, is somewhat fanciful. Mariam, though an Arabic and Persian version of Mary, is also a Muslim name, and thus would not have necessitated change when she took Islam as her religion. Delaram, translated elegantly as “Heart's Ease” in the Hugh Patton text, vide infra, note 29, p. 306, could well have been a nickname. Morier changes this name to “Delfarib” (Dilferib) in his novel. Delfarib means “she who tricks the heart,” or as Morier (The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, 63) has it “Heart-enslaver.” Irvin Cemil Schick (Cerkes Guzeli, 48–49) states, however, that the name Delaram was a common name given to Circassian concubines at the court of the Sultan.
29 Paton, Hugh (Head of Horse Wynd, West Corner of the College, Edinburgh), ed., A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings by the late John Kay, Miniature Painter, Edinburgh; With Biographical Sketches and Illustrative Anecdotes. 2 vols. (London, 1838), II: 300–308Google Scholar. The original pages are 8x11 inches on heavy stock of acid free paper and are nicely aged with a tint of yellow. The etching of Abol Hassan Khan in riding attire is the original from which subsequent prints were made for the reproductions in James Morier's and Margarete Cloake's works. For a detailed discussion of the reasons why this sketch is the original see Eskandari-Qajar, Manoutchehr, “The Story of the ‘Fair Circassian’ and Mirza Abol Hassan Khan Shirazi ‘Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary’ of Fath Ali Shah Qajar to the Court of St. James,” Qajar Studies, the Journal of the International Qajar Studies Association, 7 (2007): 76Google Scholar, fn. 6 and 7. Several of John Kay's miniatures and caricatures can be seen in the National Portrait Gallery in London, including four self-portraits, but not his etching of Mirza Abol Hassan Khan, given that the subject is of a foreigner. These pages were reproduced in facsimile in Eskandari-Qajar, “The Story of the ‘Fair Circassian’,” 62–72.
30 Paton, A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings by the late John Kay, 304.
31 The Lord Radstock in question is most probably William Waldegrave, 1st Baron of Radstock (1753–1825), of the Irish Peerage, who by 1802 had retired as admiral of the Royal Navy and was a figure of some importance in Regency England. It is possible, however, that it be his son, Granville George Waldegrave, 2nd Baron of Radstock (1786–1857), who had a similarly noteworthy career in the Royal Navy.
32 Paton, A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings by the late John Kay, 306.
33 Morier, The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, in England, 65.
34 Mirza Abol Hassan Khan had a retinue of eight individuals in his service, which included various domestics, and according to some records, four and others two black eunuchs who were guarding the inner chambers of his household. Wright, Introduction in Cloake, A Persian at the Court of King George, 18. See also Paton, A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings by the late John Kay, 304.
35 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 60. Morier's two picaresque novels The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (1824) and its sequel The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, in England (1828) are referred to above in n. 26. It is in the latter account that the “Fair Circassian” features as “Dilferib.” Though it is always assumed that Morier's Mirza Firouz is the caricature of Mirza Abol Hassan, both his Mirza Firouz and his Hajji Baba are composites of aspects of Mirza Abol Hassan Khan as seen through Morier's eyes. It was this caricaturing of Abol Hassan Khan that caused the further rift between him and Morier. On this point see, among others, Naghmeh Sohrabi, “Looking Behind Hajji Baba of Ispahan,” and Abbas Amanat, “Hajji Baba of Ispahan,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 11, fascicule 6, online edition.
36 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 64. For a copy of this lithograph see Eskandari-Qajar, “The Story of the ‘Fair Circassian’,” 64.
37 For the story of the first Persian ambassador to England, Naqd Ali Beg, see Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 1–8, and Stevens, “Robert Sherley: The Unanswered Questions,” 115–125, among others. The first English ambassador to Persia, resulting from the arrival of Naqd Ali Beg, was Sir Dodmore Cotton, who, on his sovereign's behalf was sent to Persia, together with Sherley and Naqd Ali Beg, to determine who was the real envoy of Shah Abbas to England: Robert Sherley or Naqd Ali Beg. The matter was never resolved as all three died during this mission, Naqd Ali Beg by suicide and the two Englishmen from cholera in Persia.
