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This article was downloaded by:[Simon Fraser University]On: 8 April 2008Access Details: [subscription number 790568811]Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of The Royal Central AsianSocietyPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t785027059

Brigadier-General Sir Percy Sykes, K.G.I.E., G.B.,G.M.G.Lord Hailey G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E.

Online Publication Date: 01 July 1945To cite this Article: Hailey G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., Lord (1945)'Brigadier-General Sir Percy Sykes, K.G.I.E., G.B., G.M.G.', Journal of The RoyalCentral Asian Society, 32:3, 230 - 231

To link to this article: DOI: 10.1080/03068374508731179URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03068374508731179

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OBITUARY

BRIGADIER-GENERAL SIR PERCY SYKES,K.G.I.E., G.B., G.M.G.

B Y THE RIGHT HON. LORD HAILEY, G.C.S . I . , G.C.M.G. ,G.C.I.E.

To render a tribute to a departed friend is a sad duty, and it is sometimesa difficult one ; Fo r most m en are many-sided; and in the anxiety to dojustice to the qualities which have earned our admiration and respect, onemay unconsciously paint a picture that is in some respects unrea l. Bu tthe character of Sir Percy Sykes presents no such difficulties. T hepicture is clear. It is one of single-minded devotion to the causes he h adat heart and of unselfish help to all those who were associated with himin his work or shared die same field of study.

That is pre-eminently the memory which the members of the RoyalCentral Asian Society will have of him . H is connection with it was longan d exceptionally close. A t the time of his death in Jun e last he w asone of the six senior members of the Society, having joined it in 1907.H e became an H ono rary Secretary of the Society in 1932, an d continue dto hold that office till the time of his death.

H e took no light view of the obligations this involved; the interests ofthe Society became one of his major preoccupations and he was unremit-ting in the attention he gave to them . T h e C ouncil had, just before hisdeath, elected him as an Honorary Vice-President of the Society, in orderto mark their sense of the services he had rendered both in adding to itsmembership and in the encouragement and help which he gave un-stintingly to members who sought his advice on Oriental studies or travel.

He brought to the Society a wealth of experience and an intimateknowledge both of the past history and present circumstances of CentralAsia such as few others could claim to possess. T h e Em pire owes mu chto its soldier-scholars, who have pursued into the fields of historical or

archaeological research the interests first formed during the travels inci-den tal to their foreign service. Sykes will certainly ran k high am ongthe m . Early in life'he ha d been attracted to the study of Persia, and in1893 he obtained permission to travel overland through Persia in orderto rejoin his regiment in die Pun jab. T h at was the beginning of a longperiod during which, whedier as a traveller, or as Consul at Kermanand at Meshed, or General Officer Commanding the South Persia Rifles,he acquired the intimate knowledge of Persia which gave him a highstand ing as an audiority on Persian history and affairs. It is clear, more-over, that his attachment to die Persian people, and the close friendshiphe had formed widi many of its leading men, gave him an unusualdegree of influence in the country. T h e record of the achievements pfthe Soudi Persia Rifles has perhaps been somewhat obscured by the many

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OBITUARY 23I

operations of a more spectacular scale involved by Turkey's participationin the war of 1914-18; but it is clear that Sykes' personal influence, andthe handling of the small force at his disposal, contributed much toprevent the outbreak of anarchy and disorder which had seemed in 1916to threaten Persia.

His interest in Persia and the studies he had made of its past, culmin-ated in the issue of hisHistory of Persia in 1915. M arked by the highstandards of exactitude and precision of statement which always char-acterized his work, it has become, and will doubtless remain, the standardhistory of the country; the Persian Government recently paid it and itsauthor the com pliment of republishing it in a Persian translation. W hilehis main interest lay in Persia and its close neighbours, such as PersianBaluchistan, Sykes extended his knowledge of Central Asia during aterm of service as Acting Consul-General at Kashgar in Chinese Turke-stan, in the course of which he made a trip to the Pam irs. After hisretirement in 1920 he gave his time to study and lecturing, but he alsodevoted much of it to hisHistory of Afghanistan, published in 1940. Itwas not based on the same intimate knowledge of the country as hisHistory of Persia, but forms the most comprehensive treatment of thesubject, marked by the same conscientious study of all available materialand. care for accuracy of statement. T ha t he had also the qualitieswhich can lend interest to a record of travel is shown by his publicationin 1902 of Ten Thousand Miles in Persia,a vivid account of travels manyof which were shared by his sister, the late Miss Ella Sykes, and his

Through Deserts and Oases of C entral Asia, published in 1920, whichcontained much of value regarding Chinese Turkestan.The Society will mourn the loss of one who brought distinction to it

by his scholarship, and whose personal qualities won for him not onlythe respect but the affection of its members.

[At the meeting of the Society on June 20, 1945, General SirJOHN SHEAsaid: Asthis is the first public meeting of the Society since the very sudden death of Sir PercySykes it seems appropriate to make some reference to him, howeverbrief. Possiblyfew of us realized, until we read the obituary notice inThe Times, the remarkablescope of Sir Percy's varied, interesting and most useful career, as a soldier andadministrator, a consular Agent at Kashgar, a great traveller and an author of repute.His History of Afghanistan, his History of Exploration,and his History of Persia,which latter has been translated by the wish of the Persian Government into theirown language, w ill rema in classics. But it is to his work for the Royal Central AsianSociety that I would specially refer now . He had been a member for many years* In1932, thirteen years ago, he became the Honorary Secretary, and began that quite re-markab le partnersh ip with Miss Kennedy to which the Society owes so much. SirPercy worked indefatigably in the interests of the Society; he_gained it many membersand he maintained the deepest interest in it until his -end. Perhaps it is a melancholysatisfaction to think that the Council had decided to ask you at the forthcomingAnnual Meeting of the Society to elect Sir Percy as an Honorary Vice-President,which was the highest distinction the Society could confer on him in recognition ofhis grea t services and devotion to its interests. Sir Percy Sykes has indeed servedhis generation, and we will think of him as a kind and generous friend and as a greatgendeman in the very best sense of the word.

Members then stood in silent tribute to the memory of Sir Percy Sykes.]