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...the finest work on Curzon the man, rather than the myth, is 'Superior Person' written by Kenneth Rose in 1969 - I dare say that it is widely available for purchase on the internet... this very eloquent book, interestingly, only focuses on his life up until he was forty years of age and his appointment as Viceroy... in that sense it is not strictly speaking relevent to his subsequent career in India - but it is utterly invaluable to those who may wish to understand his character, formative influences and motivations in greater detail ...

Yes, Julian, the Rose book is important in understanding what happened in his later life. Because it describes his school (Eton) and Oxford freindships in detail with some of them becoming his lifelong associates and some, like St John Brodrick (anotther footnote, or perhaps an asterisk, in history), becoming sworn enemies.

....you are quite correct, VN - Curzon and Brodrick (the 'Brodder' as he was known) were firm friends from schooldays until their paths later crossed in politics and their friendship was destroyed ... I forward [below] Curzon's reflections (in a mood of wrath) on Brodrick from a letter written in 1916 (it is suitably withering in that famous tone that Curzon reserved for those he felt to be his intellectual inferiors - often with but sometimes without good reason !) : "St John Brodrick was a greater friend of mine at Balliol and in after life than at Eton. He was in some respects my closest friend in public life until in an evil hour he became Secretary of State [for India] while I was Viceroy. In two years he succeeded in entirely destroying both my affection and my confidence. Burning to distinguish himself at the India Office as the real ruler of India, as distinct from the Viceroy, egged on by Councillors bitterly hostile to me, in a position to gratify a certain latent jealousy of my superior successes in public life ~ a feeling of which all our friends were cognisant ~ phenomenally deficient in tact, and tortuous and mean in his actual procedure ~ he rendered my period of service under him one of incessant irritation and pain, and finally drove me to resignation. Each one of the above propositions is demonstrated in the confidential papers with my summary of them, which I had printed before I left India. It was not until many years later that I forgave him and resumed friendly though never intimate relations."

Good,each time I read this passage, I always think these are rightful and entirely justified fulminations on that mediocrity, Brodrick. That his Councillors at the India Office were bigger mediocrities is not always well known. John Maynard Keynes, who served in the India Office in the beginning of his career (before quitting in disgust), wrote of the functioning of its council as "government by dotardry", observing of its members that "a little over half showed manifest signs of senile decay and the rest did not speak". It did not help that the Council was composed entirely of retired ICS civilians who had served ages ago in India and stuck by bureaucracy and precedent in dealing with any (new and changing) situation. They once, in fact, protested to the Cabinet : "Without precedent, we can not function"> But what made things worse for Curzon was that Brodrick, in the India Office, was not only completely out of his depth but, in Curzon's words above, was "Burning to distinguish himself at the India Office as the real ruler of India".

"a little over half showed manifest signs of senile decay and the rest did not speak !" - hahaha Curzon, of course, was a great foe of bureaucracy and of the 'red-tapist' attitudes of his various minions and flunkies. He made great strides in reforming the operational capacities of the ICS (often facing great opposition) whilst in India - and later tried very hard (with only limited success) to do a similair job at the Foreign Office - his frustration with his civil servents was often so great that he often felt obliged to draft memorandum (no matter how trivial) himself in the spirit of greater efficiency. His thoughts on the matter might be best summed up in the folllowing famous quote : "Thousands and thousands of pages, occupying hundreds and hundreds of hours of valuable time, are written every year by score apon score of clerks, to the obfuscation of their intellects and the detriment of their official work." ~ Curzon (1902)

..."Without precedent, we can not function" !!....Things haven't changed one bit.

Undone by the bureaucracy and by his enemies, little men with vaulting ambition unmatched by ability - the story of Curzon's life. Julian, you mention his stint at the Foreign Office, which should have led on to the Prime Ministership but the deceitful (Bob's your uncle) Balfour scuppered that, telling the King, who consulted Balfour about whom to send for, that it would not do, any longer, to have a man sitting in the Lords as PM. Yes, Balfour, another mediocrity (if only I say so and no one else) who rose to high office thanks to his uncle. But Arthur Balfour was a master of the put down and I do like him for that, eg :"Winston wrote an enormous book about himself and called it the World Crisis"!!

..."And will dear George be sent for?"... "No, dear George, will not"...yes, it is an fascinating tale how Curzon was thwarted at the last for the position that he felt that his entire life had been but a preperation for... Balfour (who had previously advised that Curzon should not be offered a peerage on his return from India in 1905 despite this being common practise for returning Viceroys) was a key player as you point out... though there were more levels and individuals within the 'stop Curzon at all costs conspiracy' - Beaverbrook ( Bonar-Law was his creature) and the King himself not least amongst them ( have you ever read the Jameson memorandum - I can send it along if you are interested?)... Of course, the official reason given was the in a 'democratic' age it was no longer thought realistic to have a Prime Minister who sat in the Lords - but , as was made plain, it was animosity towards Curzon himself that prevented his appointment - he had stepped on too many toes and put too many noses out of joint over the years...

How much did the success of the Delhi Durbar 1903 contribute to his overall unpopularity among the British bureaucracy ?

