Son of a merchant, interpreter and refugee Peter Paul John Zohrab (-1852), who became naturalised British in Malta, and Frances (Fanny) Williams (fl. 1816). The Zohrab family had been important and influential in Persian controlled Armenia but escaped from the political assassinations of Aga Muhammad Khan (1742-1797). J.E.N. Zohrab was born on Malta and worked as an interpreter for the British army in the Crimean War (1855); a painting showing him is in the National Army Museum, Chelsea, London. James later became a British consul, best known for his report from Sarajevo in 1860 on treatment of Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Both of his sons also became diplomats and worked in Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, and the Near East or Middle East. Specimens at BM are from collections made H.H. Calvert who was Vice-Consul at Alexandria. They also sent material to J. Lindley. Crocus zohrabi Maw was named in his honour in 1881.