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The record is made up of 1 file (388 folios). It was created in 17 Jan 1899-4 Apr 1904. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
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No 141-A., dated Meshed, the 4th August 1899.
From— Lieutenant-Colonel H. M. Temple, Agent to the Governor-General of
India and Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General for Khorassan and
Seistan,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
I have the honour to forward a copy of letter No. 52-L., dated the 4th
August 1899, to the address of the Minister at Tehran (together with a copy of
enclosures) on the subject of the establishment of a Seistan and Kain consulate.
No. 5 2 *L>> dated Meshed, the 4th August 1899.
From— Lieutenant-Colonel H. M. Temple, Agent to the Governor-General
of India and Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General for Khorassan and
Seistan,
To—Her Britannic Majesty’s
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'.
at the Court of Persia, etc., etc., etc., Tehran.
With reference to my letter to the Government of India No. 103, dated
June 34th, 1899, I have the honour to forward a letter No. 6, dated 7th July, from
Captain Sykes addressed to you, sent
under flying seal
Letters which could be freely opened before reaching their destination.
to me, on the subject of the
limits of his consular district, and to enclose at the same time a memorandum which
I have drawn up as to the circumstances which led to the appointment of Cap
tain Sykes to Seistan and Kain.
2. Captain Sykes requests that the province of Kain may be included in his
consular district; observing that his political despatches of this year would prove
the necessity for this. In paragraph 5 of the enclosed memorandum I have noticed
the observations made by Captain Sykes on this subject. If a consular officer is
to be retained permanently in the South of this Consulate General he cannot re
main all the year round in Seistan. The climate forbids it. In view of this and of
the expected establishment of a Russian Consulate in Seistan, and of other con
siderations l was in the first place of opinion that Captain Sykes should proceed
to the hills near Seistan or Birjand. This was done and while I was on tour in
Northern Khorassan Captain Whyte, who was in charge of my office during my
absence from head-quarters, referred to the Minister at Tehran the question * as
•Telegram No. ifi, dated nth April 1899. ^ whether Captain S^-kes should be styled
Telegram No. 14, dated 13th A P ni 1899. Consul for Kain, and receiving a reply in
Letter No. 47-A., dated 15th Apni 1S99. ^ a ffi rma Hve he has been so styled ac
cordingly.
3. Captain Sykes also recommends that the districts of Tun and Tabas
should be included in his consulate ; because they are ruled by the Hashmat-ul-
Mulk who is Governor of Seistan. With respect to this I would beg to explain
that Seistan and Kain were formerly included in one Governorship, when the
last Governor died, the Governorship was divided, Seistan falling to the share of
the Hashmat-ul-Mulk, and Kain (Birjand) to the share of the Shaukat-ul-Mulk.
Tun and Tabas w ? ere formely under the Government of Mirza Muhammad Bakir
Khan (Imad-ul-Mulk). When he died in 1894 he left three sons, the eldesi of
whom succeeded to his father’s title and the Governorship of Tabas. Sub
sequently he was ousted and his younger brother succeeded him. He also
was dismissed and the Hashmat-uNMulk (in addition to the Governorship
of Seistan) obtained the Governorship of Tabas on the presentation of a large
present to the Shah’s Government. After having been ousted twice by the
eldest son, and once by the second son, the Hashmat-ul-Mulk vms reinstat
ed last year in the Governorship of Tabas. According to MacGregor’s Gazet
teer the Governorship was hereditary. It is no longer so as the Hashmat-
ul-Mulk is not the next heir. Tun and Tabas are not connected with the Seistan
District in any way, they are not even very near it, but the Hashmat-ul-Mulk
probably out-bid others for the post. The Hashmat-ul-Mulk, has married the
grand daughter of the late chief. Captain Sykes says that “Tun and Tabas are
ruled by the Hashmat-ul-Mulk, Governor of Seistan, and as it appears that the
arrangement owing to his intermarriage with the broken down ruling family is
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About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to Seistan [Sistan] and Persia [Iran].
The file includes printed copies of despatches from the Agent to the Governor-General of India and HM Consul-General for Khorasan and Seistan (Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Martindale Temple), to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, with enclosed despatches from Captain Percy Molesworth Sykes to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (the Marquis of Salisbury). Skyes’s despatches regard matters including: Seistan; trade routes into South-East Persia; the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan, in relation to the River Helmund [Helmand] changing its course (in despatch No. 5, which includes four sketch maps, folios 12, 13, 14 and 15); Sykes’s journey to Birjand (in despatch No. 7, which includes a sketch map on folio 20); the ruling family of Kain, which also governed Seistan, Tabbas and Tun; Sykes’s journey from Seistan to Kerman [Kirman] (in despatch No. 11, which includes a sketch map); and the direct Kerman-Quetta caravan trade that Sykes was trying to establish.
The file also includes copies of the following papers:
- A despatch from Temple to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing a letter from Temple to Sir Henry Mortimer Durand (HM Minister, Tehran), with copies of enclosures, regarding the establishment of a Seistan and Kain consulate
- A letter from Charles Edward Pitman, Director General of Telegraphs, to the Secretary to the Government of India Public Works Department, enclosing a copy of a ‘Report on the Preliminary Survey of the Route for a Telegraph Line from Quetta to the Persian Frontier’ by H A Armstrong, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Telegraph Department, which includes six photographs of views along the route [Mss Eur F111/352, f 52; Mss Eur F111/352, f 53; Mss Eur F111/352, f 54; Mss Eur F111/352, f 55; Mss Eur F111/352, f 56; and Mss Eur F111/352, f 57], and a map showing the proposed route of the telegraph line [Mss Eur F111/352, f 59]
- Letters from Hugh Shakespear Barnes, Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan, to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing copies of the diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the weeks ending 16 February, 28 February, and 8 March 1900
- Diary No. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 of Major-General George Frederick Chenevix-Trench, HM Consul for Seistan (Diary No. 6 includes a sketch map, folio 86)
- A copy of a ‘Report on Reconnaissances Made while Attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission’ by W A Johns, Deputy Consulting Engineer for Railways, Bombay
- A copy of the report ‘Notes on Persian Seistan’, compiled by Captain Edward Abadie Plunkett, and issued by the Government of India Intelligence Branch, Quarter-Master General’s Department
- Two copies of map signed by Plunkett titled ‘Persian Seistan-Cultivated Area’ [Mss Eur F111/352, f 270]
- A booklet entitled ‘Notes on the Leading Notables, Officials, Merchants, and Clergy of Khorasan, Seistan, Kain, and Kerman.’
- Printed copies of letters from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), relating to the maintenance of British interests in Persia, dated 4 September 1899 and 7 November 1901 (the former with an enclosure of a minute by the Viceroy on Seistan).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (388 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 390; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 301A
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/352
- Title
- 'Seistan'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:51v, 58r:58v, 60r:112r, 113r:125v, 147r:218r, 218r, 219r:269v, 271r:301v, 301Ar, 301Av, 302r:388v, 389v:390r, 389r, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence