James Justinian Morier (15 August 1782 – 19 March 1849) was a British diplomat and author noted for his novels about the

Qajar dynasty The Qajar dynasty (; fa, دودمان قاجار ', az, Qacarlar ) was an IranianAbbas Amanat, ''The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831–1896'', I. B. Tauris, pp 2–3 royal dynasty of Turkic peoples ...

Iran 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 ...

, most famously for the ''Hajji Baba'' series. These were filmed in 1954.

Early life

Morier was born in Ottoman

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

, the second son of

Isaac Morier Isaac Morier (1750–1817) was British consul-general of the Levant Company at Constantinople. Early life Isaac Morier was born on 12 August 1750 in Smyrna.Lane-Poole, 1894 He was from a Huguenot family. He was educated at Harrow School, Harrow. ...

, a Swiss-born merchant, British by naturalisation, and a member of the London-based

Levant Company The Levant Company was an English chartered company formed in 1592. Elizabeth I of England approved its initial charter on 11 September 1592 when the Venice Company (1583) and the Turkey Company (1581) merged, because their charters had expired, ...

, and Elizabeth Clara Van Lennep. After private education in England, he worked in his father's Smyrna business between 1799 and 1806.

Diplomatic career

Career in Iran

Through the influence of his uncle, Admiral

William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock Admiral William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, GCB (9 July 175320 August 1825) was an officer in the Royal Navy and Governor of Newfoundland. Early life and education Waldegrave was the second son of John Waldegrave, 3rd Earl Waldegrave, and ...

, he entered the diplomatic service. He first visited Iran in 1808 as secretary to

Harford Jones-Brydges Sir Harford Jones-Brydges, 1st Baronet, DL (12 January 1764 – 17 March 1847), born Harford Jones, was a British diplomat and author. Life Born on 12 January 1764, Sir Harford Jones-Brydges was the son of Harford Jones of Presteign, Ra ...

, a special British envoy to the Shah, publishing an account of his experiences in 1812 under the title ''A Journey through Iran,

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

in the years 1808 and 1809''. In 1809 he accompanied the Iranian envoy, Mirza Abul Hasan, to Britain, and in 1810 returned to Iran as Secretary of Embassy on the staff of Sir Gore Ouseley, first Ambassador to Iran. He remained there as Chargé d'Affaires in 1814–1816. After his return to England he published ''A Second Journey through Iran to Constantinople between the years 1810 and 1816''.

Commissioner to Mexico

Morier married Harriet Fulke Greville in London in 1820. Between 1824 and 1826 he was special commissioner to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he negotiated a British-Mexican Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation ratified in 1827.

Writing career

With his knowledge of Eastern life and manners, Morier wrote several entertaining novels. The most popular were ''The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan'' (1824) and its sequel, ''The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan in England'' (1828). The former novel is a sort of ''

Gil Blas ''Gil Blas'' (french: L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane ) is a picaresque novel by Alain-René Lesage published between 1715 and 1735. It was highly popular, and was translated several times into English, most notably as The Adventures of G ...

'' set in

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 ...

. The Persian minister to England is said to have protested in behalf of his government against its satire and manner of speaking. There followed ''Zohrab the Hostage'' (1832), ''Ayesha the Maid of Kars'' (1834), and ''The Mirza'' (1841), all full of brilliant description, character-painting, and delicate satire, and several others of lesser quality. *''The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan'' (1824) 1937 edition, Random House, illustrated by the well-travelled

Cyrus Leroy Baldridge Cyrus Leroy Baldridge (May 27, 1889 – June 6, 1977) was an artist, illustrator, author and adventurer. He was born to William Baldridge and Eliza Burgdorf Baldridge, in Alton, New York in 1889. When very young, his mother left his father and b ...

. Baldridge had a hand in everything, from designing the cover and drawing dozens of illustrations to choosing the typeface and paper. A Persian translation of the book was produced by

Douglas Craven Phillott Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Craven Phillott (28 June 1860 - 11 September 1930) was a British army officer who served in India and later as Consul in Persia. A scholar of Urdu, Persian and Hindustani, he published numerous translations of literary ...

. *''The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan'' 1947 edition,

The Heritage Press The Heritage Press is a trade name which has been used by multiple printers and publishers. Most notably, "The Heritage Press" was an imprint of George Macy Companies, Ltd., from 1937 to 1982. The Heritage Press reprinted classic volumes previousl ...

, imprint of The George Macy Companies, illustrated by Honore Guilbeau, preface by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

Death

Morier died suddenly in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on 19 March 1849, from "cerebral congestion". His wife died in London in 1858.

Legacy

The Adventures of Hajji Baba ''The Adventures of Hajji Baba'' is a 1954 American CinemaScope adventure film directed by Don Weis and starring John Derek and Elaine Stewart. Made in Southern California, it was released on October 1, 1954. In the credits it states that the f ...

'' is an American movie, based on the Hajji Baba novels, which was produced in 1954.

Operation Hajji Baba Operation Hajji Baba was a humanitarian airlift operation performed by the United States Air Force between 25 and 29 August 1952. The mission of the operation was to airlift Hajj pilgrims stranded in Beirut, Lebanon to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia before ...

, a humanitarian airlift operation conducted in 1952 by the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, took its name from the Hajji Baba novels. Morier is credited with introducing into English the word "

bosh Bosh or BOSH may refer to: * BOSH (protocol), a transport protocol in computer networking * Bosh (band), a Christian rock band from Bournemouth, United Kingdom *Bosh (rapper), French rapper * BOSH (software), a project for release engineering, dep ...

", meaning absurd or foolish talk. It derives from the Turkish word ''

boş Hunedoara (; german: Eisenmarkt; hu, Vajdahunyad ) is a city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in southwestern Transylvania near the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, and administers five villages: Boș (''Bós''), Groș (''Grós'' ...

'' meaning "empty". In 1842, botanist

Boiss. Pierre Edmond Boissier (25 May 1810 Geneva – 25 September 1885 Valeyres-sous-Rances) was a Swiss prominent botanist, explorer and mathematician. He was the son of Jacques Boissier (1784-1857) and Caroline Butini (1786-1836), daughter of Pierre ...

published '' Moriera'' a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s from Central Asia, belonging to the family

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The le ...

in his honour.

Notes

References

* * *Johnston, Henry McKenzie. ''Ottoman and Iranian (Persian) Odysseys''. I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 1998. * Boyne, Walter J. "The Pilgrim Airlift". ''Air Force Magazine,'' March 2007. *

External links

* * *
''The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan set forth in Eighty Chapters''
full text

excerpt at Project Gutenberg
''Ayesha, Maid of Kars''
at Internet Archive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morier, James Justinian 1780 births 1849 deaths British diplomats 19th-century British novelists Smyrniote Levantines Fellows of the Royal Society English expatriates in Iran British male novelists James Justinian British expatriates in the Ottoman Empire 19th-century British male writers