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673. File 14/1 'Piracies & Irregularities at Sea'
- Description:
- Abstract: The file contains correspondence relating to the investigation and prosecution of nine cases of piracy by the Political Agent, Kuwait. These cases concern attacks by Arab, Persian and Somali pirates, mainly on Kuwaiti cargo and passenger boats, their passengers and crew, in the Persian Gulf and off the coast of Somalia in East Africa, in breach of maritime regulations and peace treaties between Great Britain and her Protectorates which prohibited piracy. The main correspondents are all British officials: the Political Agent at Kuwait, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire and the British Vice-Consul at Lingah. The correspondence includes numerous witness statements made orally at the Political Agency in Kuwait and written down in English. The majority of the witnesses are surviving crew members and the owners of the attacked boats, as well as merchants and passengers who lost goods and possessions in the raids at sea. There are several Arabic documents in the file: notes, lists of suspects and stolen goods, receipts and correspondence, including a few letters exchanged between the Political Agent at Kuwait and the Ruler of Kuwait.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 303; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-300; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
674. File 1129/1918 'Bushire Trade Reports, (1917- )'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume contains annual trade reports for the port of Bushire [Bushehr], beginning with fiscal year 1916-17 and ending with fiscal year 1924-25. The reports are authored by the Vice-Consul, Bushire, or by other staff of the Consulate or of the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf. The reports contain information on: commodities traded; volume of trade; conditions affecting trade; comparisons with previous years; customs receipts; exchange rates; shipment rates; origins and destinations of goods; and nationality of vessels.The volume also contains correspondence and other papers related to the reports, including copies of two related reports: a Report on the Trade and Industry of Persia [Iran], written by the Commercial Secretary at the British Legation, Tehran, June 1923; and a Report on Economic Conditions in the Persian Gulf, written by the Vice-Consul, Bushire, April 1929.Four of the reports contain maps. The earliest two Bushire reports and the Report on the Trade and Industry of Persia contain maps of Persia (folios 292, 274 and 132 respectively) and the Report on Economic Conditions in the Persian Gulf contains a map of the Gulf (folio 17).As well as the Vice-Consul, the primary correspondents are: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Department of Overseas Trade; and the Board of Trade.The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 310; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.
675. File 13/1 'SLAVERY: APPLICATIONS FOR MANUMISSION'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes relating to slavery in Oman and applications for manumissions at the British consulate Muscat.The principal correspondents are the Political Agent, Muscat and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 66; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.
676. File 13/1 II 'Slavery in the Gulf'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes relating to slavery in the Gulf and the demand for manumission.The file includes a table (folio 7) 'Manumission analysis for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, 1932-35'.Principal correspondents include the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Secretary of State for India; and the Political Agent, Muscat.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 66; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
677. File 13/2 'ACTIVITIES OF SLAVE RUNNERS IN MUSCAT TERRITORY.'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes relating to arms traffic between Iran and Muscat and associated activity such as piracy and slave running.The principal correspondents are the Political Agent, Muscat, and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 267; these numbers are printed, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.
678. File 1355/1917 Pt 3 'Arms Traffic - Convention'
- Description:
- Abstract: The papers in this volume relate to the Arms Traffic Convention (1919).The papers include: The final text of the Arms Traffic Convention signed at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, containing the names of the signatory states, 10 September-23 October 1919; the opinions of the French and British governments about the negotiations over the export of arms as opposed to the actual export of arms, 12-24 October 1919; the sale of a large stock of arms by the United States of America to the Spanish Government, 23 September-3 December 1919; the transportation of arms between different parts of the British Empire, 29 October 1919-20 May 1920; the League of Nations and admission of neutral states to the Convention, 23 October 1919-21 January 1920; the supply of munitions to Tibet, Afghanistan and Nepal, 29 October 1919-25 May 1920; the Government of France’s commitment to the implementation of the Convention, 11 September 1919; the status of unarmed aircraft under the Convention, 20 November 1919-23 February 1920; the status of warships from which all armaments have been removed, 30 December 1919; the specific limits for ‘effective man-killing weapons’ and other firearms, 6 June 1919-3 February 1920; the meaning of the term ‘export’ in the Arms Traffic Convention, 12 March 1920; the United States’ rejection of the protocol attached to the Convention as