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Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

 

Laurence Lockhart was born in London, 9 July 1890, and brought up in South Africa. He was educated at Charterhouse; Pembroke College, Cambridge, BA, 1913; and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, PhD, 1935. He worked for the Foreign Office during the First World War and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in Mexico, 1919-26, and Persia (Iran), 1926-30. He returned to the London office of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (from 1935, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company), 1930-9, and studied in his spare time for his PhD, 1930-5. He served with Royal Air Force Intelligence, 1940-4, and the Foreign Office Research Department, 1944-5. He returned to work for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, 1946-8. He was a talented photographer and he took an extensive series of photographs of Persia, 1920s-50s. He retired to England, settling in Buckinghamshire, 1948, and Cambridge, 1953, where he concentrated on research in eighteenth century Persian history. He married Cicely Sylvia Farmer, who died in 1959. He died in Barrington, Cambridgeshire, 3 May 1975.

The collection, housed in two boxes, mainly comprises articles, lectures, notes and correspondence from 1936 - 1969

The Library also holds a collection of Lockhart's photographs of Persia, the Middle East, North Africa, South America and Europe, comprising 17 albums, 14 boxes of negatives and 1 cabinet of loose prints and negatives

LL/1 Draft chapters of an unpublished project called 'The Crown of Iran'
1968-9
1 folder, typescript
Comprises Laurence Lockhart, 'The Iranian Concept of Kingship'; Keith Mclachlan, 'Industrial Development in Iran'; Ralph Pinder-Wilson, 'The Art of the Potter in Iran'; Peter Avery, 'Persian Literature'; Basil Robinson, 'Persian Painting'; Elizabeth Waller, 'The Women of Iran'; Wilfrid Seager, 'Persia's Carpet Heritage'; and Donald Newton Wilber, 'Iranian Architecture'
Also includes a cancelled chapter on women in Iran by Shusha Guppy and a rejected chapter on the Iranian economy by an unidentified author
With a letter from Laurence Lockhart, 17 Jun 1968, and a letter from Peter Avery, 15 Oct 1969

LL/2 Draft footnotes for an edition of the travels of Giostafat Barbaro and Ambrogio Contarini
undated [1973]
1 bundle, typescript
Published as R. Morozzo della Rocca and M.F. Tiepolo, I Viaggi in Persia degli Ambasciatori Veneti Barbaro e Contarini (1973)

LL/3 Draft introduction to A. Costa, Persia (1957)
undated [1957]
1 file, typescript
With chronological table of events

LL/4 Draft foreword to O. Grosso, San Giorgio: nell'arte e nel cuore dei popoli (1962)
undated [1962]
5 sheets, typescript

LL/5 Draft articles on oil and the history of the British Petroleum Company Ltd
undated, 1939
1 folder, typescript
Comprises 'The Iranian Oil Industry. An Historical Summary', 7 Jun 1939; 'Iran and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company', undated; 'The Emergence of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company 1901-1914', undated; and 'The History of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Ltd', undated

LL/6 Draft article on Khuzestan, Persia
undated [1948]
1 folder, typescript
Published as 'Khuzistan Past and Present', The Asiatic Review (Oct 1948)
With an account of a journey in Khuzestan and a visit to Roman Ghirshman and Tania Ghirshman, of the Mission Archaéologique Française, at Shush
Also includes 3 photostat maps of the area and 2 black and white photographs of river views

LL/7 Draft article on St Hormisdas and his papal namesake
undated [1950]
7 sheets, typescript
Published in the Journal of the Iran Society (1950)

LL/8 Draft article on Shakespeare's Persia
undated [1950]
7 sheets, typescript
Published as 'Shakespeare's Persia', Journal of the Iran Society (1950)

LL/9 Draft article on the constitutional laws of Persia
1959
1 folder, typescript
Published as 'The Constitutional Laws of Persia. An Outline of their Origin and Development', The Middle East Journal, vol. 13, no. 4 (Autumn 1959)
With correspondence and papers relating to the article

LL/10 Draft article on town planning in Persia
undated
7 sheets, typescript

LL/11 Draft article on Persia in prehistoric times
undated
6 sheets, typescript
Marked 'Chapter I'

LL/12 Draft article on Bustam, Persia
undated
2 sheets, typescript

LL/13 Draft article on Elam or Khuzestan, Persia
undated
15 sheets, ms and typescript
Incomplete

LL/14 Draft article on the legend of the seven sleepers of Ephesus
undated
2 sheets, typescript

LL/15 Draft article on Girdkuh castle, near Damghan, Persia
undated
2 sheets, typescript

LL/16 Draft article on ancient monuments in the province of Kermanshah, Persia
undated
7 sheets, typescript
Incomplete. Comprises a chapter on Bisitun and part of a chapter on Taq-i-Bustan

LL/17 Draft article on the tomb of Daniel
undated
4 sheets, typescript

LL/18 Corrections to articles on Persian history in Encyclopaedia Britannica
1967
1 folder, typescript

LL/19 Press cuttings of reviews of Laurence Lockhart, Nadir Shah (1938)
1938-9
1 folder, printed
With a copy of the foreword by Denison Ross and a letter from the British Petroleum Company Ltd, 13 Jun 1938, thanking Lockhart for a complimentary copy of the book
Also with a press cutting about a Parthian fortress at Takht-i-Suleiman, Persia, 1938, and a press cutting about Laurence Lockhart, Famous Cities of Iran (1939), 1939

LL/20 Lecture notes on Europe and Persia
undated, 1960s
1 file, typescript
Comprises 'Contacts between Persia and the West in the thirteenth century' (II); 'Contacts between Persia and the West, 1294-1335' (III); 'Contacts between Persia and the West, 1336-1500' (IV); 'Persia's relations with Portugal in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries' (V); 'Persian contacts with European powers other than Portugal in the sixteenth century' (VI); 'Relations of the Western powers other than Portugal with Persia', 1600-75 (VII); 'Persia's relations with the West, 1675-1736' (VIII)
With notes, 1960s

