'Seistan'

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)

It is grouped into

‘Panorama taken from near Manzil spring looking towards Amir Chah i.e. westwards the Koh-i-Sultan 7700 ft. in the distance. Sand drifts in foreground’

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F111/352, f 52

‘Rocky ground. View to N. of Manzil’

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F111/352, f 53

‘Amir Chah showing W end of valley. Closed by sand drifts. Also Amir Chah thana’

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F111/352, f 54

‘Shewing track leading westwards towards Leh, or to Ladis, looking northwards.’

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F111/352, f 55

‘View of Pir Sultan Ziarat near Manzil’

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F111/352, f 56

‘Robat Koh shewing view of Robat Killa camping ground (Koh-i-Malik Seah)’

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F111/352, f 57

‘Accompaniment to Report by Mr. H. Armstrong on the Preliminary Survey of the Route for a Telegraph Line from Quetta to the Persian Frontier.’

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F111/352, f 59

‘Persian Seistan-Cultivated Area’

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F111/352, f 270

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

Written in

English in Latin script

Type

Archival file

Access & Reference

Original held at

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.

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Mss Eur F111/352

History of this record

Date(s)

17 Jan 1899-4 Apr 1904 (CE, Gregorian)

Subjects

Embassies and consulatesTelegraph lines

Places

PersiaSeistan

People & organisations

Government of India, Foreign and Political DepartmentGovernment of India, Posts and Telegraphs DepartmentBritish Consul-General, KhorasanBritish Consul, Seistan and Kain

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Cite this record in your research

'Seistan', British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/annos/search/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc> [accessed 22 June 2026]

Link to this record

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