Official
Ahmet Şefik Efendi
Muslim (Müslüman). Born in Istanbul (Dersaadet) in 1880/81 (AH 1298). On record 1899 to 1906, 7 annual entries.
Archive reference 116_74; 145
Life#
Born in Istanbul in 1880/81 (AH 1298), Ahmet Şefik Efendi came from the Muslim (Müslüman) community. Ahmet Şefik had seven years of schooling, at a middle school (Rüşdiye Mektebi), and held a qualification (a diploma, certificate, training or decoration).
At about 16, in 1897/98, Ahmet Şefik began work in Istanbul, with two unpaid years as a mülazım (apprentice) before a first salary of 100 kuruş. Every annual entry from 1899/1900 to 1905/06 places Ahmet Şefik in the same office, control office (Kontrol Kalemi), in Istanbul, the birthplace.
The salary went from 100 kuruş a month in 1899/1900 to 220 in 1905/06, the peak, in the Kontrol Kalemi in Istanbul, when 13 per cent of paid officials earned less. In all, seven years of salary come to 10,680 kuruş, 26 per cent of what an official on the median salary earned in those years. The final annual entry is for 1905/06.
Career and salary#
Log scale: equal steps are equal ratios. The median of the same title is drawn for the years in which at least 5 officials with that title had a salary.
The numbers of the chart
| Year | Salary | Median, all officials | Median, same title | Paid less |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1899/1900 | 100 | 500 | 300 | 0% |
| 1900/01 | 100 | 500 | 300 | 1% |
| 1901/02 | 100 | 500 | 425 | 1% |
| 1902/03 | 100 | 500 | 300 | 1% |
| 1903/04 | 135 | 475 | 260 | 4% |
| 1904/05 | 135 | 450 | 210 | 4% |
| 1905/06 | 220 | 475 | 300 | 13% |
Paid less: the share of the other officials with a salary that year who earned less.
Point at a year for its salary, title, place and the median of all officials paid that year. Choose a row of the table to mark its years in the charts and its stop on the map.
| Years | Title | Place | Salary (kuruş a month) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1897/98AH 1315 | First work | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100first-salary field |
| 1899 to 1906AH 1317 to 1323 | Kontrol Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 to 220 |
Record#
Personal
- Born
- 1880/81 (AH 1298)
- Birthplace
- Istanbul (Dersaadet)
- Community
- Muslim (Müslüman)
- Nationality as recorded
- Turkish
Education
- Rüşdiye
- Rüşdiye Mektebi (7 years)rüşdiye school (middle school)
- Unpaid years (mülazemet)
- 2 years
- Preparation route (classification of the paper)
- Middle
- Qualification (diploma, certificate, training or nişan)
- Yes
The years count all schooling up to that school, as the record gives them.
Languages
- Turkish
- Kitabetwriting
The glosses are cautious historical readings of the recorded words, not modern levels of proficiency.
First work
- Year
- 1897/98 (AH 1315)
- Place
- Istanbul (Dersaadet)
- First salary field (kuruş a month)
- 100
Recorded with#
Officials who share a place, a job title, a school, a birthplace or the year of the first annual entry. Ranks compare the highest monthly salary of each official.
Same place, same years
Of the 904 officials with entries in Istanbul in the same years, Ahmet Şefik Efendi had the 731st highest salary.
- Hüseyin Hasip Efendi7 shared years; highest salary 20,000 kuruş
- Salahattin Bey7 shared years; highest salary 7,800 kuruş
- Suleyman Resat Bey7 shared years; highest salary 7,000 kuruş
- Mehmet Hayri Bey7 shared years; highest salary 5,500 kuruş
- Hasan Ferit Efendi7 shared years; highest salary 5,000 kuruş
Same job title, same years
Of the 59 officials with the title Kontrol Kalemi in the same years, Ahmet Şefik Efendi had the 46th highest salary.
