Howard Baskerville

Howard Baskerville
Howard Baskerville
Born	Howard Conklin Baskerville 10 April 1885 North Platte, Nebraska, United States
Died	19 April 1909(1909-04-19) (aged 24) Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran
Nationality	American
Parent(s)	Henry Embry Coleman Baskerville Emma R. Baskerville

Howard Conklin Baskerville (10 April 1885 – 19 April 1909) was an American teacher in the American Memorial School in Tabriz (a Presbyterian mission school in Tabriz, Iran) who was killed fighting for Iranian democracy during the Persian Constitutional Revolution. He has been called the "American Lafayette of Iran." (J. Lorentz)

Baskerville was born in North Platte, Nebraska, and was raised in the Black Hills. Both his father and grandfather were Presbyterian ministers. He graduated in 1907 from Princeton University, where, in addition to studying religion and boxing, he took two courses with Woodrow Wilson (Jurisprudence and Constitutional Government).

In the fall of 1907, Baskerville came to Iran as a missionary. He took a position in the American Memorial School, a missionary school, in Tabriz. There he taught English, history, and geometry to mixed classes of boys and girls and also served as tennis coach and riding instructor. He directed a student production of The Merchant of Venice.

In the spring of 1909, during the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, he decided to raise a volunteer force to defend constitutional democracy. Despite attempts to discourage him by the American consul in Tabriz, William F. Doty, he led about a hundred volunteers attempting to help defend the besieged city against Qajar royalist troops fighting for Mohammad Ali Shah. Baskerville was shot and killed by a sniper while leading a group of student soldiers to break the siege. He was 24 years old.