RBSI : The 1903 Durbar was considered a great success in most quarters ( it was undoubtedly the highlight of Curzons time in India) - though there was a feeling amongst the ICS that Curzon had micro-managed the proceedings (he was involved in the absolute minutiae of its planning - down to supervising menu's and the choice of music and so on) to maximise his own status and reputation - in some corners the 'Coronation' was dubbed the 'Curzonation'...

Thank you VNN and Julian...for this extremely interesting discussion on Lord Curzon.

RBSI, thank you for providing the context and Julain forthe reciprocal exchanges about a fascinating person. I have just a little more to say about Curzon. Curzon, with his pedigree, superior ability, high principles and fairminded conduct seems to have attracted enemies like a magnet. Julian writes "there were more levels and individuals within the 'stop Curzon at all costs conspiracy'. Yes, we should not forget that arch martinet, Kitchener, who arrived in India with the single point agenda of undermining Curzon nor all the tittle tattlers (in the inner circle of the Court with their own petty enmities plus access to the bush telegraph from India). If Kitchener took the knuckle duster out almost from Day 1, the latter group, it would seem, were spreading tales about Curzon at court, eg : Curzon's "harsh" treatment of the 9th Lancers (a fashionable regiment) for clubbing an Indian cok to death. In mentioning such mindsets of the times I suppose I am guilty of reversing the gaze here. But, it fell to AJB to administer the death blow, an expedient whisper into the King's ears. That it suited that gentleman's own predispositions only reminds me of my favourite quote : "A man has two reasons for the things he does : the good one and the real one" (J.P.Morgan Sr). I cannot close without an extract from Curzon's Leaves from A Viceroy's Notebook, an example of his great sense of humour. The context is that a tiger shoot had been arranged for the Viceroy in an Indian princely state with Curzon arriving in the Viceregal train. The Maharajah and entourage were waiting on the platform but, as protocol demanded, Curzon was waiting for everything (the guard of honour, the band and so on) to be ready. So he was watching through the slats of his saloon's window. The first to descend from the saloon was C's valet whom the Maharajah mistook for an important official (as, in C's words, the valet's "debonair mienand immaculate appearance at once attracted the attention of the prince"). The following converation ensued between the Maharajah and the valet (and I quote Curzon) : "M : And how is His Excellency? V : I am glad to say that 'is Hexcellency is hexceedingly well. M : I hope to give H.E a good shoot. V : 'Ow many tigers, M'rajah, have you got for 'is Hexcellency? M : We have marked down no fewer than sixteen. V : (with an accurate recollection of the previous failure of similar forecasts, was seen to poke the Maharajah in the ribs, and with a knowing wink replied) 'Alve it at once M'rajah and 'alve it again and you'll be nearer the mark. And the curious result was that the valet, with his superior acumen, was absolutelu right; for the result of the shoot was that we killed four tigers, no more."

...there are so many more stories and anecdotes about Lord Curzon to tell that we could bat them back and forth all afternoon... many are humorous for he was the source of much mirth for those who worked with or for him (I forward an example below) as well as having a very dry wit himself ... but there was also much tragedy in his life - his first wife, Mary, who he loved very deeply died at the young age of only 36 and his health was never good (he was troubled by severe backpain all his life as a result of a riding accident as a youth)... but the essential point about the man, is that for all his undoubted arrogance, pomp and impatience, he was an extremely dedicated individual to all the civic offices that he held and a tireless thinker and reformer with an astonishing breadth of interests ( the 'Indian Archeaological Institute' was set up at his behest for example).... This poem was penned by Ian Malcolm - one of Curzon's private secretaries - upon his appointment as (acting) 'Minister for Foreign Affairs' in 1919 - though it is gently mocking of his many idiosyncrasies it is written with much obvious affection: "I am acting M.F.A.; Please remember what I say Or you'll live to rue the day. C. of K. [Curzon of Kedleston] I must have a spacious room, Not this loathsome living tomb Filled with ghosts who've met their doom How they loom Bring me chairs and sofas new, They should be of Royal Blue Such as I'm accustomed to, Entre nous Buy me Persian carpets meet For Imperial Downing Street, Where on Wednesdays I greet The Elite Golden pen nibs I demand Jewelled pencils at my hand; Lacquer fire-screens; not japanned, These are banned I regret I cannot pass Inkstands made of brass and glass: Get me one of Chrysophraz From Shiraz And this paper ! Well, I'm blest: Neither monogram nor crest: In my family interest I protest For remember, if you can, That, although a warming-pan, I am still a Christian Nobleman"

Excellent, thanks Julian, that is a new one to me. Wonder if the MFA was (Sir) Walter Lawrence a close friend from Eton & Oxford, who enteed the ICS and was an aide during Curzon's Viceroyalty. Don't think he wrote any poetry though.

...think you might have the wrong end of the stick there , VN - Curzon himself was the 'acting MFA' (while Balfour was at Versailles for the negotiations)... Curzon would not be appointed Foreign Secretary in his own right until the end of 1919... ah - the ubiquitous Walter Lawrence ! If you look at personal photographs from Curzon's time as Viceroy he can be spotted in nearly every one of them somewhere - peeping out from behind trees, or at the very back of group scenes - it's quite amusing to try and find him (the moustache is a give away!)...

Sorry, just noted from your post that it was Ian Malcolm. Lack of attention arising from trying to post comments at the same time as uploading heffalump pics for my daughter in LA!!.

Page running out of space, you mean?!