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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. 169-A., dated Meshed, the 8th September 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,
With reference to my letter No. 103-A., dated the 24th June 1899, I have the
honour to forward a copy of Despatch No. q, Political, dated 20th August 1899,
from Major P. M. Sykes to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Political No. 9. Near Kain, aist August 1899.
To The Right Honourable the Marquess of Salisbury, K. G.
My Lord,
In the following despatch, I propose to give some account of the ruling
family of Kain, which also governs Seistan, Tabbas and Tun, as I am now in a
position to speak with certainty on two or three points, as to which I have hither
to been without information.
With regard to the history of the family, they know little or nothing abouj
themselves except that they believe that they are members of the Arab tribe o*
Khazai, which driven out of Bahrein, finally reached Kain from the shores of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
, the district of Bandan, its southern border, first falling under their
influence.
The province of Kain, until the middle of the present century, was practically
independent, but yet occasionally paid tribute to Herat, the attitude of its chiefs
being described to me by a Khan as that of “ looking two ways.”
After the death of Yar Mohamed, the infamous yet able vizier of Herat, the
Persian Government which had failed in its strenuous efforts to seize that city,
had to be content with some of its outlying provinces, Kain being annexed with
other districts to the north, the ruling family experiencing good treatment, be
came attached to Persia and, at the time of the Goldsmid mission, we find that
Mir Alum Khan had rendered his Government yeoman’s service by annexing the
most valuable portion of Seistan.
It must be remembered that the Amir of Kain was perhaps about on a par,
as regards education, with a mediaeval border baron, so that his treatment of the
mission is not surprising, as its true position and aims were never grasped by him ;
otherwise, in my humble opinion, instead of showing himself openly hostile, he
would have been anxious to court the British Commissioner, upon whose arbitral
decision, the result of all his efforts depended.
In any case although jealous of his dignity, he received Colonel MacGregor
and other officers with courtesy, and remained a practically independent ruler of
Kain and Seistan, until his death, in 1891.
When this event occurred he had three sons and a daughter living, the
former being by three separate wives which, as may be supposed, was not calcu
lated to ensure a harmonious division of the property.
His eldest son, the Hashmat-ul-Mulk who was absent in Seistan, was, it is
understood, jockeyed out of his share of the hoarded cash, the whole of which
was appropriated by the Shaukat-ul-Mulk, the present Amir of Kain ; in conse
quence, the family, since that date has been split up into two hostile factions,
the Shaukat-ul-Mulk being supported by his half brother, who is now perhaps
18, while the sister, who is married to a local Khan, is on the side of the head
of the family.
To take the Hashmat-ul-Mulk first, I have not, as yet, made his acquain
tance, but he is universally considered to be of a higher type than his brother
and, upon the whole, is more influential, his age is close on 50.
I
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