History
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
Lockhart and Wilkinson were the first of a long line from the two major British firms in Iran to serve the Society in the coming years. There is some mystery about Ali Ashgar Zarrinkafsh who, as already mentioned, attended the early Council meetings but whose name does not appear on this published list although he attended later meetings. He was the Iranian Government's representative or Imperial Delegate to the AIOC between 1933-39 and an important figure entitled, like the Iranian Minister, His Excellency as were his successors Fathullah Nuri Esfandiari (1941-47) and Nezam ed-Din Emami (1947-51), both of them Council members. Fakhreddin Shadman, the Society's joint-Secretary, was the Imperial Delegate's deputy at AIOC.
On the occasion of the second AGM in July 1937 on the premises of the Royal Asiatic Society at 74 Grosvenor Street, Lord Lamington reported that five lectures had been given during the past year, that receptions for members had been held by Alfred Bossom at his London home and by Hussein Ala at the Ritz Hotel on his departure from London as Iranian Ambassador to the USA, and that Leigh Ashton had conducted members round the Victoria and Albert Museum's Persian collections: also that membership now totalled 160 and that the Society's assets of £246 were "satisfactory".
This set a pattern. Since then, lectures, with and without slides and some film shows have constituted the Society's main activity, supplemented from time to time by excursions to places of interest, receptions and dinners, Nau Ruz and Christmas parties, musical evenings.
From 1936-48 some, but not all, the lectures were published at irregular intervals in the Society's Proceedings, forming Vols. I, II and III which, with the Journal, can be found today in the British Library, London and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. In 1949 it was decided to replace the Proceedings with a half-yearly Journal which would publish all lectures in full or résumé together with news of other activities, book reviews etc. Supported by advertisements from the AIOC, the BBME and others, five issues of the Journal, forming Vol. I were published between July 1950 and January 1954 when, as mentioned below, publication ceased. Laurence Lockhart5 edited the Proceedings and all but the last issue of the Journal, this being done by Lt. Colonel C. B. Pybus, a member of the Council and a former Military Attaché in Tehran and Henry Graves Law, the Hon. Secretary.
Notes
5 It can be found on the Internet: www.iis.ac.uk then select 'learning'
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12