1860 Admiral Smyth 's History of the Club 381 



should pay ten shillings towards the cost of printing the 

 volume ; and that each future member should receive a 

 copy of the book and be required to pay for it the same sum 

 so long as any copies remained to be disposed of. Any 

 member might purchase a second copy at the same price. 

 Twelve copies were presented to Admiral Smyth with the 

 thanks of the Club for preparing the History, and thirteen 

 copies were placed in the hands of the Treasurers for 

 distribution as they might think fit. It was to be under- 

 stood that the subscription of 3 that had been arranged 

 for the expenses of the ensuing year would cover the 

 contribution of ten shillings towards the cost of printing 

 the book. 



The new members added to the Club at this Anniversary 

 formed a remarkable group of men. Sir Henry Creswicke 

 Rawlinson was a notable representative of the literary side 

 of modern civilisation. As a lad of seventeen he joined the 

 East India Company's army and served for some years in 

 Persia, where he helped to organise the Persian army. While 

 acquiring a sound knowledge of the language of the country, 

 he found time to study the cuneiform inscriptions, and from 

 the trilingual inscription of Darius Hystaspes on the rock 

 at Behistun he eventually succeeded in discovering the key 

 to the inscription, and to publish a translation. He 

 was hailed as the " Father of Assyriology." In 1840 he 

 was appointed political agent at Kandahar and greatly 

 distinguished himself in the Afghan war. A few years 

 later he was transferred to Turkish Arabia and thence to 

 Mesopotamia, where he was made British Consul at Baghdad. 

 After he returned to England in 1855, he entered Parliament 

 and remained there for some years. He took an active 

 interest in various societies and institutions. He was made 

 a member of the India Council, a baronet, President of the 

 Royal Geographical Society and afterwards of the Royal 

 Asiatic Society. He contributed many papers to the 

 publications of these Societies, and his separate works on 

 the cuneiform inscriptions and history of Assyria are 

 classics in the subject of which they treat. Sir Henry 



