Official
Mehmet Şemsettin Efendi
Muslim (Müslüman). Born in Istanbul (Dersaadet) in 1876/77 (AH 1293). On record 1897 to 1905, 6 annual entries.
Archive reference 0091_0022: 41
Life#
Born in Istanbul in 1876/77 (AH 1293) into the Muslim (Müslüman) community, Mehmet Şemsettin Efendi was the child of an official (memur). Mehmet Şemsettin had seven years of schooling, at a middle school (Rüşdiye Mektebi).
At about 19, in 1895/96, Mehmet Şemsettin began work in Istanbul, with two unpaid years as a mülazım (apprentice) before a first salary of 35 kuruş. The annual lists begin in 1897/98, with Mehmet Şemsettin in the correspondence office (Tahrirat Kalemi) in Istanbul, the birthplace, where the entries run to 1902/03, with a rise to official (Memur) in 1900/01. The lists have no entry for 1898 to 1900. The last posts were in Arnavutkoy from 1903 to 1905.
The salary went from 35 kuruş a month in 1897/98 to 150 in 1902/03, the peak, in the Tahrirat Kalemi in Istanbul, when 5 per cent of paid officials earned less. Over six years the salaries add up to 8,220 kuruş, 23 per cent of what an official on the median salary earned. The last annual entry is for 1904/05.
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 1876/77 (AH 1293); First work 1895/96 (AH 1313); 1897 to 1903 (AH 1315 to 1320)
Tahrirat Kalemi 1897 to 1903 (AH 1315 to 1320); Memur 1900/01 (AH 1318)
35 to 150 kuruş a month; entries in 4 years
No annual entry for 1898 to 1900 (AH 1316 to 1317).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897/98 | 35 | 500 | 720 | 0% |
| 1900/01 | 100 | 500 | 400 | 1% |
| 1901/02 | 100 | 500 | 750 | 1% |
| 1902/03 | 150 | 500 | 645 | 5% |
| 1903/04 | 150 | 475 | 450 | 4% |
| 1904/05 | 150 | 450 | 450 | 5% |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1895/96AH 1313 | First work | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 35first-salary field |
| 1897/98AH 1315 | Tahrirat Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 35 |
| No annual entry: 1898 to 1900 (AH 1316 to 1317) | |||
| 1900/01AH 1318 | Memur | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 |
| 1901 to 1903AH 1319 to 1320 | Tahrirat Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 to 150 |
| 1903 to 1905AH 1321 to 1322 | Memur | Arnavutkoy | 150 |
Record#
Personal
- Born
- 1876/77 (AH 1293)
- Birthplace
- Istanbul (Dersaadet)
- Community
- Muslim (Müslüman)
- Nationality as recorded
- Turkish
- Father's occupation
- Memur
Education
- Rüşdiye
- Rüşdiye Mektebi (7 years)rüşdiye school (middle school)
- Unpaid years (mülazemet)
- 2 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
- 1895/96 (AH 1313)
- Place
- Istanbul (Dersaadet)
- First salary field (kuruş a month)
- 35
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 836 officials with entries in Istanbul in the same years, Mehmet Şemsettin Efendi had the 759th highest salary.
- Hüseyin Hasip Efendi4 shared years; highest salary 20,000 kuruş
- Salahattin Bey4 shared years; highest salary 7,800 kuruş
- Suleyman Resat Bey4 shared years; highest salary 7,000 kuruş
- Mehmet Hayri Bey4 shared years; highest salary 5,500 kuruş
- Mehmet Asaf Bey4 shared years; highest salary 5,000 kuruş
Same job title, same years
Of the 21 officials with the title Tahrirat Kalemi in the same years, Mehmet Şemsettin Efendi had the 18th highest salary.
- Mehmet Şerefeddin Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 1,700 kuruş
- Hacı Bekir Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 1,200 kuruş
- Unnamed official (0006_0303; 601)3 shared years; highest salary 1,200 kuruş
- Aziz Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 1,175 kuruş
- Mehmet Fehmi Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 1,100 kuruş
Same school
Of the 3,206 officials with Rüşdiye Mektebi among their schools, 3,200 have a recorded salary; Mehmet Şemsettin Efendi had the 2,922nd highest salary of them.
- Abdullah Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 1,000 kuruş
- Abdullah Faik Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 250 kuruş
- Ahmet Cemil Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 350 kuruş
- Ahmet Faik Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 400 kuruş
- Ahmet Feyzi Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 720 kuruş
Same birthplace
Of the 1,999 officials born in Istanbul, 1,997 have a recorded salary; Mehmet Şemsettin Efendi had the 1,716th highest salary of them.
- Abdullah Faik Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 250 kuruş
- Ahmet Cemil Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 350 kuruş
- Ahmet Feyzi Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 720 kuruş
- Ahmet İhsan Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 600 kuruş
- Ahmet Nefi Efendiborn 1876/77 (AH 1293); highest salary 150 kuruş
First annual entry in the same year
Of the 88 officials whose first annual entry is for 1897/98 (AH 1315), Mehmet Şemsettin Efendi had the 80th highest salary.
- Ahmet Nefi Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 150 kuruş
- Mehmet Niyazi Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 100 kuruş
- Salih Kemal Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 500 kuruş
- Unnamed official (0094_4; 5)first entry in Istanbul; highest salary 800 kuruş
- Abdulgafur Hamit Efendifirst entry in Istanbul; highest salary 1,500 kuruş
Full record
Annual entries (6)
| Year | Title | Place | Kuruş a month | Institution | Source | Archive reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1897/98AH 1315 | Tahrirat Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 35 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 0091_0022: 41 |
| 1900/01AH 1318 | Memur | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 0091_0022: 41 |
| 1901/02AH 1319 | Tahrirat Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 100 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 0091_0022: 41 |
| 1902/03AH 1320 | Tahrirat Kalemi | Istanbul (Dersaadet) | 150 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 0091_0022: 41 |
| 1903/04AH 1321 | Memur | Arnavutkoy | 150 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 0091_0022: 41 |
| 1904/05AH 1322 | Memur | Arnavutkoy | 150 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 0091_0022: 41 |
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 Şemsettin Efendi | Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Birth year (AH) | 1293 | 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 | Memur | 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) | 1313 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First work: Gregorian year as stored | 1895 | 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) | 35 | 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.
- 6 annual entries of 6 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 Şemsettin Efendi
- Correspondence office (Tahrirat Kalemi)
- Istanbul (Dersaadet)
- Rüşdiye school (Rüşdiye Mektebi)
- Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf)
- Muslim (Müslüman)
- Official (Memur)
- 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)