!['Seistan' [‎33v] (66/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0078.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎33v] (66/782)")
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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
My political despaches of this year will, I think, prove the necessity for this,
so that I need not again refer to the question.
I would, in the next place, beg to point out that the d ' st " cl j s ar "^
Tabas are ruled by the Hashmat-ul-Mulk, Governor of Seistan and as it appears
that the arrangement owing to his intermarriage w ' th a ^ e
family is permanent, it would perhaps be advan a^eou
should also be placed under my charge.
At the same time, in order to work these districts which include the whole
of eastern and south-eastern Persia, yt is essentia or • i j M asrata u a J
agent at Kirman and also news-writing post masters at Birjand and NasraUbad
(Seistan).
The latter I have already applied for and they might, it would appear, be
Hospital Assistants, with great advantage, as medical assistance is appreciated
in Eastern Persia in a most extraordinary way, and a Hospital Assistant should
experience no difficulty in gaining the most reliable information, whereas other
agents would be treated with coldness or suspicions.
At Kirman, a protected merchant keeps me informed of what goes on, and
fortunately the Governor-General is well disposed ; but, at best the arrangement
is but a poor makeshift, being all I can do in the total absence of funds.
In Persian Baluchistan, I have no agent whatever, which is, I think, a great
pity especially as our interests in that province are increasing year b\ year.
In this connection, it is not unlikely that, had my suggestion been accepted the
murder of Mr. Graves would not have taken place, as the Karwanis would have
known that w r e had an agent at Bampur.
The Indo-European Telegraph Department when I broached the subject,
some two years ago, offered "to contribute Rs. 50 per mensem towards this
appointment, but at that date my proposal was not supported sufficiently for it to
be sanctioned.
Since my arrival at Birjand, some of the frontier chiefs have written to me
through the thanadar at Robat Kuh-i-Malik-Siah, and it is of importance to noi.e
both that the Quetta-Seistan route officials have dealings with the Chiefs in
Persian Baluchistan, the road skirting their frontier for several stages, and also
that, at Birjand, I am more in touch with this section of the frontier than at
Kirman, although as regards other sections the converse holds good.
In my political despatches I have suggested that the position of the British
Consul must, to a certain extent, depend upon what line Russia adopts. It is
hardly to be questioned that the Consulate-General at Meshed gains both in
position and in usefulness by having a consular officer under its orders, who can
be sent to any portion of the three southern districts of Khorassan, but at the
same time, if Russia makes her Consul independent of Meshed, perhaps we
should do the same, although, as the telegraph is first struck at that city, there
does not appear to be any urgent necessity for adopting this course.
In conclusion, I would venture to urge that, at any rate, so long as there is
plague in Persia, a British Medical officer, if possible with a taste for botany or
natural history, be attached to me as, apart from the immense value of his pro
fessional work, by adopting such a course, Russia would have less reason for
interference; while 1 should no longer be absolutely alone.
Seconnly, the permanent establishment of the post is of the greatest impor
tance ; and, finally, an escort and a surveyor are indespensible, if the fullest use is
to be made of my appointment.
Memorandum.
1. The following memorandum explains the circumstances which led to the
appointment of Captain Sykes as Consul in Seistan and Kain together with his
opinions as to the retention of an officer there. •
4
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
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'Seistan' [33v] (66/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x000045> [accessed 30 June 2026]
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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