unconstitutional, and its consequent inability to prevent private exporters from shipping arms to countries outside it, 6-18 March 1920; the position of Britain and the United States on arms sales to non-signatories, 9 February-15 May 1920; the Persian Government’s intention to adhere to the Convention, 16 April 1920; the notification of signatories about the intention of non-signatories to join the Convention, 20 January-15 June 1920; the Government of Netherlands’ adherence to the Convention, 12-27 May 1920; a request from the Political Resident in Aden for a copy of the Convention, 26 May-24 July 1920; the modification of the additional protocol attached to the Convention, 12 May-2 September 1920; the application of the Convention to the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, 26 August 1919-9 December 1920; the prohibition on the export of arms and ammunition of every kind to China, 22-29 October 1920; and the ability of the Royal Navy to take action in the waters of Persia and Muscat, 1 November 1920-20 January 1921.The correspondence in the volume is primarily between the Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office; Under-Secretary of State, India Office; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; HM Ambassador to France; HM Ambassador to Japan; HM Ambassador to Belgium; British Minister in Tehran; Resident Naval Officer, Aden Division; Political Resident, Aden; and Secretary of the Admiralty.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 345; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
679. File 1355/1917 Pt 6 'Arms Traffic Convention: revised convention, 1925'
- Description:
- Abstract: The papers in this volume relate to the revised international Arms Traffic Convention (1925).The papers include: The right to supply munitions to the governments of Afghanistan, Nepal and Tibet should they fall within the ‘prohibited zone’, 11 December 1924; the preference for including all countries bordering India (except Siam) in the prohibited zone should Russia decide to adopt the Convention, and potential British support for Persia’s claim to exclusion from the zone should Russia decide to reject the Convention, 3 February 1925; the exclusion of Persia and Afghanistan from the prohibited zone, and possible arrangement of imports through Bushire [Bushehr], Mohammerah [Khorramshahr] and Karachi, 18 February-12 March 1925; the proposed abandonment of the term ‘prohibited’ areas to induce Turkey and Persia to join the Convention, and empowerment of the governments of the countries bordering India, 24 March 1925; the readiness of HMG to support Persia’s request for exclusion from the prohibited zone in order to ensure the strict regulation of the private arms trade from Russia to India via Persia, 5-11 April 1925; the Government of India’s objections to Article 25 of the Convention, 11-30 April 1925; the Conference on Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition, Geneva, 6 May-17 June 1925; the report on the proceedings of the Inter-Departmental Committee assembled to consider the draft Convention for Control of the Trade in Arms, Ammunition and Implements of War produced by the Temporary Mixed Commission of the League of Nations, with annexes including drafts of the Convention by the Temporary Mixed Commission and the Inter-Departmental Committee, and a minute by the Secretary of State on the Arms Traffic Conference, 23-28 April 1925; the protocol on the use of asphyxiating, poisonous and other gases in times of war, 20 May-14 June 1925; the list of countries designated as ‘special zones’ in the Arms Traffic Convention, 25-27 May 1925; the proposal of the Persian delegate Mīrzā Reżā Khan Arfaʿ al-Dawla, 29 May-6 June 1925; the nomination of a Jurist Committee by the Bureau for the purpose of determining the status of the Persian Gulf in international law as the best means of dealing with the Persian delegation, 4-11 June 1925; the Persian amendment to the second paragraph of Article 15 of the Convention, 8-9 June 1925; the protest of the High Commissioner for Iraq at the inclusion of the country in a special zone, 8-25 June 1925; the vote on the inclusion of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman as special zones, 11-15 June 1925; the declaration on the manufacture of arms, ammunition and implements of war, 8 June 1925; the general report on the League of Nations’ Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War, including the texts of the Convention, Statement regarding the Territory of Ifni, Protocol on Chemical and Bacteriological Warfare, Protocol of Signature, and the Final Act, dated at Geneva, 14 June 1925 (texts in French and English); the statement of Sir Percy Cox on the Persian arguments concerning maritime zones, and the response of the Persian delegate General Habibullah Khan [Ḥabib Allāh Khan Shāybanī], 15 June 1925-28 January 1926; the inspection of ships at Indian ports and interception of arms bound for China, 22 October 1925-29 April 1926.The volume also includes a decree by the Shah of Persia, Muẓaffar al-Dīn Shāh Qājār against arms trafficking, signed on his behalf by the Ṣadr-i Aʿẓam, Mīrzā ʻAlī Aṣghar Khān Amīn al-Sulṭān, dated 1 January 1900 (in French).The correspondence in this volume is primarily between the Viceroy, Foreign and Political Department; Secretary of State for India; Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; Under-Secretary of State, India Office; the Admiralty; Richard William Alan Onslow, 5th Earl of Onslow; HM Consul Geneva; War Office; Foreign Office; India Office; Colonial Office; Sir Percy Zachariah Cox; Sir Frederic Arthur Hirtzel; Secretary of State for the Colonies.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 610; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The file has one foliation anomaly, f 242a.