- Mustafa Kâmil Bey7 shared years; highest salary 750 kuruş
- Hafız İsmail Hakkı Efendi7 shared years; highest salary 630 kuruş
- Mehmet Tevfik Efendi7 shared years; highest salary 500 kuruş
- Ahmet Kazım Efendi7 shared years; highest salary 400 kuruş
- Cemal Efendi7 shared years; highest salary 400 kuruş
Same school
Of the 3,206 officials with Rüşdiye Mektebi among their schools, 3,200 have a recorded salary; Ahmet Şefik Efendi had the 2,723rd highest salary of them.
- Abdülaziz Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 900 kuruş
- Abdülkerim Hüsnü Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 540 kuruş
- Abdullah Kamil Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 300 kuruş
- Abdullatif Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 700 kuruş
- Abdurrahman Hilmi Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 500 kuruş
Same birthplace
Of the 1,999 officials born in Istanbul, 1,997 have a recorded salary; Ahmet Şefik Efendi had the 1,619th highest salary of them.
- Abdullah Kamil Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 300 kuruş
- Ahmet Celal Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 800 kuruş
- Ahmet Cemal Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 500 kuruş
- Ahmet İzzet Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 250 kuruş
- Ahmet Kemal Efendiborn 1880/81 (AH 1298); highest salary 300 kuruş
First annual entry in the same year
Of the 87 officials whose first annual entry is for 1899/1900 (AH 1317), Ahmet Şefik Efendi had the 71st highest salary.
- Mehmet Celalettin Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 150 kuruş
- Yusuf İzzet Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 120 kuruş
- Mehmet Murad Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 275 kuruş
- Mehmet Muzaffer Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 350 kuruş
- Ahmet Hulusi Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 120 kuruş
Full record
Annual entries (7)
| Year | Title | Place | Kuruş a month | Institution | Source | Archive reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1899/1900AH 1317 | Kontrol Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 116_74; 145 |
| 1900/01AH 1318 | Kontrol Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 116_74; 145 |
| 1901/02AH 1319 | Kontrol Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 116_74; 145 |
| 1902/03AH 1320 | Kontrol Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 116_74; 145 |
| 1903/04AH 1321 | Kontrol Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 135 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 116_74; 145 |
| 1904/05AH 1322 | Kontrol Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 135 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 116_74; 145 |
| 1905/06AH 1323 | Kontrol Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 220 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 116_74; 145 |
What the sources named in this table are
- Recovered annual personnel extract
- The merged annual personnel file recovered for the replication of the first paper. Annual entries are taken from it for every official it holds.
Sources and original values (13)
| Field | Recorded value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Name | Ahmet Şefik Efendi | Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Birth year (AH) | 1298 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Birthplace | dersaadet | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Province of birth | dersaadet | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Religion | Musluman | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Nationality or community | Turkish | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Schooling | ||
| School | Rusdiye Mektebi | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Years of schooling | 7 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Years of apprenticeship (mülazemet) | 2 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First work | ||
| First work: year (AH) | 1315 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First work: Gregorian year as stored | 1897 | Recovered annual personnel extract |
| First work: place | istanbul | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First salary field (kuruş a month) | 100 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
What the sources named in this table are
- Earlier annual personnel extract
- The detailed annual personnel file of October 2024. An official found only in this file keeps the years, titles and salaries it gives.
- Recovered annual personnel extract
- The merged annual personnel file recovered for the replication of the first paper. Annual entries are taken from it for every official it holds.
- Personnel attributes extract
- The detailed personnel file of September 2025, read for personal details such as birth, schooling and first work.
- Origin of the record: Post and Telegraph personnel records.
- 7 annual entries of 7 belong to the saved estimation sample of the paper.
How to read this record: calendar years, years without an annual entry, salaries and sources.
Subjects
- Ahmet Şefik Efendi
- Control office (Kontrol Kalemi)
- Istanbul (Dersaadet)
- Rüşdiye school (Rüşdiye Mektebi)
- Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf)
- Muslim (Müslüman)
- Biography of an Ottoman official (Osmanlı memurunun biyografisi)
- Career and pay (memuriyet ve maaş)
- Ottoman history (Osmanlı tarihi)
- Ottoman bureaucracy (Osmanlı bürokrasisi)
- Ottoman officials (Osmanlı'da memurlar)
- Ottoman personnel registers (Sicill-i Ahvâl defterleri)
- Ottoman registers (Osmanlı defterleri)