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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [460v] (919/949)
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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
2
(t'i) the choice of a landing place for the proposed telegraph cable ;
the only point of the letter on which their Lordships’ views were requested,
appew to be contained in the latter part of the second paragraph in which
Mr Brodrick hopes that the Admiralty will see their way to support tbo cla.m
o the Government of India that the whole cost of the proposal to re-establish
a British Telegraph Station should not be borne by Indian Revenues. It
•siL. 3851 „secM e, 1904 ,n., 3 oo- was in this sense that the letter was taken,
3K&. and replied* to.
6 The letterf of the 8th of August 1904 from the
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.
was the
tsee 8«rct e. Proceedings M.rcb i9o5, No». 7o7- first categorical intimation reeeived by
779 , My Lords of any contemplated extension
of the original plan of re-oecupying Telegraph Island, by erecting Flagstaffs
on the Maklab isthmus and on Sheep Island, but this letter meredy enclosed a
copy of a letter which had been addressed to the Foreign Office asking Lord
Lansdowne’s opinion whether there was any objection to authority being given
to the Government of India to erect the Flagstaffs.
7. My Lords cannot admit the fact of their having offered no. objection
to the proposal to re-occupy Telegraph Island by placing there a
Native Agent
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
in charge of a British Flag, can be held to cover their unsolicited acquiescence
in the proposed further distribution of Flagstaffs in the District, one being
on the mainland.
8. The original proposal on which they were directly consulted. was
simply a case of reverting to a state of things which had previously existed
without question; to the renewal of which there was a reasonable.answer in the
event of objections being raised by European Powers, and in which there could
be no question of territorial expansion as the so-called island is nothing but a
rock. As regards the other flagstaffs, it is a very different matter, and My
Lords, when appealed to by your Department at the instance of the loreign
Office, as to the flags to be flown, felt, as
V hxi ‘ already stated in Admiralty letterf (M-
0170') of the 23rd December 1904, that if the flag was not intended to denote
British territorial expansion, it not only meant nothing but was a possible
source of international complication.
That My Lords did not take an earlier opportunity of bringing these
considerations to Mr. Brodrick’s notice is because they had never been directly
consulted on the political aspect of the question.
The matter is one which is only likely to affect His Majesty’s Navy in cer
tain contingencies, and they assumed that the hoisting of the flags was the
result of a policy already decided on between the Foreign Office,
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.
and the Government of India, and that had their views on the subject been
required they would have been asked for them definitely.
I am, etc.,
(Sd.) C. I. THOMAS.
Telegram, No. 1213-E.B., dated the 22nd March 1905.
^rom—His Excellency the Viceroy, Calcutta,
To—His Majesty’s Secretary of State for India, London.
Do you wish for our opinions either now or at a later stage on the Admi-
ralty letter to the
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.
of the
on Musandim?
11m February 1905 regarding flagstaff
/
rx-r
KNo pit t*\
Of- Afar ^> 7 - ^<^6 — 2
No. 1224-E. B., dated the Fort William, the 23rd March 1905.
Endorsed by the Government of India, Foreign Department.
A copy of the foregoing communication is forwarded to the Politica
Resident in the
Persian gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
for infor
mation in continuation of the endorse
ment from the Government of India ii
the Foreign Department No.-^39-E. B.
dated 14th February 1905.
Communication from the Admiralty to the India
Secret E., March Office, dated 11th February
1905, No*, i^g. 19C)3,
(Received with letter No. 8 , dated the 24th Feb
ruary 1905, from the Secretary, Political Depart
ment,
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.
.)
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’ [460v] (919/949), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/359/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100093227832.0x000078> [accessed 14 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- 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