Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes, was a soldier, diplomat, and scholar with a considerable literary output. He wrote historical, geographical, and biographical works, as well as describing his travels in Persia and Central Asia.
Sykes was commissioned into the 16th Lancers, but transferred to the 2nd Dragoon Guards in 1888. He was posted to India and made several journeys through Persia and Baluchistan. He was sent on a secret mission in November 1892 when he went to Uzbekistan on the Trans-Caspian Railway. Promotion to lieutenant followed on 26 April 1895, and to captain on 8 December 1897. During the Second Boer War he served as second in command of the 9th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry until September 1901. He later served with the Intelligence Department and was wounded in the leg. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1902 Coronation Honours list on 26 June 1902 In late 1902 he transferred to the Indian Army, and was Consul at Kerman in Persia. Over the next few years he made extensive journeys in the Middle East and was appointed consul-general for Khūzestān in 1906. In 1915 Sykes was knighted. In March 1915 he was charged as acting Consul-General in Chinese Turkestan, now Xinjiang, in the UyghurAutonomous Region of China. Sykes traveled overland from England via Norway to the capital city of Kashgar accompanied by his sister, Ella Constance Sykes, herself a Fellow of the Geographical Society and a well-regarded expert on Persia. The two recorded their journey in series of photographs and later published Through deserts and oases of Central Asia, a book which documents their nine-month journey. While stationed in Persia he was given the temporary rank of Brigadier-General, he was placed in command of the South Persia Rifles that he raised himself. His forces, consisting of some four hundred and fifty men, supported the Russians at Isfahan against Bakhtiaras and restored some order to the country. Once stationed at Isfahan, Sykes used numerous excuses to remain, including a supposed Russian request that the South Persia rifles be used as a garrison for Isfahan. By 1917 numerous British authorities were calling for his removal save Lord Curzon. Despite this, Sykes was finally recalled in 1918.
In 1902 he married Evelyn Seton, eldest daughter of Colonel Bruce Seton of the Royal Engineers and they had six children. His daughter Rachel married Sir Patrick Reilly the diplomat. Percy's family later introduced the "Sykes medal", awarded to those who contributed to the understanding of Persia and Central Asia.
