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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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
2
Since I have heen here I have carefully avoided all action with regard to
these Sardars that is not quite neutral. But now that we have in Seistan the
Sartip Mir Mausum Khan openly at variance with his father over the treat
ment of these Chiefs, intrigues will begin and the neutral position will become
harder. Any serious intrigue in Seistan must play into the hands of our
rivals and he to our detriment.
It is for the Government of India to decide the policy towards these
Chiefs, and whatever policy may he thought best, all the influence which has
been acquired here shall he used to carry it through.
A copy of this letter is being sent to Colonel Temple.
Note on
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Saiyid Khan (Naroi), Baluch.
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Saiyid Khan is grandson of Alam Khan, Naroi, who as a Baluch
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
held land in a part of Seistan now within Persian territory, but in his
days under the sway of the Amir at Kabul.
The following is the tree of the family of Alam Khan, Naroi, showing the
near relations of
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Saiyid Khan :—
Ala.m Khan, Naroi Baluch.
Dost Muhammad Khan Sherif Khan
I r 1
Darvesh Khan
Saiyid Khan Muhammad All Khan
Abbas Khan
Alam Khan and Dost Muhammad Khan, his son, died in Seistan.
At the time of the Goldsmid settlement, when that part of Seistan which
belonged to Naroi tribe became an integral portion of Persia, Sherif Khan and
Darvesh Khan, son of Dost Muhammad Khan, the living representatives of
the tribe, left Seistan and offered their allegiance to Sher Ali, then Amir of
Kabul. Sher Ali, who had always until the Goldsmid settlement regarded
Seistan with its Baluch Sardars as within the claims of Afghanistan, treated
these Naroi refugees with every respect, and giving them 80,000 krans, settled
them in Kila Patch on the right hank of the Helmand, which was itself the
newly recognised border between Seistan and Afghanistan.
It was while these Naroi Sardars were in Kila Patch that they were able
to give shelter and assistance to Amir Abdur Kahman, at that time a fugitive
from Afghanistan. Crossing from Karan, Abdur Rahman reached Kila Patch
in great distress, and was given money and horses by these Naroi Chiefs. This
friendly act was not forgotten by Abdur Rahman when he became Amir.
Sending for Sherif Khan and Darvesh Khan to Kabul, he bestowed on them
“ khilats” and rewards, and sent them back again to Kila Patch, where they
lived for several years.
About the year 1894, Amir Ahdur Rahman again sent for Sherif Khan
and Darvesh Khan to Kabul. During this visit to Kabul Sherif Khan died,
and the Amir divided his property between his two sons, Saiyid Khan and
Muhammad Ali Khan. Being suspicious of the conduct of
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Saiyid
Khan on the Persian border, he ordered him to live in Bagistan (?) on some
place in Northern Afghanistan. Saiyid Khan much objected to leaving Kila
Patch, and on the pretence of settling his affairs in Kila Pateh went there
before leaving for his place of banishment.
At that time Sartip Mir Mausum Khan, son of the present Hashmat-ul-
Mulk, was, though only a hoy, Deputy Governor of Seistan during the absence
of his father at Tabas. The mother of Sartip Mir Mausum Khan is a sister
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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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