!['Seistan' [‎276v] (552/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0574.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎276v] (552/782)")
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.
principal Mujtelied of Nejef who was supposed to have instigated the dis
turbances. The message was briefly to the following effect : —
<c The political interests of Great Britain and Persia are identical and the
British Empire includes many millions of Mussulman subjects. Great Britain
deprecates appeals to religious hatred as likely to do far more harm than good.
Kot only Russia but Turkey and England have agreed to the new Persian
tariff and it can only he altered by negotiations with those Powers. Let the
Mujteheds therefore address to the bhah or Grand Vizier any complaints they
mav have against the Persian Government and at the same time discourage
the clergy from using language which may be misunderstood by the ignorant
as an incitement to riot.’ 5
The above message was delivered to Agha Sharabiani of Nejef through His
Majesty’s Consul-General at Bagdad.
In July a massacre of Babis occurred at Yezd and was probably instigated
bv emissaries of Agha Nejefi of Isfahan. The local authorities seemed quite
powerless to deal with the assailants of the Babis who obtained no redress. It
is estimated that about 100 persons were killed in Yezd and in the neighbour
ing district.
On August 6th H is Majesty’s Minister reported that he had reason to believe
that the Persian Government was being pressed by the Russian Legation to
take the Gulf Quarantine arrangements out of the hands of the British Doctors
and to place them under the control of the Belgian Custom House officials.
Sir A. Hardinge was instructed on August 15th to make a strong protest
against any alteration in the existing arrangements and to inform the Persian
Government that any such change would bo looked upon by His Majesty’s
Government as unfriendly and uncalled for. The Persian Government have
not again reverted to the matter.
Early in August Isfendiar Khan, Chief of the Bakhtiari tribe, died.
On September 15th the Hakim ul-Mulk, who since the end of May had been
Governor of Gilan, died suddenly at Jlesht not without grave suspicion of foul
play. His death was quickly followed by the resignation of the Atabeg-i-Azam
who had been Grand Vizier since 1897. His Highness immediately left Persia
and proceeded via Moscow and Siberia, on a tour round the world. After the
fall of the Atabeg, the Government of Persia was placed by the Shah in the
hands of a Ministry presided over by the Aimed-Dowleh, Minister of the
Interior, and of a Grand Council. The Ministers now appointed were each to be
independent in their own departments and were to report direct to the Shah.
Towards the close of October Sir A. Hardinge left Tehran to meet the
Viceroy of India who was about to proceed on a visit to the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
. The
Persian Government were duly informed of Lord Curzon’s projected tour and
the Ala-ed-Dowleh was instructed to receive His Excellency at Bushire on
behalf of the Shah. Lord Curzon accompanied by Sir A. Hardino-e visited
Muscat, Bunder Abbas, Bahrein and other places in the Persian ^Gulf. A
programme had been arranged before His Majesty’s Minister left Tehran laying
down the procedure to he observed on the occasion of the Viceroy’s visit to
Bushire. This programme was subsequently altered at the request of the
Persian Government. On the arrival of the Viceroy at Bushire difficulties
arose in regard to the question of the visits to be exchanged with the Governor-
Geneial of Ears. As no satisfactory arrangement could he arrived at, the
Viceroy refused to land and returned to India. The incident at Bushire led
* stm continuing—February 1904 . ^ <r ^ loog correspondence with the Persian
.. c .. Government who demanded an explana
tion or the Viceroy s action.
On November 1st His Majesty’s ChargS d’Affaires at Tehran informed
Loid Lansdowne that the Peisian Government intended to remove the
Hashmat-ul-Mulk, hereditary Governor of Seistan, after the withdrawal of
the Seistan Boundary Commission Mr. Grant Duff was instructed to inform
tho Persian Government verbally that His Majesty’s Government had recently
gone to great expense to demarcate the boundary between Seistan and Afghan
istan where Great Britain had preponderating interests, and that unless an
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'Seistan' [276v] (552/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721605.0x00009b> [accessed 26 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721605.0x00009b
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721605.0x00009b">'Seistan' [‎276v] (552/782)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721605.0x00009b"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0574.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
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