Career Oliver St John (civil servant)

picus sanctijohannis, named after st john william thomas blanford

after serving in united provinces of agra , oudh in public works department, st john volunteered work in persia. mission establish telegraph line between persia , india. mission, along patrick stewart, meant lay cable in persian gulf , land cable line telegraphic link bosporus. stewart , brother champain had worked on survey in turkey. st john worked on expedition under captain murdoch smith, re.

he later took charge of line teheran bashahr (march 1866), , during time second telegraph line added. went home in may 1867 , sent abyssinia organize telegraph lines war. line 200 miles coast , work led promotion. towards end of 1868 returned persia , remained here till 1871. in october 1871, st john sent baluchistan survey of perso-kelat frontier. returned england in october 1872 , worked on preparing maps @ india office. these maps based on longitudes of persian telegraph stations fixed in co-operation general james walker of indian trigonometric survey, captain william pierson, re, , lt stiffe, in.

st john published notes in narrative of journey through baluchistan , southern persia (1876). returned india in 1875 , became principal of mayo college in ajmer. after august 1878 became part of staff of sir neville chamberlain s mission kabul. became chief political officer kandahar field force, becoming later resident in kandahar. attempt made on life during trip in southern afghanistan. posted on special duty in kashmir (january 1883), acting resident in hyderabad (april–july 1884), resident in kashmir (august 1884), agent governor-general @ baroda (december 1887), resident @ mysore , chief commissioner in coorg (january 1889). later recalled southern india baluchistan. died in quetta of pneumonia after attack of influenza.