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File 2626/1905 ‘Persia:- Military Attaché at Meshed’ [259r] (522/532)
The record is made up of 1 volume (259 folios). It was created in 1 Dec 1904-16 Nov 1911. 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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To
THE RIGHT HOVBLE St. JOHN BRODRICK,
HIS MAJESTY’S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA.
Fort the 1st December 1904.
Sib,
We hate the honour to forward a letter from the Quartermaster-
General in India in which sanction is asked for the appointment of an Intelli
gence Officer as a military attache at Meshed.
2. Lord Kitchener considers such an appointment a necessity, and in this
opinion we entirely concur. We have no Agents, Consular or otherwise, in
Central Asia, the nearest Consul in Russian territory being, it is understood, at
Batoum. We are consequently obliged to rely on native information, which,
unless very carefully managed and sifted, is frequently unreliable. Meshed is
practically the only place from which reliable information of Russian movements
and preparations can he obtained, and a military attache if appointed could
organise and develop a system of intelligence by reliable and tested agents. We,
therefore, desire strongly to recommend the proposal for sanction as one calculated
to improve our present system of gaining intelligence.
3. Until recently, the collection and reporting of intelligence regarding
Russian military movements have been left entirely to our Consul-General, who,
however, is too fully occupied by his political and Consular avocations to allow
of his devoting as much time to this important question as it undoubtedly
deserves. During the past summer, we have enjoyed the advantage of the
presence in Meshed of an officer attached to the Indian Intelligence Branch,
who had been deputed on a roving commission to Khorasan and Trans-Caspia;
since June last he has been temporarily stationed at Meshed, where he has to a
large extent relieved the Consul-General of this special branch of his duties
and with the best results.
I. The military attache if appointed would be a member of the staff of,
and under the orders of, the Ccpul-General at Meshed, but would correspond
direct with the head of the Intelligence Branch at Simla, who would, subject
to the approval of our Eoreign Department, give him instructions from time to
time. Arrangements would be made by the Intelligence Branch at Simla for
any special enquiries from Meshed which the general staff in London might
require to be made at any time.
About this item
- Content
The volume contains correspondence and notes by British officials about government expenditure on the Government of India post of Military Attaché at the British Consulate General at Meshed in Persia. The main correspondents are senior officials in London at the Foreign Office, 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. , War Office and Treasury. They discuss the joint funding of this post by the Government of India and the Home Government in London (also referred to as the Imperial Government), the continuance of the existing financial contribution to the salary for this post by the Foreign Office and an additional contribution by the War Department out of Army funds, 1910-1911. The correspondence includes representations in 1905 from Arthur Hardinge the Consul General at Tehran, Lieutenant Colonel C F Minchin the Consul General for the province of Khorasan at Meshed and his successor Major P Molesworth Sykes, to the Government of India and the Home Government in London, advocating the retention of Meshed as a centre of military intelligence about Russian Central Asia and the appointment there of a military intelligence officer, given the absence of a British Consular presence in Russian Turkestan and the value of such intelligence gathering to Government of India military authorities in particular.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (259 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 2626 (Persia – Military Attaché at Meshed) consists of one volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 264; 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.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/85
- Title
- File 2626/1905 ‘Persia:- Military Attaché at Meshed’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:263v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence