Gill, William John.

fair copy in two neat scribal hands, occasional corrections and additions throughout in Gill's hand, text on rectos only with some blank pages, heading to each volume in pencil (numbered volumes 2 to 10), some contemporary press cuttings tipped in to first volumes, in nine ruled notebooks glued together, with general title in Gill's hand on a paper slip pasted onto upper cover, approximately 635 pages, 11 September 1880-18 February 1881, with a copy of a long dispatch on the expedition to Sir Archibald Alison (deputy Quartermaster General for Intelligence) loosely inserted, 36 pages, October 1880, binding worn

Royal Geographical Society, MS WJG (journal of W.J. Gill), volume 2.

an important record of an explorer, writer, and intelligence officer. This corrected fair copy of his journal (the original being found in the Royal Geographical Society) was perhaps copied with a view to a future publication that was prevented by Gill's murder in 1882.

The first part of the journal provides a detailed account of the expedition against the Marri tribe in Balochistan and the North West Frontier at the close of the second afghan war. Gill spent several months in the company of British and Indian regiments patrolling, exploring, and surveying in this wild and lawless area. Passing through such locations as the Bolan Pass ("...the very abomination of desolation..."), Khost ("...this fort is in an admirable position and a thousand men might have held the place for months..."), Thal, and Kahan, Gill vividly describes the stony mountains, deep gorges, and fertile plains of the region. The aftermath of war was all around (on 7 October Gill describes one "scene of wreck and ruin ... broken carts and wheelbarrows, broken open cartridge boxes and cash boxes ... a quantity of books ... and then the scene of the fight with a couple of grinning skulls"), and the company faced continual harassment from tribal snipers. On 5 October, for example, they were shot at from the summit of a "steep hill with a ridge ... some 700 or 800 feet above the Valley. The sides are very steep and covered with loose stones of all shapes and sizes some as big as an average room. The top of the ridge is full of great holes in which 10 or a dozen men can hide themselves."

Gill returned to Karachi in late November, and immediately began to plan a journey to Persia, hoping to cross into Turkmenistan. He landed at the Persian port of Bandar Abbas (a "miasmic spot") on 8 December, set off north, and was soon travelling into the Zagros mountains, describing a pass on 12 December where "the twists and contortions of the strata ... almost looked as if they were writhing in the agony of struggles to escape from the superposed piles of mountains". He travelled to Saidabad, Kerman, and on to Yazd, where Gill stuck up a friendship with the Governor ("He said that Yazd was a poor place compared with London, to which I replied that a place was good or bad according as one found friends or otherwise, and that to me Yazd would always be one of the best places I had ever been in"). Turning north-east towards Turkmenistan, Gill heard news that "the Russians had gained a great victory over the Turcomans and had taken Geok Tepe", and it became clear he would not be able to cross the border. Gill instead rode post to Tehran, where he arrived on 18 February, at which point this journal ends. Throughout his travels in Persia, Gill records in great detail his impression of the landscape, towns and buildings, from palaces and madrassas to the homes of villagers ("these domed dwellings are more like brick kilns than anything else. Built of mud and about 12 feet square, they are entered by one little door"), the Persian language, local customs (such as "temporary wives for travellers"), encounters with locals, and conversations ranging from Opium to the Mormons.

together with a collection of papers relating to william john gill, mostly concerning his murder in the sinai desert, 1882, the principal contents being: 19 autograph letters signed by William John Gill to his mother, including several written from the army base at Kirkee (near Pune, India) describing his life in the Royal Engineers, others written from locations including Trebizond, Singapore, Shanghai, and Britain, over 85 pages in total, 1860s-1870s; 12 letters to Wiliam John Gill, correspondents including F.J. Edwards, the explorer Jules Dutreuil de Rhins and the publisher Henry Holt, and miscellaneous papers (mostly receipts and bills preparatory to his final expedition), 1882; small bundle of papers in wrappers with the title "Private Letters", including letters (originals and copies) and telegrams, relating to Gill's murder, 1882; about 50 letters of condolence to W.J. Gill's mother (correspondents including Anne I.N. Blunt (2) and Henri Duveyrier), 1882-3; correspondence and miscellaneous papers of W.J. Gill's brother Robert and sister Frances, mostly relating to the death of his brother, 25 items, 1882-3; a small quantity of miscellaneous papers and documents relating to W.J. Gill and his family, 1840s-80s; two maps of Egypt and printed material including the Correspondence Relating to the murder of Professor E.H. Palmer, Captain Wm. Gill, RE, and Lieutenant Harold Charrington, RN (London: HMSO, 1883), with supplement.