1. 'IRĀQ & PERSIA'

Description:

Abstract: The map is found in the Report of the Operations connected with the Occupation of Penjwin between April 18th and May 7th, 1927, promulgated by Command of the Air Council. It shows Diyālah [Ustān Diyālá], Kirkuk, and Sulaimāni [As Sulaymānīyah] divisions in Iraq; and Ardalān (Kurdistān) and Kirmānshah [Kermānshāhān] provinces in Persia. It indicates cities, towns and settlements, railways, telegraph lines, roads, tracks, paths, hydrology, relief with contours, and spot heights.Notes in the bottom margin describe the map compilation methodology, and contain an index to sheets, and two keys to symbols.The map consists of two sheets pasted together. A portion of a third sheet is pasted over the western half.Published under the direction of Colonel C H D Ryder, Surveyor General of India. Originally published in 1923, this 2nd edition with slight alterations was published in 1925. Heliozincographed at the Survey of India Offices, Calcutta.Physical description: Materials: Printed in colour on paperDimensions: 435 x 711mm, on sheet 583 x 801mm

2. ‘Persia & Kurdistan. Relative of a journey thro’ parts of – undertaken by Commander Jones of the Indian Navy, & Major Rawlinson C. B. Political Agent in Turkish Arabia – Vol: 1’

Description:

Abstract: This item consists of copies of correspondence, minutes, memoranda, and consultations cited in, or enclosed with, political letters from the Government of Bombay. The correspondents are: the Government of Bombay; Captain Lynch, Officiating Superintendent of the Indian Navy; and Commander Felix Jones. It is the first in a series of two items on Jones’s travels.The item concerns Jones’s account of his travels accompanying Major Henry Rawlinson, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq] from Baghdad to Sulemaneyeh [Sulaymaniyah] via Kirmanshah [Kermanshah] and their separate return to Baghdad, to investigate the border between the Persian [Iranian] and Ottoman Empires prior to the Second Treaty of Erzroum [Erzurum]. The account includes frequent latitude and longitude bearings, observations of the temperature, and exact timings, as well as remarks on local history, the people Jones met, and descriptions of ancient ruins and inscriptions with etymological and historical conjectures. A detailed description of the Behistan [Behistun] Inscription appears on folios 670-675, and the Tak-i-Bostan [Taq-e Bostan] sculptures are described on folios 679-681. The item does not contain a copy of the map which Jones created.The places visited include:The River Diyleh [Diyala]Village of Bakuba [Baqubah]Shehraban [Al Miqdadiyah]The Holwan River [Nahr Alwand]Kasri Shirim [Qasr-e Shirin]Sar-puli-Zohab [Sarpol-e Zahab]Sar-mil [Sarmil]Kirrind [Kerend-e Gharb]Kirmanshah [Kermanshah]Mahidasht [Mahi Dasht]Halebjah [Halabja]Sulemaneyeh [Sulaymaniyah].The item contains a contents page and the title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Draft no 586/49’, ‘Coll[ection]: 3’, and ‘Collection No 1 of No 139’.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with f 630, and terminates at f 706 as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the bottom right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the item also contains an original pagination sequence.

3. ‘Affairs of the Pachalic of Bagdad’

Description:

