Official
Ahmet Tevfik Efendi
Muslim (Müslüman). Born in Damascus (Şam) in 1874/75 (AH 1291). On record 1895 to 1898, 3 annual entries. Death recorded 1898/99.
Archive reference 70_98; 193
Life#
Ahmet Tevfik Efendi was born in Damascus (Şam) in 1874/75 (AH 1291) into the Muslim (Müslüman) community; the father was a clerk (ketebe). Schooling took four years, at a school for young children (Sıbyan Mektebi); Ahmet Tevfik also wrote Arabic as well as Turkish.
Ahmet Tevfik began work in Damascus in 1892/93, at about 18, with three unpaid years as a mülazım (apprentice) before a first salary of 250 kuruş. From the first annual entry, for 1895/96, to 1897/98, every annual entry places Ahmet Tevfik in the same post, communications official (Muhabere Memuru), in Damascus, the birthplace.
The salary never rose above the first in the lists, 250 kuruş a month in 1895/96, as Muhabere Memuru in Damascus, when 13 per cent of paid officials earned less. Over three years the salaries add up to 9,000 kuruş, 50 per cent of what an official on the median salary earned. The last annual entry is for 1897/98; the list of 1898/99 (AH 1316) gives the status word Vefat (death).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1895/96 | 250 | 500 | 400 | 13% |
| 1896/97 | 250 | 500 | 400 | 13% |
| 1897/98 | 250 | 500 | 400 | 14% |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1892/93AH 1310 | First work | Damascus (Şam) | 250first-salary field |
| 1895 to 1898AH 1313 to 1315 | Muhabere Memuru | Damascus (Şam) | 250 |
| 1898/99AH 1316 | Death recorded | ||
Record#
Personal
- Born
- 1874/75 (AH 1291)
- Birthplace
- Damascus (Şam)
- Community
- Muslim (Müslüman)
- Nationality as recorded
- Turkish
- Father's occupation
- Ketebe
- Death recorded
- 1898/99 (AH 1316)the year of the annual list with the word Vefat, not a date of death
Education
- Primary
- Sıbyan Mektebi (4 years)school for young children (primary school)
- Unpaid years (mülazemet)
- 3 years
- Preparation route (classification of the paper)
- Low
- Qualification (diploma, certificate, training or nişan)
- NoShown as in the flag of the paper. The qualification column of the recovered extract gives yes.
The years count all schooling up to that school, as the record gives them.
Languages
- Arabic
- Kitabetwriting
- Turkish
- Kitabetwriting
The glosses are cautious historical readings of the recorded words, not modern levels of proficiency.
First work
- Year
- 1892/93 (AH 1310)
- Place
- Damascus (Şam)
- First salary field (kuruş a month)
- 250
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 35 officials with entries in Damascus (Şam) in the same years, Ahmet Tevfik Efendi had the lowest salary.
- Mahmut Hilmi Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 3,000 kuruş
- Ahmet Reşid Bey3 shared years; highest salary 1,200 kuruş
- Mahmut Nedim Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 1,140 kuruş
- Mehmet Rasih Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 1,000 kuruş
- Mehmet Sait Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 1,000 kuruş
Same job title, same years
Of the 1,038 officials with the title Muhabere Memuru in the same years, Ahmet Tevfik Efendi had the 1,000th highest salary.
- Mehmet Arif Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 3,600 kuruş
- Halil Hicri Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 3,000 kuruş
- Mehmet Hulusi Bey3 shared years; highest salary 2,600 kuruş
- Ali Galip Efendi3 shared years; highest salary 2,500 kuruş
- Mustafa Fazıl Bey3 shared years; highest salary 1,700 kuruş
Same school
Of the 746 officials with Sıbyan Mektebi among their schools, 745 have a recorded salary; Ahmet Tevfik Efendi had the 698th highest salary of them.
- Ahmet Asım Efendiborn 1874/75 (AH 1291); highest salary 250 kuruş
- Mehmet Zeki Efendiborn 1874/75 (AH 1291); highest salary 400 kuruş
- Abdülaziz Hikmet Efendiborn 1873/74 (AH 1290); highest salary 600 kuruş
- AHMET HULUSİ EFENDİborn 1873/74 (AH 1290); highest salary 250 kuruş
- Fahri Efendiborn 1873/74 (AH 1290); highest salary 240 kuruş
Same birthplace
Of the 59 officials born in Damascus (Şam), Ahmet Tevfik Efendi had the 53rd highest salary.
- Abdullah Halit Efendiborn 1874/75 (AH 1291); highest salary 1,000 kuruş
- Ahmet Tevfik Efendiborn 1874/75 (AH 1291); highest salary 400 kuruş
- İlya İlyaho Efendiborn 1874/75 (AH 1291); highest salary 300 kuruş
- Osman Şemli Efendiborn 1873/74 (AH 1290); highest salary 500 kuruş
- Mehmet Hüsnü Efendiborn 1875/76 (AH 1292); highest salary 300 kuruş
The page of Damascus (Şam), with the 59 officials born there
First annual entry in the same year
Of the 183 officials whose first annual entry is for 1895/96 (AH 1313), 182 have a recorded salary; Ahmet Tevfik Efendi had the 166th highest salary of them.
- Mehmet Fahri Efendifirst entry in Damascus (Şam); highest salary 400 kuruş
- Ali Rıza Efendifirst entry in Damascus (Şam); highest salary 800 kuruş
- İsmail Hakkı Efendifirst entry in Damascus (Şam); highest salary 540 kuruş
- Bekir Sarim Efendifirst entry in Damascus (Şam); highest salary 800 kuruş
- Yakup Efendifirst entry in Damascus (Şam); highest salary 600 kuruş
Full record
Annual entries (3)
| Year | Title | Place | Kuruş a month | Institution | Source | Archive reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1895/96AH 1313 | Muhabere Memuru | Damascus (Şam) | 250 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 70_98; 193 |
| 1896/97AH 1314 | Muhabere Memuru | Damascus (Şam) | 250 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 70_98; 193 |
| 1897/98AH 1315 | Muhabere Memuru | Damascus (Şam) | 250 | Post and Telegraph (Posta ve Telgraf) | Recovered annual personnel extract | 70_98; 193 |
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 (15)
| Field | Recorded value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Name | Ahmet Tevfik Efendi | Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Birth year (AH) | 1291 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Birthplace | sam | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Province of birth | suriye | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Father's occupation | ketebe | 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 | Sibyan Mektebi | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Years of schooling | 4 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Years of apprenticeship (mülazemet) | 3 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First work | ||
| First work: year (AH) | 1310 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First work: Gregorian year as stored | 1892 | Recovered annual personnel extract |
| First work: place | sam | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| First salary field (kuruş a month) | 250 | Recovered annual personnel extract; Personnel attributes extract; Earlier annual personnel extract |
| Status | ||
| Death recorded under the year (AH) | 1316 | Earlier annual personnel extract (original copy); Earlier annual personnel extract (parallel copy) |
What the sources named in this table are
- Earlier annual personnel extract (original copy)
- A copy of the earlier annual personnel file, read for the title wording of each year. A death taken from it is the status word Vefat in the title field of one annual list: the year is the year of that list, not a date of death.
- Earlier annual personnel extract (parallel copy)
- A second copy of the earlier annual personnel file, read in the same way. A death taken from it is the status word Vefat in the title field of one annual list: the year is the year of that list, not a date of death. Two copies that agree are one piece of evidence, not two.
- 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.
- 3 annual entries of 3 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 Tevfik Efendi
- Communications official (Muhabere Memuru)
- Damascus (Şam)
- School for young children (Sıbyan 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)