History
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The Society went through a testing time between 1951 and 1954 following Dr. Mossadeq's nationalisation of the oil industry in May 1951. Iranians no longer attended Council meetings and lectures, many resigned or failed to pay their subscriptions. Membership, which had risen from 175 in 1946 to about 300 in 1950 fell to only 120 in 1954. At the 1952 AGM in July, members accepted the Council's recommendation that, rather than disband, the Society should continue its existence "in a modified form": lectures to be continued but publication of the Journal suspended and a project to bring A. T. Wilson's Bibliography of Iran up to date abandoned. In July that year the Iranian Ambassador was recalled and three months later diplomatic relations finally severed. Before leaving London the Iranian Chargé d'Affaires was instructed to inform Sir Giles Squire that the Society was "dissolved"; in reply he was told by the Chairman that this was a matter for the Council to decide. At the next AGM on 18 June 19538 , with Harold Nicolson in the chair and Anglo-Iranian relations at rock-bottom, it was decided to cease all activity and seek "a temporary alliance" with the Royal Central Asian Society (RCAS) while still retaining the Society's own identity and officers in the hope that with better times normal activities could be resumed. By the time of the 1954 AGM on 21 October9 full diplomatic relations had been restored, the oil dispute settled and Anglo-Iranian relations were distinctly warmer. It was then decided not to renew the "alliance" with the RCAS, which had not proved popular with members, but to remain inactive pending developments in Iran. Abdol Hussein Hamzavy, back in London as his Embassy's Press Counsellor attended the meeting and expressed his Ambassador's high appreciation of the Society's "patience, goodwill and forbearance" during the past two years in keeping itself alive.
Gradually, after some hesitation, lectures were resumed but it was not until the 1960s that the Society got into full stride - thanks to the rapid improvement in Anglo-Iranian relations, symbolised by the State Visit of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to Iran in the autumn of 1961, and the growing interest of British businessmen in the country as a valuable export market. Membership rose from 122 in 1959 to 379 four years later and 450 in 1966.
Financial assistance from the Iranian Embassy and oil company was resumed. Attention was again paid to the welfare of Iranian students. Excursions and parties were arranged for them, members of the Society were encouraged to invite them to their homes, with the help of the British Council and Iranian Embassy short courses were arranged at Oxford and Cambridge in 1960-63. Yet, reading between the lines of the Minutes, one gets the feeling that neither the Society nor its efforts on their behalf had much appeal for the students.
Following the Queen's visit, the Iranian Government invited the Society's President, Lord Bossom, together with the Chairman, Wilfred Seager and Social Secretary, Mrs. Wontner to spend a week in Iran as their guests - an invitation extended five years later to the Society's new Chairman Sir Peter Agnew and his wife together with the Hon. Secretary and Mrs. Chisholm. In November 1963 the Iranian Ambassador, Ardeshir Zahedi, bestowed the Order of the Taj (1st Class) on the President and the lesser Order of the Homayoun on the Chairman. This same Order was in due time given to other officers of the Society - Peter Agnew, Clive Bossom and Lord Shawcross.
Notes
8 and 9 Who, one wonders, had the wit to choose these two anniversaries, Waterloo and Trafalgar, for these two important AGMs
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