Abstract: This item consists of copies of correspondence, minutes, and consultations, cited in, or enclosed with, political letters from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai]. The correspondents are the Government of Bombay and Claudius James Rich, British Political Agent in Turkish Arabia.The majority of the item concerns relations between Persia and the Pachalic [Pashalik] of Bagdad [Baghdad], military manoeuvres of Persia and the Ottoman Empire, and the tensions between the two states caused by:The flight of Hassan Beg [Bey], the brother of the Pacha of Courdestan [Kurdistan], from Mahomed Ali Mirza to the Pacha of BagdadThe accusations of Mahomed Ali Mirza that the Pacha of Bagdad is encouraging a band of counterfeit coinersThe Pacha of Bagdad’s proclamation inciting the chiefs of the Province of Rewandiz [Rawandiz] to desert the PersiansDisputes over the governorship of Sulimania [Sulaymaniyah] and Courdestan.The rest of the item concerns:The arrival and treatment of the French when visiting the Pacha of Bagdad [Pasha of Baghdad, Dawud Pasha]The position of Mahomed Ali Mirza [Dowlatshah], Prince of Kermanshah, in Persia [Iran], and his protection of Kelb Ali Khan, the alleged murderer of Captain Grant and Mr Fotheringham, members of Sir John Malcolm’s embassyThe involvement and influence of Russia on Persia, and Russian interest in Kharezin [Khorasan], Bokhara [Bukhara] and AfghanistanThe civil and political disorder prevailing around BagdadRussian support for Mahomed Ali Mirza as the heir to the Shah of Persia, instead of Abbas Mirza, and the friendship between Mahomed Ali Mirza and Yermolov [Aleksey Perovich Yermolov, Russian Ambassador to Persia].The item includes a contents page and the title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Draft 38, P.C. [Previous Communication] 61, [Season 18]23/4’ and ‘Examiner’s Office 1822’.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with f 179 and terminates at f 216, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the bottom right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the item also contains an original pagination sequence.

4. Bagdad Pachalic Affairs

Description:

Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay, Secret Department, to the Secret Committee, Number 28 of 1850, dated 11 May 1850.The enclosed papers, dated 27 February to 15 March 1850, consist of copies of despatches sent by Lieutenant Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Acting Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq] in Bagdad [Baghdad], to the Government of Bombay and the Government of India, Foreign Department, enclosing copies of his letters to Sir Stratford Canning, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople [Istanbul]. The letters concern the appointment by the Ottoman authorities of Ismail Pasha as Governor of Sulimanieh [Sulaymaniyah, also written as Sulimonieh in this item] and the consequent unrest among the inhabitants of the Kurdish region.Physical description: 1 item (11 folios)

5. Bagdad Pachalic Affairs

Description:

Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 33 of 1850, dated 25 June 1850. The enclosures, numbered 3-5 and dated 28 July 1849 to 10 May 1850, relate to the affairs of the Baghdad Pashalik [also spelled Bagdad Pachalic in this item]. Enclosure No. 3 consists of two letters from the Acting Consul at Baghdad and Acting Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq], Lieutenant Arnold Burrowes Kemball, to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, Arthur Malet, forwarding under a flying seal a despatch to the address of the Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department, forwarding copies of despatches addressed by Kemball to HM Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul], Sir Stratford Canning.The despatches concern:Maashook Pasha [Ma‘shūq Pāshā, also spelled Mooshook Pasha in this item], the newly appointed Governor of Bussorah [Basra], leaving Baghdad for the seat of his government. The boundaries of his jurisdiction being declared to be identical with those which defined Bussorah when it existed formerly as a separate and independent Pashalic, and the executive government of Bussorah being placed in financial and military subordination to Baghdad, but with the new Governor being empowered to correspond directly with ConstantinopleKemball stating that in the course of the two or three interviews he had with Maashook Pasha during his stay Baghdad, the latter displayed ‘the least possible knowledge’ of the commercial and productive resources, the character, and the population of the district he is going to ruleKemball writing to Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Hennell, the Resident at Bushire [Bushehr], to advise him of the appointment of Mooshook Pasha, and warn him to be on his guard against any ‘intrigues’ for the extension of Turkish influence along the shores of the Persian GulfThe river in Baghdad [the Tigris] having risen to an unusual height, causing the land beyond the city walls to become flooded in every direction, stopping the passage of caravans, destroying property, and leading to the spread of a fever which threatens to decimate the populationThe arrival at Sulimanieh [As Sulaymaniyah] of Namik Pasha [Muḥammad Amīn Nāmiq Pāshā] following the repulsion of an attack upon the town by Kurdish rebels with considerable loss to the Kurds, his reported declaration of a general amnesty and release of the majority of prisoners, and Kemball’s view that such leniency is calculated to conciliate the Kurds, restore confidence, and hasten the submission of the Kurdish levies, and that Turkish authorities seem to consider the ‘troubles’ in the Kurdish mountains to now be at an end.Enclosure Nos. 4-5 consist of related correspondence: from the Secret Committee to the Governor in Council of Bombay, forwarding a copy of a letter from HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Viscount Palmerston, to the President of the Board of Control; and from Malet to the Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, Major Henry Creswicke Rawlinson.Physical description: 1 item (9 folios)

