The nineteenth century’s ‘Great Game’ saw diplomatic intrigue, proxy battles and occasional military stand-offs between Britain and Russia as both empires vied for control in central Asia. There were, however, instances of co-operation in the interests of peace, such as the Afghan Boundary Commission which travelled around the northern areas of Afghanistan between 1885 and 1888 in an attempt to agree on the location of the northern border with Russian Turkestan. Matters deteriorated again afterwards, however, leading to an incident in which Colonel (later Sir) Francis Younghusband was detained by Colonel Yonoff in the summer of 1891, and a large number of Afghans were massacred by the Russians nearby the following year. A series of negotiations between the Russians and the British in 1893 and 1894 led to an agreement in March 1895 that a joint Commission would be established once for all to settle the precise boundary between the two empires.
British members of the Commission left India on 20 June 1895 and began a month’s trek up into the Pamir Mountains. The group was led by Major-General M. G. Gerard and consisted of Colonel T.H. Holdich and Major R.A. Wahab of the Royal Engineers, Captain E. F. H. McSwiney (Intelligence), surgeon and naturalist Captain A.W. Alcock of the Indian Medical Service, Ressaidar Zahirulla Khan of the Central India Horse, topographer Khan Sahib Abdul Qhaffir, with two Native Surveyors, as well as sepoys of the 20th Punjab Infantry, local porters and assistants, plus a large number of Kashmir ponies to carry all the food and equipment.
On 22 July they met with their Russian counterparts on the banks of the lake at the ‘Little Pamir’, a broad valley in the eastern part of the Wakhan corridor in NE Afghanistan. . The Russian delegation were headed by General Povalo-Shveikovski, Governor of Ferghana, and comprised a similar mixture of scientific officers, engineers and academics, accompanied by a guard of mounted Cossacks. In a spirit of fraternal exchange, it was agreed that the lake would from henceforth be known as ‘Lake Victoria’ and the mountains separating the Little Pamir from the Great Pamir would be known as the ‘Nicholas Range’ on the respective maps of each country. The name by which the locals knew these features was not, naturally, considered of great importance.
The Afghan representatives arrived a few days later, the senior delegate being Sardar Ghulam Mohiuddin Khan, the Governor of Faizabad (the capital of Badakshan), assisted by Mufti Ashur Muhammad Khan. Over the next two months the Afghans, Russians and British would travel along the ninety miles of the border region, demarcating the boundary line and signing a series of protocols to confirm their joint agreement on the matter. All this was finally concluded on 14 September, after which the groups parted and began their return journeys.
Full details of the expedition can be found in the official Report on the proceedings of the Pamir Boundary Commission (Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1897) which covers 100 pages and includes a narrative of the journey, scientific reports on flora, fauna and geology, as well as individual sections on particular topics of interest, all illustrated with 39 pages of photographs. These were probably taken by Asmatulla Khan, one of the two surveyors assisting Khan Sahib Abdul Qhaffir, and who is described as ‘an excellent draftsman’ who had ‘undergone a short training at Rurki Survey in photography’ (p.46.)
Although we do not have a copy of the Report here in our library, we do have an interesting photo album which contains the same photographs that appear in the Report, albeit in a different order. Unlike the official publication, these photographs are accompanied by captions written in pencil, under which a second hand has written out the captions more clearly, sometimes with small variations. These have clearly been done by someone with knowledge of the region, for there are occasional clarifications or additions of place names.
Who added these annotations? There is a clue in the front of the book, as the University College bookplate (which itself indicates that the album was donated before 1955) has an inscription ‘Given by Miss Hodges, Lustleigh.’ This is almost certainly Miss Angela Barbara Edwards Hodges, who born in Teignmouth in 1892 and is recorded as living at Underwood, Lustleigh, during the 1930s and 1940s. Her father was Henry Francis Edwards Hodges (1860-1900), a Captain in the 1st battalion Royal Irish Rifles. According to Shadbolt’s The Afghan Campaigns of 1878-1880 (London, 1882. p.206) Hodges served in Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion 15th (Yorkshire East Riding) Regiment during the Afghan wars, taking part in the advance to Kandahar as a probationary staff officer, under the command of Lt.-Colonel R. L. Dashwood. Although he did not accompany the Pamir Commission, he may have had an indirect connection to their work, or at least took sufficient interest in it to acquire a copy of this album.
The photographs have an interests that stretches far beyond imperial history, however, as they include views of local Buddhist monuments and sacred architecture, just as the Henzal stupa and the domed tomb of Bozai Gumbaz.
The album has now been digitised for the Digital Archive of the Middle East (DAME) and can be viewed here as a PDF. The individual photographs can also be viewed here. There are also a growing number of other materials relating to Afghanistan on the DAME website.