LL/20A Lecture notes on European contributions to the history of Persia in the eighteenth century
undated
1 bundle, typescript

LL/21 Lecture notes on Isfahan, Persia
undated
4 sheets, typescript
First page missing

LL/22 Draft paper on Persian petroleum in Ancient and Medieval times given at the Deuxième Congrès Mondial du Pétrole in Paris
1937
1 folder, ms and typescript
With lecture notes, an offprint of Lockhart's paper and 3 offprints of other papers given at the conference
Also includes letters from the organisers, 1937-8
English and French

LL/23 Notes on Russia
undated, 1936, 1953
1 folder, ms, typescript and printed
Comprises 2 letters and a translation of Nikolai Miklukho-Maklai, 'Zapiski S. Avramova ob Irane kak istoricheskii Istochnik', Ucheniye Zapiski, part 3 (1953); notes on Marie-Félicité Brosset, Histoire de la Géorgie (1856-7), undated; extract from a treaty of 1724 for partition of parts of Persia between Russia and Turkey, undated; and printed appendix on Nadir Shah's Daghestan campaigns, 1936, perhaps intended for publication in Laurence Lockhart, Nadir Shah (1938) but not used
Much of this material was used in Laurence Lockhart, The Fall of the Safavi Dynasty and the Afghan Occupation of Persia (1958)
Also with a draft article published as 'The Political Testament of Peter the Great', Slavonic and Eastern European Review (Jan 1936)
English and French

LL/24 Notes on Persian rivers
undated, 1938
1 folder, ms and typescript
Comprises notes on the Haffar Channel, the Khor Musa and the mouths of the Karun River
With 5 sketch maps on tracing paper

LL/25 Notes on Afghanistan
undated, 1945
1 folder, typescript
Comprises notes on the people of Afghanistan prepared for the Research Department of the Foreign Office, 22 Aug 1945; brief notes on Qandahar, undated; and notes on an article by Vladimir Minorsky about the Turkish dialect of the Khalaj, undated

LL/25A Notes on books and manuscripts about Nadir Shah
undated
1 vol

LL/25B Notes on Persian literature
undated
1 sheet, typescript

LL/25C Notes on Persian shipping
undated
1 sheet, typescript

LL/25D Miscellaneous notes
undated, 1939
1 bundle, ms and typescript
Mainly comprises notes on books
English and Persian

LL/26 Correspondence and papers about Khuzestan, Persia
1947
1 bundle
Comprises correspondence with Reginald Harmer about various sites in Khuzestan, including Bard-i-Nishan Deh, Shush, Masjid-i-Sulaiman and Malamir, Aug-Oct 1947; notes by Reginald Harmer about antiquities in the Masjid-i-Sulaiman area and about a journey from Masjid-i-Sulaiman to Malamir, Aug 1947, with copy map; plan of a ruined mansion at Bard-i-Nishan Deh by Reginald Harmer, 1947; aerial photograph of the Masjid-i-Sulaiman area, undated, with key; and 6 black and white photographs

LL/27 Correspondence and papers about research carried out for the British Petroleum Company Ltd
1951-9
2 files, ms and typescript
Mainly comprises research and translations relating to legal questions
English and Persian

LL/27/1 
1951-4
With the British Petroleum Company Ltd annual report and accounts, 1952, and 2 printed pamphlets about the pension scheme for local staff, undated, 1951

LL/27/2 
1953-9

LL/28 Correspondence and papers about the history of Kharg Island, Persia
1957-68
1 folder, ms and typescript
A terminal was built on Kharg Island, 1960-6, to handle the export of crude oil from the Gachsaran oilfield
With 8 printed pamphlets on Kharg Island published by the Iranian Oil Operating Companies; 6 black and white photographs of the island and the Mir Mohammad Mosque; and a programme of a visit of oil company representatives to Gachsaran, 22 Feb 1960
English, French and Persian

LL/29 Correspondence about a bibliography of Persia
1952, 1965-7
1 file, ms and typescript
This project was supported by the Iran Society
Includes correspondence with Wilfrid Seager, Secretary of the Iran Society (11 items); James Pearson, Librarian of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London (6 items); and Shojaeddin Shafa, Director of the Pahlavi Library, Tehran (6 items)

LL/30 Miscellaneous correspondence
1936-71
1 bundle, ms and typescript
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent

LL/31 Correspondence and papers about the establishment of a Middle East Centre at Cambridge University
undated, Apr 1958
1 folder, typescript

LL/32 Copy will
5 Oct 1966
6 sheets, typescript

LL/33 Biographical notes
undated
5 sheets, typescript
With notes on the Lockhart family name and arms

LL/34 Correspondence and papers about the genealogy of the Sprat or Spratt family and the life of Thomas Sprat (1635-1713), Bishop of Rochester
1957-61
1 folder

LL/35 Miscellaneous maps and notes on topography
undated
1 folder, ms and printed
Includes maps of Isfahan, Persia; Herat and Qandahar, Afghanistan; the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean; and Nadir Shah's Daghestan campaign

LL/36 Sylvia Grant
Memoir of her childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland, and of the Grant and Ferrier families, 1860s-80s
undated [1930s]
1 bundle, typescript
Sylvia Grant was the daughter of Sir Alexander Grant (1826-84), Principal of Edinburgh University

LL/37 J.T. Henderson
Account of a journey to Alamut, Persia, Jul-Aug 1928
undated
16 sheets, typescript
Henderson was accompanied by Laurence Lockhart and G.J. Eccles