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Sir Gore Ouseley, 1st Baronet GCH, PC (24 June 1770 – 18 November 1844), was a British entrepreneur, linguist and diplomat. He was born in 1770 and died at Hall Barn Park,
Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...
, Buckinghamshire in 1844. He negotiated an important treaty between Russia and
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
in 1813 which redrew their common borders.


Early life

Sir Gore Ouseley was born in Limerick in Ireland to
Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...
and Elizabeth (born Holland) Ouseley. Gore's father's family was originally from Shropshire. Gore and his brother were tutored at home in the company of brother,
William William is a male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sex ...
and his cousin, Gideon Ouseley. All three had notable careers.


India

Whilst serving the British Government and posted in
Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the List of million-plus urban agg ...
he became a friend of the local Nawab Saadat Ali Khannic.in
accessed 10 September 2007
and was responsible for building a palace called Dilkusha Kothi on the banks of the
Gomti The Gomti, Gumti or Gomati River is a tributary of the Ganges. According to beliefs, the river is the son of Rishi Vashishtha and bathing in the Gomti on Ekadashi (the 11th day of the two lunar phases of the Hindu calendar month) can wash away ...
near
Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the List of million-plus urban agg ...
. This palace stood for about fifty years until it was damaged in the
Siege of Lucknow The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief at ...
. The palace was a copy of the
English Baroque English Baroque is a term used to refer to modes of English architecture that paralleled Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and roughly 1720, when the flamboyant and dramatic qualities of Baroque ...
stately home An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
of
Seaton Delaval Hall Seaton Delaval Hall is a Grade I listed country house in Northumberland, England, near the coast just north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Located between Seaton Sluice and Seaton Delaval, it was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1718 for Admiral George ...
. He made his name in India where he was appointed a Major-Commander. He was made a baronet in 1808 with the recommendation of
Lord Wellesley Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of ...
. While in India, he fathered 2 sons, William Martin Claude Ouseley (AKA William Claude Ouseley (b 1799) and Ralph Ouseley (b 1800). Ref - John Mitchiner (2009) THE OUSELEYS – A FAMILY INVOLVEMENT WITH INDIA, Asian Affairs, 40:1, 1–14, DOI: 10.1080/03068370802658633.


Persia

He served as ambassador to Persia from 1810 where he was involved with negotiating treaties principally with Persia and Russia. He was accompanied by his brother as secretary, Sir William Ouseley, who like Gore was a keen orientalist. (He was the first ambassador to Persia since Sir Dodmore Cotton was sent by
Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...
). Nominally he was supporting the Shah of Persia (
Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ( fa, فتحعلى‌شاه قاجار, Fatḥ-ʻAli Šâh Qâjâr; May 1769 – 24 October 1834) was the second Shah (king) of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death on 24 October 1834. His reign saw the ir ...
). The most important was The
Treaty of Gulistan The Treaty of Gulistan (russian: Гюлистанский договор; fa, عهدنامه گلستان) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gulistan (now in the Goranboy Distr ...
: Гюлистанский договор; fa, عهدنامه گلستان) which was prepared by the ambassador with the help of the
British Foreign Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
. The treaty confirmed the inclusion of modern-day
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
,
Daghestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...
and Eastern
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
into the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...
. This was agreed on 24 October 1813. Ouseley may have visited Persepolis during his stay in Persia, as a group of reliefs from the site collected by him were donated to the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
in 1825.


Russia

After his brother returned to England in 1813 to write, he left the next year, stopping off in
St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Whilst he was in Russia, he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Russian
Order of St. Alexander Nevsky The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on by Empress Catherine I of Russia. History The introduction of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was envisioned by Emperor ...
. He was also responsible for publishing an early translation of the New Testament into Persian. The translation had been made by a friend, the Reverend
Henry Martyn Henry Martyn (18 February 1781 – 16 October 1812) was an Anglican priest and missionary to the peoples of India and Persia. Born in Truro, Cornwall, he was educated at Truro Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. A chance encount ...
, and Mirza Saiyad Ali Kahn. Martyn had died on his way back to England so Gore Ouseley had agreed to arrange publication of the manuscript. This he did in St Petersburg, carrying out the proof reading personally. This version was later refined and republished in
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commerc ...
.


England

On his return to England in 1805, Ouseley was not made a peer as he had expected (and despite a recommendation). He brought his two sons with him back to England, and married Georgina Whitelocke. They had a further six children, none of whom married. The only one of his children to marry was his first son born in India, William Claude Ouseley who had since immigrated to Nova Scotia Canada with the 96th Nova Scotia Fencibles, and married Rosina Weeks. William remained in Canada where his descendants remain. His other son born in India, Ralph, became a Doctor and returned to India, subsequently dying there in 1823. See: John Mitchiner (2009) THE OUSELEYS – A FAMILY INVOLVEMENT WITH INDIA, Asian Affairs, 40:1, 1–14, DOI: 10.1080/03068370802658633 Ouseley had taught himself
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the la ...
,
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
and
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, and for enjoyment, he and his brother William advanced the study of Persia. William published a number of books, but those by Gore were not published until after his death. In 1833, the family were living at Hall Barns, and he enjoyed gardening and building work as he had done in India. In 1835, he served as the
High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire The High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the ...
. He became President of the Society for the Publication of the Oriental Texts in 1842 and he is credited with the society's publication of ''Gulistan of Sa'di'' by Sa'di, which had a translation by Francis Gladwin.
Western Encounters with Persian Sufi Literature
' by Farhang Jahanpour accessed 12 September 2007
There is a monument to his memory in
Hertingfordbury Hertingfordbury is a small village in Hertfordshire, England, close to the county town of Hertford. It was mentioned in the ''Domesday Book''. Hertingfordbury is also the name of a neighbouring civil parish, which does not contain the village. ...
Church,
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gover ...
by Thomas Denman. His collection of Mughal paintings are at the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second ...
in Oxford (they were donated in 1859 by a Bengal civil servant, Mr JB Elliott).MappingAsia
accessed 12 September 2007
His son, The Revd Canon Professor Sir Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley (12 August 1825 – 6 April 1889) was an English composer, organist, and musicologist.


Books

*"Remarks on the Statistics and Political Institutions of the United States, with some Observations on the Ecclesiastical System of America, her sources of Revenue, &c", 1832 *''Biographical Notices of Persian Poets'', 1846 (published 2 years after his death)


Honours

Ouseley was created a
Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
, of Claremont in the County of Hertford, in 1808. He was sworn of the
Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
in 1820 and created a Knight Grand Cross of the
Royal Guelphic Order The Royal Guelphic Order (german: Königliche Guelphen-Orden), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent (later King George IV). It takes its name ...
in 1831. Among his foreign decorations were the Persian
Order of the Lion and the Sun The Imperial Order of the Lion and the Sun (Persian: نشان سلطنتی شیر و خورشید) was instituted by Fat’h Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1808 to honour foreign officials (later extended to Iranians) who had rendered distingu ...
and the Russian Grand Cordon of the Order of St Alexander Nevsky. He was
High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire The High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the ...
in 1835. Ouseley was a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...
and a
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...
. He was the President of the Society for the Publication of Oriental Texts.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ouseley, Gore 1770 births 1844 deaths People from Limerick (city) Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom High Sheriffs of Buckinghamshire Fellows of the Royal Society People of the Russo-Persian Wars Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iran Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom