Portrait of Sir Harford Jones Brydges by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Malcom at the court of Fath Ali Shah in 1808

Sir Harford Jones-Brydges, 1st Baronet, DL (12 January 1764 – 17 March 1847), born Harford Jones, was a British

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and author.

Life

Sir Harford Jones (right) in the court of Fat’h Ali, the Shah of Persia, by Robert Smirke

Born on 12 January 1764, Sir Harford Jones-Brydges was the son of Harford Jones of Presteign, Radnorshire by Winifred, daughter of Richard Hooper of the Whittern,

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

. Early in life he entered the service of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, and, acquiring great proficiency in the

oriental languages A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Tur ...

, he was appointed the Company's first Resident and Consul in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. In 1798, fearing that

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

expedition to Egypt The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the ...

might present a threat to British interests in India, the Company's Directors accepted a suggestion to establish a Residency in Baghdad. The Residency in Baghdad was intended to provide direct access to the Ottoman Vali (provincial governor) there, rather than through an agent of the Company Resident in Basra. Harford Jones had been the Company's Assistant Resident in Basra since 1784, and seems to have lobbied for establishing the post in Baghdad. However, various circumstances rendered him largely ineffective, except in arranging for the Company's overland mail to use a more secure and less expensive route through Baghdad instead of across the desert from

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

. He finally left Baghdad in 1806. Subsequently, he was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the court of Persia, where he remained four years from 1807 to 1811. On 9 October 1807 he 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 14th ...

. On his return from

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 ...

he was disappointed with the prospects of promotion in the East India Company, and resigned. In a royal sign manual dated 4 May 1826, in commemoration of his descent through his maternal grandmother from the family of Brydges of Old Colwall, Herefordshire, he assumed the additional name of Brydges. He died at his seat at Boultibrook, Presteigne on 17 March 1847. Through his marriage with Sarah, eldest daughter of the knight Sir

Henry Gott Sir Henry Thomas Gott (c. 1710 – 14 November 1809), born Henry Thomas Greening was the son of Thomas Greening (died February 1757), gardener to King George II. Thomas (died September 1757) had held royal contracts from the 1720s onward. Henry T ...

of Newland Park,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

he had one son and two daughters.

Persia

Throughout life he a deep interest in the welfare both of the Persians and the natives of India. In 1833 he published ''The Dynasty of the Kajars, translated from the original Persian manuscript'', in the following year ''An Account of His Majesty's Mission to the Court of Persia in the years 1807–11, to which is added a brief history of the Wahauby'', and in 1838 his ''Letter on the Present State of British Interests and Affairs in Persia'', addressed to the Marquis of Wellesley. In 1843 he pleaded the cause of the ameers of

Sind Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

in a letter to the court of directors of the East India Company, denouncing the latter's policy of annexation and conquest.

Politics

He served as

High Sheriff of Radnorshire History The office of High Sheriff is over 1000 years old, with its establishment before the Norman Conquest. The Office of High Sheriff remained first in precedence in the counties until the reign of Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; ...

for 1816. Politically he was a Whig, and took an active interest in the election contests of Radnorshire, where he founded a political association known as the Grey Coat Club. On 15 June 1831 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In 1832 he was sworn a privy councillor, and in 1841 was appointed deputy-lieutenant of the county of

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones-Brydges, Sir Harford 1847 deaths People from Radnorshire Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British diplomats 19th-century British writers Deputy Lieutenants of Herefordshire High Sheriffs of Radnorshire Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom British East India Company people English expatriates in Iran 19th-century British diplomats 1764 births Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Iran People of the Russo-Persian Wars