6. Turkish Arabia Affairs

Description:

Abstract: This item comprises a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 94 of 1846, dated 26 August 1846. The enclosure is dated 26 June 1846.The primary document is a despatch from Major Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq], forwarding, for the information of the Government of Bombay and the Governor-General of India, copies of his communications to Sir Stratford Canning, HM Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul], reporting on affairs in the Pashalic [Pashalik] of Baghdad [also spelled Bagdad in this item]. It specifically concerns events which have occurred in Koordistan [Kurdistan, also spelled Kurdishtan in this item].The papers notably cover the following:An attack on Sulimanieh [Sulaymaniyah] by a combined force under Ahmed Pasha [Aḥmad Pāshā] and his relative ‘the notorious Brigand Abdullah Beg [‘Abdullāh Beg]’, and ‘his tribe of Sharaf Bainis [Sharaf Baynī]’ (f 38, f 36)Ahmed Pasha’s flight to Zohab [Sarpol-e Zahab] following his defeat by a force led by his brother Abdullah Pasha [‘Abdullāh Pāshā] of Sulimanieh, and the defection of many of the former’s followers to Abdullah PashaThe force sent by Nejib Pasha [Muḥammad Najīb Pāshā, Governor of Baghdad] to re-take the province (on the erroneous assumption of Ahmed Pasha’s success), and Rawlinson’s assertion that Nejib Pasha viewed the attack as ‘the invasion of Sulimanieh by a Persian tribe, rather than as a domestic feud among Turkish Kurds’ (f 38)Rawlinson’s concerns that Mohib Ali Khan [Muḥibb ʿAlī Khān], Governor of Kermanshah, has no real authority over Abdullah Beg and would be unable to coerce him or Ahmed Pasha, and that ‘while they continue to hover on the frontier, the country will be kept in a perpetual state of disorder and alarm’ (f 38)Nejib Pasha’s plan for the permanent stationing of Turkish [Ottoman] troops on the plain of Shahrizar [Shahrizor Plain] and Rawlinson’s concern that he will take advantage of the situation to supersede the Baban administration of Sulimanieh altogether with Turkish officials since Baghdad has ‘long been dissatisfied with Abdullah Pasha’s imbecile and unproductive rule’ (f 40) and desirous of securing the territory of southern Kurdistan and Turkish power generally throughout the mountains of the Baghdad PashalicRumours that Ahmed Pasha is said to have colluded with [Rasūl Pāshā] of Rewandooz [Rawandiz, Iraqi Kurdistan], and Rawlinson’s belief that Nejib Pasha will now make a serious effort to disempower him and prevent further opportunities for rebellion.Also included is a copy of Rawlinson’s letter to HM Minister in Tehran reporting and analysing the events, and a copy of a translated letter from Nejib Pasha to Rawlinson covering the background to the situation in Sulimanieh, his previous ‘most marked consideration’ (f 41) towards the ‘transgressor’ Ahmed Pasha including an invitation to Baghdad, and his hope that Persia will refuse him asylum.Physical description: 1 item (12 folios)

7. Turkish Arabia Affairs

Description:

