Photo 920/1

Collection of 199 prints mainly relating to Skrine's period as Consul-General at Kashgar from 1922-24.

Sir Clarmont Percival Skrine (1888-1974) was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, before entering the Indian Civil Service in 1912. He served in South Persia (Sibi and Kermah) from 1915-19 and was Political Agent at Chagai in 1921 and at Quetta from 1921-22. From 1922-24 he served at British Consul-General for Turkestan at Kashgar, a period which is described in his 'Chinese Central Asia' (London, 1926). Many of the illustrations used in the book are included in this collection. Skrine was Consul for Soistan and Kain from 1927-29, in the latter year being appointed Political Agent, Sibi (Baluchistan). From 1932-35 he was Political Agent in Kalat and Chagai. In 1936 he returned to India as Resident for the Madras States (1936-39) and for the Punjab States 1939-41. He returned to Persia after this and served from 1942-26 as Consul-General in Meshed. From 1946 until his retirement in 1948, Skrine was Counsellor for Indian Affairs at Teheran. After his retirement from the service he was appointed by the firm Balfour Beatty & Co. to be Resident Director of the Jerusalem Electricity Corporation in connection with the scheme for obtaining electric power from the Jordan.

In 1925, accompanied by his wife Doris, he made a journey into the largely unknown valleys of the Kungar Alps in Chinese Turkestan, during which he mapped, photographed and surveyed the country. This journey was described in an article in 'The Times' in May 1925 and forms a central part of his 'Chinese Central Asia'. He also published in 1962 'World War in Iran' and in 1973, with Pamela Nightingale, 'Macartney in Kashgar'. His collection of paper from 1912-55 is held in the European Manuscripts Section (Mss Eur F154).