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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [177r] (352/949)
The record is made up of 1 file (475 folios). It was created in 7 Nov 1901-23 Aug 1905. 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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(Beceived on the 4 th January 1904 , with Political Secretary's letter No. 53 >
dated the 18 th December 1903 .)
PERSIA AND ARABIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
" jS- 0 . ].
[November 30th]
Section 2.
Mr. Spring-Rice to the Marquess of Lansdowne. —(Received 30th November).
St. Petersburg,
23 rd November 1903 .
(Secret).
No. 396 .
My Lord,
I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith a Memorandum
drawn up by Mr. Locker Lampson containing information as to roads, caravan
routes, and projected railways in Persia, mainly based on Russian official docu
ments obtained by him from a confidential source.
The principal sources of the information in question are the Reports
drawn up by the engineers dispatched to Persia in 1900 , whose mission formed
the subject of my despatches from Tehran, No. 38 of the 2 nd May, and No. 57
of the 30 th May 1900 , and of Captain Schneider’s Report to your Lordship
of the 2nd April 1901 , printed in the Confidential Print, Persia, page 3 .
I have also the honour to inclose a Memorandum on the same subject by
Colonel Napier, Military Attache to this Embassy, and lately Military Attache
to His Majesty’s Embassy at Tehran.
In the year 1900 several missions were dispatched to Persia by the Russian
Government in order to obtain surveys and collect information with a view to
the eventual construction of railways. The results of their Reports are
embodied in the documents obtained by Mr. Lampson—with one important
exception. Sir A Hardinge, in his despatch No. 25 of the 12th Eebruary 1901 ,
and Sir N. O’Conor, in his despatch No. 95 of the 6th March, mentions the
arrival of a Russian party under the direction of a high official, at
Karmanshah at which town they stayed on a surveying tour which extended
from Tabreez to Bagdad. There is nothing in the Report now before your
Lordship to show what was the result of this expedition, which it would be of
great interest to know in view of the attention paid to the route in question
by the Russian press, and the attitude of the Rusian Government in 1898
towards the so-called Kapnist Concession which seems to show that they
regarded the projected branch from Bagdad to Khanikin as a peculiarly
Russian interest. On the other hand, the Russian Memorandum, page 11 ,
states that “ the English cannot be prevented from building the line from
Bagdad to Tehran, and that till their railway has reached Tehran Russia can
do nothing.”
It is evident, however, that the
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
is occupied solely with the task
confided to him, namely, railway communication through Persia to the Gulf.
I beg to submit the following remarks on some of the principal points in
Mr. Locker Lampson’s Memorandum :—
1 . The engineer Sarkhansky and other authorities considered. that the
proper course for Russia to follow in order to open up Persia to Russian trade
would be to construct a railway from the Trans-Caucasian liim along the
southern shore of the Caspian to Resht. To this, course the Foreign Office
appear to have objected that if Russia built railways in the north, England
would build railways in the south, in accordance with the written assurance
obtained from the late Shah. It has therefore, it appears, been decided,
against the advice of the engineers, to construct a harbour at Enzeli, which
About this item
- Content
This part contains papers mostly relating to British interests in Persia [Iran] and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
It includes a copy of the Board of Trade Commercial Intelligence Committee ‘Report received from Mr. H. W. Maclean, the Special Commissioner appointed by the Commercial Intelligence Committee of the Board of Trade, on the conditions and prospects of British trade in Persia.’
A handwritten note at the front of the file, on folio 5, states ‘Spare copy of notes & correspondence of the “Helmand Control” file (with maps)’. Folio 110 consists of handwritten notes, including one dated 27 April 1904, which states ‘The secret Helmand papers have been printed up, and a set, with necessary maps, is submitted for H.E. the Viceroy to take to England.’ Much of the file concerns the question of controlling the water of the Helmand river and irrigating its whole delta, and the work of the Seistan Arbitration Commission to arbitrate between Persia and Afghanistan on the question of rights to the water of the Helmand in Seistan.
The file also includes reports by W A Johns on reconnaissances of potential railway routes made while he was attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission, and other papers relating to railways and roads in Persia.
In addition, the file includes copies of the following Government of India Foreign Department Proceedings, which reproduce received Foreign Department correspondence on the following subjects: ‘Selection of a British naval base in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .’, November 1901, Nos. 74-83; ‘Visit of His Excellency the Viceroy to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. during November-December 1903.’, February 1904, Nos. 33-127; ‘Establishment of telegraphic communication with Henjam. Question of the selection of a naval base in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Aggressive action of the Persians at Tamb and Abu Musa; their claim to the Islands.’, June 1904, Nos. 300-388; ‘Reports of the Commercial Mission to Persia.’, June 1905, Nos. 45-111; ‘Question of retaining flagstaffs erected in the neighbourhood of the Musandim Promontory’, August 1905, Nos. 288-307.’
The file also includes: brief handwritten notes written by Curzon on headed paper belonging to the Viceregal Lodge, Simla, relating to Seistan and to Lord Kitchener’s planned reforms for the reorganisation and redistribution of the Indian Army; and a printed copy of the report ‘A Note by Major H.L. [Herbert Lionel] Showers, C.I.E., on the present state of affairs in Kelat and a review of the system of Administration now being pursued.’
The file includes four maps: ‘Map of the Tail waters of Helmand River’ (13 July 1903), f 122; ‘Plan Shewing Proposed Routes for a Railway from Nushki to Afghan Frontier near Robat’ (10 April 1903), f 139; ‘Extract from Admiralty Chart No. 753. (Entrance to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ).’ (October 1901), f 219; and ‘Sketch of route Ram Hormuz to Fellahieh.’ (April 1904), f 230.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (475 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in no apparent order, apart from the Government of India Foreign Department Proceedings, folios 231 to 474, which are arranged in chronological order.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [177r] (352/949), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/359/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100093227829.0x000099> [accessed 7 July 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/359/1
- Title
- ‘Persia – especially Seistan’
- Pages
- front, 2r:194v, 195v:196r, 197v:199v, 200v, 201v, 203r:272r, 273v:275v, 277r:405v, 408r:408v, 409v, 411r:413v, 414v:419v, 420v:424v, 425v:432v, 433v:435v, 436v, 437v:443v, 444v:471v, 473r:475v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence