Hormuzd Rassam

Rassam in old age

Seaman and Sons, Western Road

An adventurous life

By Carolyn Sansbury

In the late 1890s, early 1900s, a fascinating man called Hormuzd Rassam was living at no.7 Powis Square. 

Although he was now quite elderly, he had had a life that was full of adventure. He was a native of the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, but he had worked for the British both as a highly successful archaeologist, and as a member of the diplomatic service. 

Since 1869, Rassam had been married to Annie Cosby Price, an Irish woman who when she was young lived in Brighton at 11 Powis Square. They and their children returned to the square in about 1895 – maybe after all their travels, Annie remembered it with affection. 

In 1901 or 1902, the family moved to Westbourne Villas in Hove, and then to Steyning, where Hormuzd died on 16 September 1910, aged 84.