Keith Edward Abbott

by Henry Bartle Frere

Mr. K. E. Abbott, during a lengthened period of service as Consul in various parts of Persia, distinguished himself by his contributions to our geographical knowledge of the country. His first appointment was to the Consulate of Teheran in 1841, whence he was transferred, in 1842, to Tabreez. On the death of Mahomed Shah, in the autumn of 1848, he was deputed, on the part of Her Majesty's Legation at Teheran, to convey to the Heir-Apparent, the present Shah, Nasser-ed-din, the intelligence of that event, and to accompany His Majesty, as the official representative of the Legation, to the capital. He was appointed Consul of Tabreez in April 1854, and remained there till the rupture between England and Persia in 1856: retuning to the same place, as Consul-General, on the renewal of relations with Persia, in July 1857. In July 1868 he became Consul-General of the Russian Ports in the Black Sea and Sea of Azof, residing at Odessa, and remaining there until his death on the 28th April, 1873. His first contribution to our “Transactions” was a paper entitled “Geographical Notes, taken during a Journey in Persia in 1849-50”, published in the 25th volume of our “Journal”. The route followed by him during this journey led from Teheran to Savé, Kum, Kashan, and Ispahan, and thence to Yezd, Kerman, Shiraz, and Bushire, on the Persian Gulf. Embarking at the last-mentioned place in an Arab boat, he crossed the Gulf to the mouth of the Shat ul Arab, and thence proceeded to Mohummeráh and Bagdad by the river; returning to Teheran by way of Kermanshá and Hamadán. His narrative was marked by great accuracy and conscientiousness, and his remarks on various places, rarely or never before visited by Europeans, attracted considerable attention among Oriental geographers at that time. Among his subsequent communications were his “Notes on Ghilan” (the narrow strip of country on the south-western side of the Caspian), published in our “Proceedings”, vol. iii., and his “Memorandum on the Country of Azerbaijan” (“Proceedings”, vol. viii.). He had been a member of our body since 1869.