By: Mir M.Hosseini
When the French signed the Treaty of Finckenstein with Persia in 1807, London appointed Harford Jones on a mission to establish diplomatic relations with the Qajar court. Britain's first envoy, John Malcolm could not succeed in gaining access to the Persian Court. The governor of India authorized Jones to proceed in a letter on Aug, 12, 1908.
Jones succeeded in gaining access to Fathali Shah's court and became Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia and was honored for being the first diplomat in Iran. He soon succeeded in signing a treaty of friendship and alliance with Tehran in March 1809 which effectively barred France from the route to India. He began the involvement of British military instructors in the Persian army and prevented peace between Persia and Russia.
Despite his success, he fell at odds with Malcolm who insisted that relations with Iran should be controlled from India. Jones also opposed Malcolm's idea of an island base in the Persian Gulf. In 1810, he had many enemies in London when his conception of Persia as a buffer state collided with a demand from the foreign office for a subsidiary alliance.
Having acquired proficiency in some oriental languages, in 1833, he published a book about the Qajar Dynasty translated from a Persian manuscript. Sir Harford Jones died on 17 March 1847.