History
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New joint-Secretaries had also to be found in place of the long-serving Gray and Shadman - the former resigning owing to pressure of work in 1945 and the latter two years later on his return to Iran. Briefly Miss Lambton and her colleague, Darab Khan (later Professor G. H.) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) stepped into the breach before Henry Graves Law took over as sole Secretary, a post he held for eight years. He was a retired member of the Indian Political Service and had served at Bushire in the British Residency and as Consul-General in Mashad.
These appointments meant a perceptible change in the composition of the Council. The academics from Oxford and Cambridge and the museums had gone, replaced by retired members of our old Indian raj, all with experience of Iran. There remained representatives of both the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. and the old Imperial Bank together with representatives of the Iranian Embassy and its London community. Two valuable, long-serving new members were Wilfred Seager of O.C.M. Ltd. (Oriental Carpet Manufacturers) with long experience of Iran and Frederick Richter, editor of The Asiatic Review.
A revised version of the 1936 Rules was adopted in 1949 in which the Society's Objects were defined more succinctly as:
- To bring together those who are interested in Iran, her culture and art, past and present and thereby to help the peoples of Iran and Great Britain to understand each other
- To foster intercourse between Iran and Great Britain and maintain close relations with institutions in Iran and elsewhere working in the same fields
- To help Iranian students in Great Britain in every way possible
- To give members of the Iranian colony in Great Britain and British friends opportunities to meet one another at social and intellectual gatherings.
The principal Activity remained the organisation of lectures, visits to public and private collections, social and cultural gatherings while "political problems and discussions are excluded from the province of the Iran Society". The diplomatic representative of Iran in London remained ex officio Hon. President. There were no major changes in the Constitution other than an increase in the number of Vice Presidents from three to six.
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