Abstract: This item comprises a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 23 of 1847, dated 2 March 1847. The enclosure is dated 11 January 1847.The item comprises a despatch from Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Political Agent, Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq], forwarding, for the information of the Government of Bombay and the Governor-General of India, the following:Copies of Rawlinson’s correspondence with Viscount Palmerston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, regarding the alleged distribution by ‘Russian Agents’ in and around the district of Sulimanieh [Sulaymaniyah] in Koordistan [Kurdistan] of anti-British printed handbills detailing the ‘military forces and the magnificence of the Russian Empire’. Included is a copy of a private letter sent to an official of the Foreign Office by Keith Edward Abbott, the British Consul in Tehran: detailing the claims suggesting that Russia aims to increase its influence in Koordistan, Turkey and Persia [Iran] as a possible means to invading India, and denigrating Russian approval of the Shah’s current heir-apparent whose ‘intellect is said to be of the very lowest’ (f 475). Rawlinson concludes from his investigations that the claims are exaggerated and misconceived, but supports the idea of a pamphlet contrasting the Russian and British empires, for Turkey and Persia as well as the ‘Koords’ [Kurds]A copy of Rawlinson’s letter to Colonel Justin Sheil, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Tehran, relating to the suggested removal of the Turkish guard ship at Mohamrah [Khorramshah, formerly Mohammerah] from its anchorage in the Shat-el-Arab [Shatt al-Arab River] below the mouth of the Haffar (canal), to a position above the mouth of the Haffar, specifically Nejib Pasha’s [Muḥammad Najīb Pāshā, Governor of Baghdad] decision notto press for the alteration following the protest of the Governor and merchants of Bussorah [Basra] (concurred with by Joannes Parseigh, the British Agent at Bussorah), that it would encourage even further the ‘alarming’ increase in ‘piracy’ in the lower Euphrates and damage both the trade of that city and Mohamrah.Two other enclosures listed in the abstract, comprising the Bombay Timessummary of Intelligence and Bombay Overland Telegraph and Courier, are noted as ‘Missing 30.10.1906’.Physical description: 1 item (15 folios)

8. Turkish Arabia Affairs

Description:

Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 26 of 1844, dated 25 March 1844. The enclosures are dated 23 January-11 February 1844.The enclosures comprise despatches of Major Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq], to John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to the Government, Bombay, and for the attention of the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General, with associated enclosures, including a letter from Rawlinson to Sir Stratford Canning, HM Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul]. The principal matters covered are:Arrangements for postal communications between the Bagdad [Baghdad] Agency and the Government of India to be transmitted via Egypt and Damascus, utilising the private dâk [post] between Beyrout [Beirut] and Bagdad used by British merchants, due to the slow and irregular communications between India and the Persian GulfThe dispute between Turkey and Persia regarding Mohamerah [Khorramshahr], notably a lengthy memorandum by Rawlinson, dated 6 January 1844, giving an account of the early and modern history of the territory and the tribes within it (ff 444-480)Apparent atrocities committed by the Pasha of Moosel [Mosul] against the Nestorian Christians of the Kurdish mountains, and resumption of the Nestorian Commission (temporarily delayed due to the death of the Pasha of Moosel) sent to investigate the incidentPersian-Turkish tensions, including slow progress of treaty negotiations at Erzeroom [Erzurum]Unrest amongst Persian-Kurdish tribes on the frontier with Turkey and inability of Nejib Pasha [Muḥammad Najīb Pāshā, Governor of Baghdad] to prevent local Turkish retaliation against Kurdish ‘depredations’The application by Nejib Pasha for use of the HC [Honourable Company's] steamer of war Nitocristo help suppress the ‘refractory’ Arab tribe inhabiting the marshes on the banks of the Euphrates River, and Rawlinson’s reluctance to interfere and referral of the matter to Sir Stratford CanningThe pretensions to independence (from the Ottoman Porte) expressed by the Pasha of Suliemaniah [Sulaymaniyah] and Rawlinson’s view that Britain should not support it.Physical description: The enclosure numbers 3-4 are written on the verso of the last folio of each enclosure, which also contain an abstract of the contents of the enclosure.

9. Enclosure in Letter from Henry Willock to the Secret Committee of 14 Jul 1824

Description:

Abstract: A copy of a letter from Henry Willock, HM Chargé d’Affaires in Persia [Iran], to George Canning, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, sent from Sultanieh [Soltānīyeh] and dated 12 July 1824.The letter concerns issues in Persia’s relations with Turkey [Ottoman Empire], including:Internal conflict among the Baban family in Soolimaneeah [Sulaymānīyah] which led to an intervention by Persian troopsThe relations of Daood [Dāwūd] Pasha, Governor of Bagdad [Baghdad], with the Persian CourtThe troubled state of the frontier around Van and Salmas.The letter was enclosed in Willock’s letter to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company dated 14 July 1824 (IOR/L/PS/9/69/186).Physical description: The letter was perforated in an attempt to stop the spread of disease.

