Official
Mehmet Zihni Efendi
Muslim (Müslüman). Born in Istanbul (Dersaadet) in 1878 (AH 1295). On record 1898 to 1907, 9 annual entries.
Archive reference 106_101_199
Life#
Mehmet Zihni Efendi was born in Istanbul in 1878 (AH 1295), into the Muslim (Müslüman) community, and the father's occupation was "Makinist". Schooling took seven years, at a middle school (Rüşdiye Mektebi).
At about 16, in 1893/94, Mehmet Zihni began work in Istanbul, with five unpaid years as a mülazım (apprentice) before a first salary of 60 kuruş. The annual lists begin in 1898/99, with Mehmet Zihni as a communications official (Muhabere Memuru) in Beyoğlu. Mehmet Zihni then moved to Tarabya in 1900/01, then back to Beyoğlu from 1901 to 1904. The last posts were in Haskovo in 1904/05 and Beyoğlu in 1905/06 and Karadeniz Ereğli in 1906/07.
Pay rose from 60 kuruş a month in 1898/99 to a peak of 300 in 1904/05, as Muhabere Memuru in Haskovo, when 23 per cent of paid officials earned less. Over nine years the salaries add up to 24,420 kuruş, 46 per cent of what an official on the median salary earned. The last annual entry is for 1906/07.
Places in order of time#
Each number is a stop: the birthplace, the place of first work, then every place of the annual entries in turn. The year beside an arrow is the first entry at the new place.
Born 1878 (AH 1295); First work 1893/94 (AH 1311)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898/99 | 60 | 500 | 400 | 1% |
| 1899/1900 | 175 | 500 | 400 | 7% |
| 1900/01 | 250 | 500 | 400 | 13% |
| 1901/02 | 250 | 500 | 400 | 14% |
| 1902/03 | 250 | 500 | 380 | 15% |
| 1903/04 | 250 | 475 | 350 | 14% |
| 1904/05 | 300 | 450 | 350 | 23% |
| 1905/06 | 200 | 475 | 330 | 8% |
| 1906/07 | 300 | 450 | 300 | 25% |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1893/94AH 1311 | First work | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 60first-salary field |
| 1898 to 1900AH 1316 to 1317 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 60 to 175 |
| 1900/01AH 1318 | Muhabere Memuru | Tarabya | 250 |
| 1901 to 1904AH 1319 to 1321 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 250 |
| 1904/05AH 1322 | Muhabere Memuru | Haskovo (Hasköy) | 300 |
| 1905/06AH 1323 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 200 |
| 1906/07AH 1324 | Muhabere Memuru | Karadeniz Ereğli | 300 |
Record#
Personal
- Born
- 1878 (AH 1295)
- Birthplace
- Istanbul (Dersaadet)
- Community
- Muslim (Müslüman)
- Nationality as recorded
- Turkish
- Father's occupation
- Makinist
Education
- Rüşdiye
- Rüşdiye Mektebi (7 years)rüşdiye school (middle school)
- Unpaid years (mülazemet)
- 5 years
- Preparation route (classification of the paper)
- Low
- Qualification (diploma, certificate, training or nişan)
- No
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
- 1893/94 (AH 1311)
- Place
- Istanbul (Dersaadet)
- First salary field (kuruş a month)
- 60
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 194 officials with entries in Beyoğlu in the same years, Mehmet Zihni Efendi had the 149th highest salary.
- Emrullah Efendi6 shared years; highest salary 10,000 kuruş
- Unnamed official (0002_0176; 350)6 shared years; highest salary 3,500 kuruş
- Mustafa Nesimi Efendi6 shared years; highest salary 3,250 kuruş
- Paskal Mıgırdıç Kazancıyan Efendi6 shared years; highest salary 2,905 kuruş
- Nikola Yunani Efendi6 shared years; highest salary 1,350 kuruş
Same job title, same years
Of the 1,688 officials with the title Muhabere Memuru in the same years, Mehmet Zihni Efendi had the 1,203rd highest salary.
- Mehmet Hulusi Bey9 shared years; highest salary 2,600 kuruş
- Mustafa Fazıl Bey9 shared years; highest salary 1,700 kuruş
- Mehmet Sadullah Efendi9 shared years; highest salary 1,650 kuruş
- Mehmet Asım Efendi9 shared years; highest salary 1,550 kuruş
- Nikola Yunani Efendi9 shared years; highest salary 1,350 kuruş
Same school
Of the 3,206 officials with Rüşdiye Mektebi among their schools, 3,200 have a recorded salary; Mehmet Zihni Efendi had the 2,211th highest salary of them.
- Abdülkadir Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 400 kuruş
- Abdülkerim Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 300 kuruş
- ABDULLAH VEHBİ EFENDİborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 300 kuruş
- Abdurrezzak Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 600 kuruş
- Ahmed İzzet Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 360 kuruş
Same birthplace
Of the 1,999 officials born in Istanbul, 1,997 have a recorded salary; Mehmet Zihni Efendi had the 1,419th highest salary of them.
- Abdülkerim Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 300 kuruş
- Ahmet Feyzi Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 400 kuruş
- Ahmet Muhsin Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 300 kuruş
- Ahmet Selahattin Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 200 kuruş
- Ali Saib Efendiborn 1878 (AH 1295); highest salary 900 kuruş
First annual entry in the same year
Of the 93 officials whose first annual entry is for 1898/99 (AH 1316), 92 have a recorded salary; Mehmet Zihni Efendi had the 59th highest salary of them.
- Mehmet Nazif Efendifirst entry in Beyoğlu; highest salary 400 kuruş
- Daron Naçhan Efendifirst entry in Beyoğlu; highest salary 800 kuruş
- Ahmed İzzet Efendifirst entry in Rawanduz (Revanduz); highest salary 360 kuruş
- HÜSAMETTİN EFENDİfirst entry in Erzurum; highest salary 350 kuruş
- Hüseyin Şefik Efendifirst entry in Jerusalem (Kudüs); highest salary 1,000 kuruş
Full record
Annual entries (9)
| Year | Title | Place | Kuruş a month | Institution | Source | Archive reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898/99AH 1316 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 60 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
| 1899/1900AH 1317 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 175 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
| 1900/01AH 1318 | Muhabere Memuru | Tarabya | 250 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
| 1901/02AH 1319 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 250 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
| 1902/03AH 1320 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 250 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
| 1903/04AH 1321 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 250 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
| 1904/05AH 1322 | Muhabere Memuru | Haskovo (Hasköy) | 300 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
| 1905/06AH 1323 | Muhabere Memuru | Beyoğlu | 200 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
| 1906/07AH 1324 | Muhabere Memuru | Karadeniz Ereğli | 300 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 106_101_199 |
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 (14)
| Field | Recorded value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Name | Mehmet Zihni Efendi | Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Birth year (AH) | 1295 | 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 |
| Father's occupation | Makinist | 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) | 5 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First work | ||
| First work: year (AH) | 1311 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First work: Gregorian year as stored | 1893 | 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) | 60 | 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.
- 8 annual entries of 9 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
- Mehmet Zihni Efendi
- Communications official (Muhabere Memuru)
- Beyoğlu
- 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)