Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Bart

Abstract

HENRY CRESWICKE RAWLINSON was descended from the family of Rawlinsons who,in the last century, settled down at Chadlington, in the county of Oxford; he was born April 11, 1810, and in 1862 he married Louisa Caroline Harcourt, daughter of Henry Seymour, of Knoyle, Wilts, and he died on March 5 last. At the early age of seventeen he went out as cadet to India, and in a very short time made himself an excellent Persian scholar; in 1833 he was sent to Persia, his fine command of the language of that country, no doubt, influencing his selection by “John Company.” For six years he served diligently, and filled many military posts in the great cities of Persia, and he succeeded in infusing something nearly akin to order in the forces of the “King of Kings.” In 1839 the relations between England and Persia became “strained,” and Rawlinson left the country for Afghanistan; in 1840 he was appointed Political Agent of the Indian Government in Kandahar, a post which he held until 1842. During these years he wielded the sword as often as the pen, and his courage and personal bravery in the field made him a terrible opponent of the wily Afghan. In 1844 he was sent to Bagdad as H.B.M.'s Consul for Turkish Arabia, and in 1851 he was made Consul-General, the importance of Bagdad being, thanks to Rawlinson's labours, fully recognised. In 1855 he was made Crown Director of the East India Company, and in 1856 he was promoted to the dignity of K.C.B.; two years later he was elected Member of the India Council, and in 1859 he was sent to Teheran as Minister Plenipotentiary. He represented in Parliament for a short time (1865-1868) the borough of Frome, but a Member's life offered no attractions to him.