!['Seistan' [‎117r] (233/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0251.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎117r] (233/782)")
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.
o
10 miles into Askabad. This portion of the road is rather better than that in Persian
territory, but is not regularly metalled till within about 7 miles of Askabad, and was very
heavy in parts.
Persian Troops at Meshed.
During and after the riots at Meshed, I had some opportunities of seeing the Persian
troops in that town. While rioting was actually in progress no organized bodies of
troops were visible, and I believe the men openly gave out that they would not fire on
the mob. When things had quieted down, however, a period of exceptional military
activity set in, and the troops were paraded daily in the open square in front of the
citadel, while a large number of irregular cavalry were brought into the town.
Infantry.
The regular infantry mustered 350, and after being served out with uniforms, which
they had not formerly possessed, were set to drill on the square. They were armed
entirely with old peicussion muskets, and were of all ages, the majority being either old
men or young boys. The drill was ot the most primitive description, and, to judge by
the degree of proficiency displayed, I should say that they had never received any
training before, nor did they evince any anxiety to learn. In fact, they treated the
whole thing as a joke, and after the first two days, when the distrust occasioned by so
unusual a proceeding was commencing to wear off, the townspeople assembled in large
numbers to watch their evolutions, and constant humorous remarks passed between them
and tbe men in the ranks. The officers, who were not in uniform, w r ere as ignorant as
the men, and the greater portion of the hour or so devoted to drill w r as spent in getting
their commands into some sort of line in the position they were to occupy during the
daily inspection by the Governor, who, with his son, tbe Commander-in-Chief, and a large
staff, solemnly walked round at the conclusion of the proceedings.
Artillery.
In addition to the infantry, there were present on parade nine brass rifled M.L.
guns of about 3 -inch diameter, and of native manufacture, each of which had a detach
ment of six or seven men. These men, who were mostly Turks, and of a much better
stamp Than the infantry soldier, were not provided with uniforms. They spent their
time on parade in going through a sort of travesty of gun-drill, taking it in turns to ram
and sponge, while occasionally one of the others went through the form of putting his
thumb on the vent. Laying the gun was not practised, and the point to which most atten
tion was paid was a wave of the right arm as the sponge was withdrawn with the left
hand, and the man stepped out of the way.
There were also three large antiquated smooth-bores in the artillery square, and
there were said to be two small breech-loaders in the Governor’s palace. These latter I
did not see, but they were probably the 7 -centim. Euchatius guns referred to in Colonel
PicotV c Report on the Persian Army.”
Cavalry.
The cavalry consisted of a few of the Persian Cossack brigade (five or six) and
others in a sort of Cossack uniform, making a total of about thirty, ot whom ten were
armed with Berdan and the remainder with Werndl rifles. Then there were a body ot
some 250 Timuri sowars, most of whom had old Werndl rifles, but about fifty were
unarmed. Many of them were very old men ; they were mounted on small horses of a
W Wn hrnnoht in from Kuchan and neighbourhood. They seemea to oe villager*
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' [117r] (233/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000024> [accessed 24 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