38 Wright, The Persians Amongst the English, 60. Fath Ali Shah was, indeed, the all-time record holder for amount of children and size of harem, if not amongst Persian rulers—it is said when Alexander of Macedon conquered ancient Persia, he inherited King Darius' harem of hundreds of wives—then most certainly amongst the Qajars. On his death in 1834, Fath Ali Shah had one hundred and eight children who survived infancy, forty-eight daughters and sixty sons. He also had one hundred and sixty wives of whom there are records by name. Not all of them bore him children.
39 Morier's words describing her are: “low in stature,” “round and melon-formed,” and “totally ignorant.” Morier further suggests that the ambassador intended to refine her by educating her in the useful arts to use her as a gift to the Shah should he need to have something to barter for his life if his master were displeased with him upon his return to Persia. Morier, The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, in England, 65–66.
40 The passages in Hugh Paton relating the feelings of the ambassador towards Delaram and his concerns for her upon her departure from England, paint a picture of tenderness, sophistication, propriety and charm that completely falsify the stereotypes we have in the West of male–female relationships in nineteenth century Persia, or those of Muslim men towards their wives and women in general. It certainly contradicted completely the image that was perpetrated in the Press in England about the ambassador and his wife, through no small effort of Morier, among others. See Paton, A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings by the late John Kay, 306–307.
41 There is no evidence that any of these portrayals became known to either Delaram or to Abol Hassan Khan. They both remained above the fray, in this respect. James Morier does mention a letter ascribed to Abol Hassan Khan objecting to the portrayal of him by Morier in The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, in England. The authenticity of the letter is in question, and thus the matter remains inconclusive. The stream of portrayals also suggests that, beyond a certain level of misogyny and xenophobia, the point of the caricaturists really was domestic political satire and ridicule.
42 George, Mary Dorothy, Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (London, 1870–1954)Google Scholar.
43 I am immensely grateful to my late friend and colleague Professor Gunhan Danisman of the History Department of Bosphorus University, Istanbul, for his invaluable help in translating the relevant passages in Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, 48–57, where these caricatures are also reproduced.
44 Paton, A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings by the late John Kay, 304.
45 Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, 48.
46 The Cruikshank brothers were famous caricaturists of their day, following in the footsteps of their father, Isaac Cruikshank. George Cruikshank (1792–1878) is particularly remembered as the illustrator of Charles Dickens' novels later in life.
47 Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, 52–53.
48 Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, Chapter 2 “Circassian Women in Real Life,” 41–63.
49 “Peter Pindar,” as Schick states, was a common pseudonym for critics of the Prince Regent.
50 “A. Moor” is a thinly veiled pun, ‘Moor’ referring to Arabs or Muslims, the point here being to give the ditty an air of oriental authenticity. The title “British Seraglio” was also used in one of the cartoons mentioned earlier, drawing number 13239, where it was used, I contend, as a bridge connecting the themes of the Circassian with that of the criticisms of the Prince Regent. Given that this is not a natural and obvious connection, the stage had to be set in a variety of ways to make the puns and allusions comprehensible to the viewing public.
51 Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, 58–60. The term “Persian Sophy” is the term used for Shah Abbas, coined by the Sherley brothers. This shows that the stories of Teresia and Delaram were connected in the mind of the British public and in the minds of the authors of these poems and stories.
52 An excellent book detailing these aspects of the Regency of the future George IV is David, Saul, Prince of Pleasure: The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency (New York, 1998)Google Scholar.
53 British Museum catalogue number 13242, in Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, 49.
54 See David, Prince of Pleasure, Chapter 13, “The Milan Commission,” 361–392, for a detailed account of Princess Caroline's escapades to Italy and the Levant and back, complete with dark handsome lovers and sundry salacious details.
55 Schick, Cerkes Guzeli, 47–48.
