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Henry Dobbs

British politician (1871–1934)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ4163347 ↗
Source-derived summary

Sir Henry Robert Conway Dobbs (26 August 1871 – 30 May 1934) was an administrator in British India and High Commissioner of Iraq.

Career

Dobbs was educated at Winchester College and Brasenose College, Oxford. He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1892, and in 1903 he was sent to repair boundary pillars erected by the Afghan Boundary Commission along the Russo-Afghan border. After several other posts, he served as the Chief Commissioner of Balochistan 1917–1919. Dobbs was the British Representative on the Kabul Mission in January 1921, during which he met with Afghan Foreign Minister Mahmud Tarzi to discuss Anglo-Afghan relations.

The result was the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 22 November 1921, which confirmed the Indo-Afghan border, established diplomatic ties between London and Kabul, and defined special trade agreements. He later served as High Commissioner to the Kingdom of Iraq from 1923 to 1929, the longest time this position was held by anyone during the course of the Iraq Mandate.

Honours

He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) on 31 May 1905 for his services in Afghanistan, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) on 18 August 1916 for meritorious war services. In January 1921, he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE),

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in 1923, a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Henry Dobbs” is british politician (1871–1934). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Henry, Dobbs and British, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1871, 1934, 1892, 1903—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1871-08-26. For this dossier, Henry, Dobbs and British is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “british politician (1871–1934)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4163347. VIAF identifies the subject as 315944721. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1871, 1934, 1892 and 1903.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Henry Dobbs”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Henry Dobbs primary sources, Henry Dobbs archive and Henry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Henry Dobbs”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Henry Dobbs” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.