680. File 1595/1921 'Arms traffic: Muscat and Persian Gulf. Monthly Returns of Shipments. (1921- '
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes, relating to the monthly returns of arms shipments in Muscat and the Persian Gulf, 1921 to November 1930.Included in the volume are copies of the returns, which consist of tables with the title, for example: 'RETURN OF LICENSES ISSUED FOR THE EXPORT OF ARMS AND AMMUNITION TO MUSCAT AND PORTS IN THE PERSIAN GULF DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 1930'. Each table has a column with licence number, consignor, port of landing, consignee and description of goods. Each report is accompanied by a letter from the Imports and Exports Licensing Section, Board of Trade, London, to the Under Secretary of State for India, enclosing a 'statement, in duplicate, furnishing particulars of the licenses granted for the export of prohibited arms and ammunition to the destination in question during the month of ...'The armaments recorded include: cartridges, shotguns, automatic pistols, machine gun parts, and revolvers. Consignees include the Government of Iraq and merchants in Iraq.The principal correspondents in the volume are: the Imports and Exports Licensing Section, Board of Trade, London; the Custom House, London; the Viceroy, India; and the Secretary of State for India, London.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 482; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
681. File 2830/1914 Pt 1 'Persian Gulf: Sponge Fisheries. Sponge Exploration Syndicate.'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume concerns the attempts of a British company called the Sponge Exploration Syndicate to obtain concessions for the fishing and exploitation of sponges in the Persian Gulf. However, the papers indicate that it was felt by British officials that the real object of the company was to exploit the Gulf's pearl banks, which entailed the risk of infringing Britain's treaty obligations with the Arab states.The principal correspondents are the Foreign Office; Major Percy Zachariah Cox, acting as Consul-General for Fars, Khuzistan etc., and Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; officials of the India Office and the Government of India; the Viceroy of India (the Earl of Minto); and the Sponge Exploration Syndicate Limited.The papers include: letters of application for concession rights from the company; the granting of a concession to the company by the Government of Persia; the granting of a concession to the company by the Sultan of Muscat; a report by the British Museum, on the Persian Gulf as a possible area for successful sponge fisheries (folios 175-176); the involvement of the company with the rulers of the Trucial Coast; and the rights of British-protected Arabs. The volume also contains an Admiralty chart of the Persian Gulf on folio 50.The French language content of the volume consists of an agreement on folios 129-131.The date range gives the covering dates of the main items of correspondence. This is mainly dated 1905-09, with one item dated 1916. The correspondence also includes enclosures dated 1892 (folios 214-215).Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, year the subject file was opened, subject heading, and list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 1).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 242; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
682. File 2830/1914 Pt 2 'Persian Gulf: Pearl Fisheries. Investigation into Alleged Depletion of Pearl Banks. Germans and the Industry. Concessions, etc.'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume concerns pearl fishing in the Persian Gulf; in particular attempted incursions into the trade by the French, Germans, and others; the political and economic interests of the British in pearl fishing; investigations into reports of the depletion of the pearl fishing banks in the Gulf; and proposals to use modern diving apparatus.The principal correspondents are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); the Political Agent, Bahrain; and senior officials of the Government of India, the India Office, the Foreign Office, and the Board of Trade.The papers cover: Report on the Ceylon Pearl Fisheries, published 1902 (including extracts of documents from the 1850s onwards), which includes references to the presence of Arab divers at the Ceylon fisheries (folios 247-281); the presence of two French businessmen in Bahrein [Bahrain], and the question of whether European enterprise could be excluded from the pearl fishing industry on the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf, March 1904 (folios 212-246); the opinion of the Law Officers' Department that the tribes of the Arabian coast had a right to the exclusive use of the pearl fisheries within a three-mile limit, and any other waters that might justly be considered territorial, February 1905 (folios 203-211); German attempts to gain control over the pearl industry in the Persian Gulf, including the importance attached by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Cox) to the operations of Gray, Paul & Company, March 1905 - January 1908 (folios 177-202); the Government of India in favour of direct intervention to secure a British monopoly, June-August 1908 (folios 170-176); enquiries into the pearl fishing industry by Dr Gustav Josef Eduard Levien of Hamburg, April-May 1910 (folios 150-169); papers concerning