10. File 3846/1910 'Mesopotamia: Baghdad affairs. Miscellaneous.'

Description:

Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, and memoranda, relating to the encroachment on the British Residency in Iraq by the Vali of Baghdad for the purpose of road widening. Also discussed is interference by the Turkish authorities with the property of Messrs Lynch Brothers as well as the ice factories of British Indians.The file also includes monthly summaries of events in Turkish Iraq compiled by the Political Resident in Turkish Arabia and His Britannic Majesty's Consul-General Baghdad, John Gordon Lorimer. These are generally arranged in the following sections: Musal [Mosul] wilayet; Baghdad wilayet; Basrah wilayet; Persian affairs; Najd affairs; British interests; foreign interests and cases other than Persia and British; commercial matters; general and miscellaneous.Correspondents include: the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Edward Grey; the Viceroy; Ambassador in Constantinople, Sir Gerard Lowther; British Vice-Consul, Karbala, M.H. Mosin; Political Resident in Turkish Arabia and His Britannic Majesty's Consul-General, Baghdad.Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 262; 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.

11. File 2879/1919 Pt 1 ‘MESOPOTAMIA Kurdistan: The Suleimanieh Outbreak’

Description:

Abstract: This item relates to the seizure of the ‘reins of government’ (f 283) in Suleimaniyeh [As Sulaymaniyah, also spelled Suleman Iyeh in this item], south Kurdistan, 25 May 1919, during an uprising led by Sheikh Mahmud [Shaikh Maḥmūd Barzanjī], and British military operations leading to the British Mesopotamian Army occupying the Suleimaniyeh Valley in June 1919. The papers notably cover:British concerns about the Kurdish independence movement, including the purported influence of the Turkish Committee of Union and Progress and Persian Kurdistan, and the potential of ‘unrest’ to spread to other parts of Kurdistan and into British controlled MesopotamiaThe capture and imprisonment of British officers and staff in Suleimaniyeh, including a list of the missing and interned officers and NCOs [Non-Commissioned Officers] (see ff 251 and 244)British intelligence, regarding the level of Mahmud’s personal as opposed to political ambitions, and casting doubt on the degree of local support for himThe concentration of British forces at Kerkouk [Kirkuk] and Chemchemal [Chamchamal] and the desire of the military and political authorities in Baghdad to ‘crush’ (f 255) Mahmud’s movement, recapture Suleimaniyeh, and occupy the Suleimaniyeh ValleyThe refusal to allow Sheikh Mahmud’s delegates in Aleppo to proceed to Paris to argue the cause of Kurdish independenceThe British forces’ capture of the Bazyan Pass, advance to Suleiman Iyeh, and collapse of the rising including the arrest of Sheikh MahmudDiscussions concerning the extension of the railway from Kizilrobat [Qizil Ribat, also spelled Kizil Robat in this item] northwards towards Suleimaniyah in order to facilitate the British advance and occupationRestoration of the civil administration in Suleimaniyah by the end of August 1919 and British hopes that Kurdish nationalism will dissipate following Sheikh Mahmud’s military trial and imprisonment in India serving a ten-year sentenceDiscussions in 1921 between the Colonial Office, India Office, High Commissioner for Iraq, and Viceroy of India, on the desirability of reducing the penal sanction against Sheikh Mahmud, and the eventual agreement by the High Commissioner of Iraq to arrange his relocation, under surveillance, in Kuwait [also spelled Koweit in this item].The primary correspondents are the: General Officer Commanding in Mesopotamia; War Office; India Office; Office of the High Commissioner for Mesopotamia (later Iraq); Secretary of State for the Colonies; Secretary to the Government of Bombay [Mumbai], Political Department; Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign and Political Department; Political [Agent?], Baghdad; and General [Consul?], Baghdad.Physical description: 1 item (78 folios)