the alleged depletion of the pearl banks, December 1910 - May 1911 (folios 106-149); further French interest in the pearl fisheries, February-May 1911 (folios 82-105, 66-69); official encouragement for British firms to enter the pearl trade, March-May 1911 (folios 69-81); a proposed investigation into depletion of the pearl banks by James Hornell of the Madras Fisheries Department, June-September 1911 (folios 56-65), and the investigation postponed, February 1912 (folios 42-53); assurances by the rulers of the Arab littoral states that they would not grant concessions to countries other than Britain, November 1911 (folios 54-55), and the texts of the rulers' replies, July-August 1911 (folios 32-41); papers concerning an application to use modern, 'scientific' diving apparatus in the Gulf by Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab Mishari, a director of the Arab Steamship Company in Bombay, and a rumour (denied) of similar interest from the Sultan of Oman, April-November 1912 (folios 11-31); copies of official correspondence from 1857 showing that British officials thought that British subjects did not have any right to fish for pearls on the fishing grounds of the maritime tribes in the Persian Gulf, March 1913 (folios 5-6); and American (United States) interest in scientific aspects of the pearl industry in Bahrain, June 1914 (folios 2-4).The volume includes two Admiralty charts illustrating the pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf, on folio 238 (= IOR/W/L/PS/10/457 (i) and IOR/L/PS/10/457 (ii)), and a map accompanying the report on the Ceylon Pearl Fisheries (folio 278).The French language content of the file is confined to a single letter (folio 91).The date range gives the covering dates of the main run of papers (which include extracts of documents from the 1850s onwards), and any other additions to the volume; the Secret Department minute papers enclosing groups of papers are dated 1904-1914.Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, year the subject file was opened, subject heading, and list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 1).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 281; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
683. File 3104/1915 Pt 2 ‘German War: conquered territory: status: question of trading; looting, etc., of goods by Turks’
- Description:
- Abstract: Correspondence and papers concerning trade in those parts of Mesopotamia [Iraq] under British military administration during the First World War. Subjects covered include: the resumption of trade between Britain and traders at Basra; claims by British firms for the losses of goods looted or destroyed at Baghdad and Basra by Turkish troops during the initial British invasion of Mesopotamia in 1914; the British Government’s response to claims made by British firms in Mesopotamia over losses incurred during the War; correspondence concerning the seizure and consequent liquidation of enemy (i.e. German and Austrian) commercial interests in the Persian Gulf, with specific reference to the German firm Robert Wönckhaus & Company; statements of balances of enemy commercial concerns seized by British forces for September 1916 (ff 116-117) and December 1916 (ff 79-80); the payment of funds from the assets of Robert Wönckhaus & Company, to employees of the firm interned as prisoners of war at Ahmednagar, India; representations made by the French ambassador to London on behalf of a French firm that had 180,000 Francs held in the Ottoman Bank, Baghdad.The file’s principal correspondents include: the Chief Political Officer of Indian Expeditionary Force D, Percy Zachariah Cox; the Foreign Office; the India Office; the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India.Several items of correspondence in the volume are written in French.The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 243; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
684. File 2902/1916 ‘Treaties and Engagements between the British Government and the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast of the Persian Gulf’
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume consists mainly of six bound compilations of treaties and undertakings, together with related correspondence and other supplementary material, made between the British Government and the British Protectorates of the Persian Gulf, 1820-1919. These treaty compilations were published by the Government of India in 1919 and comprise: the Trucial Treaties to January 1906, Treaties with Rulers of Kuwait from 1841 to 1913, Treaties with the Sultan of Oman and Muscat from 1845 to 1914, Undertakings with the Trucial Chiefs of Oman from 1911 to 1912, Treaties with the Shaikh of Mohammerah from 1899 to 1919 and Treaties with the Rulers of Bahrain from 1820 to 1914. In addition, there is a separate Foreign Office ‘Memorandum on British Commitments (During the War) to the Gulf Chiefs’ made in 1916, which contains at Appendix A, the English text of the treaty made with the Ruler of Qatar in 1916. The treaty compilations are published in English and Arabic, except for the treaties with the Shaikh of Mohammerah, which are published in English and Persian.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 216; these numbers are written in pencil, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and ending flyleaves. A previous foliation sequence has been superseded and therefore crossed out.