Abstract: The file contains telegrams between the British Embassy at Tehran and the Foreign Office regarding the establishment of a Wireless Telegraphy (WT) Station at Zahidan [Zahedan, Iran], and plans to send a clerk and a Vice-Consul.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 5; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: A memoir written by Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Alexander Gordon Pinhey about his career in the Indian Political Service (IPS), 1927-47. The memoir details:His education, early career and reasons for joining the IPSA description of Baluchistan, where he served as Assistant Political Agent, 1929-30A description of Zahidan [Zahedan], where he served as Vice-Consul, 1931-33A description of Ajmer, Rajputana [Rajasthan], where he served as Assistant Commissioner, 1933-36An account of an earthquake that struck Quetta on 31 May 1935A description of Kalat State, where he served as Wazir-i-Azam [Chief Minister] to Sir Ahmed Yar Khan, Khan of Kalat.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 22; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: Papers relating to the railway line running from Duzdap [Zahedan] via Mirjawa [Mīrjāveh] in Iran, across the border to Nok Kundi in India (now Pakistan).The first section of the file contains papers dated December 1934 to November 1941 (ff 111-184), chiefly exchanged between HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Tehran, Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen, and the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India. The correspondence concerns the viability of the Duzdap stretch of the railway line which the Government of India are considering withdrawing, and which the Persian Government would like to improve in order to encourage trade between Persia [Iran] and India. This part of the file also contains correspondence relating to improvements of the road running between Nok Kundi and Mirjawa.The second section of the file contains papers dated September 1944 to June 1945 (ff 53-110) and concerns: the British Government’s request to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to remove disused rails at the sidings in Mirjawa so that they might be used elsewhere for military purposes; the construction of a railway from Zahidan [Zahedan] to Kerman; maintenance of the Zahidan to Meshed [Mashhad] road as part of a supply line to China; a minute with multiple enclosures written by the Additional Counsellor at the British Embassy in Tehran, Lieutenant-Colonel Everard Huddleston Gastrell, relating to the Iranian Government’s refusal to allow the North Western Railway to remove rails at Mirjawa for war purposes.The third section of the file contains papers dated July 1946 to October 1947 (ff 5-52). The papers relate to the Iranian Government’s desire to take over the Zahidan to Mirjawa railway line, and include a report, sent by the Foreign Department of the Government of India to the British Ambassador at Tehran in June 1947, on the Mirjawa to Zahidan railway, covering its history, and political, strategic and economic aspects (ff 9-31).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 185; 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.
Abstract: Printed and typewritten monthly commercial reports for Meshed (also spelt Meshad) [Mashhad], renamed and enlarged from October 1933 to cover the Khorassan (also spelt Khorasan) [Khorāsān] district. The reports were produced by the British Government’s representative in the region, referred to variously as: the Consul General and Agent of the Government of India in Khorassan; the Consul General, Meshed; the Consul General for Khorassan (Lieutenant-Colonel Cyril Charles Johnson Barrett; Major Clive Kirkpatrick Daly; Captain Everard Huddleston Gastrell; Captain Giles Frederick Squire).The monthly reports, which begin as one-page written summaries and evolve over time to become comprehensive statistical surveys, provide an overview of the region’s trade. They contain remarks on the trade in various raw and manufactured goods, including: carpets, wool, cotton, skins, tea, sugar, rice, dried fruits, almonds, opium, piece goods and haberdashery. The reports also contain remarks on: rates of exchange, transport rates, the activities of foreign agents and manufacturing companies, manufacturing production, the general mood amongst traders, the state of the market. Later reports contain statistical tables on trade, including imports and exports via Zahidan [Zahedan]. Up until mid-1935, minute papers are included in front of most reports, containing report summaries written by India Office staff.Some topical issues affecting trade are touched upon in the reports: changing relations between Persia [Iran] and Russia, including a trade boycott in late 1932, and a trade agreement in 1940; the Persian Government’s creation of monopoly companies in the mid-1930s; Second World War trade, including lists of goods reported to have been sent to Germany.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 670; 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 2-669; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: Copies of monthly commercial reports for the Khorasan [Khorāsān] district of Iran, submitted by Britain’s Consul-General for Khorasan at Meshed [Mashhad]. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/7 ‘Persia. Diaries: Meshed/Khorasan Commercial: Jany 1931–Dec. 1940 (Inclusive.)’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3401).Papers for each monthly report include:Cover sheets, with lists of recipients of copies of each month’s report.The report, containing lists of the chief items of imports and exports with quantities and prices, average wholesale prices at Zahedan for principal commodities (imports and exports), miscellaneous notes on trade, exchange and freight rates, low and high temperatures.Statements of imports into Iran via Zahedan, exports from Iran via Zahedan, and comparative statements of imports of British origin and from foreign sources into Zahedan.The file also includes:A report entitled
Annual Report Economic “A”written by the British Vice-Consulate at Zahedan (Major R P Watts), dated 15 June 1942, containing summaries on finances, foreign trade, agriculture, industry, transport, and state undertakings (ff 451-453).A report entitled E
conomic Report “A”written by the Consul-General at Khorasan (H A N Barlow, f 450).The reports provide evidence of the impact upon trade in the region of significant contemporary events, including: the Second World War; the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August 1941; changes to Iranian economic policy; deteriorating relations between Russia and the United States in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War; events in the Punjab and Pakistan in the wake of Indian Independence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 547; 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.
Abstract: Correspondence and papers relating to incidents in which foreigners in Persia [Iran], specifically British subjects, were subjected to attacks or break-ins, and in some cases badly injured. The file’s principal correspondents are: HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Tehran; the Foreign Office; Government of India. Incidents covered in the file are as follows:In 1933, an attack by three individuals described by British officials as ‘natives’, upon an employee of the Imperial and International Communications Company Limited at Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām] (ff 133-147)In 1934, an attack and theft upon a car carrying the British Vice-Consul at Meshed [Mashhad], Collett William Hart, his wife and child, and two Persian servants, while travelling through Khorasan. Subsequent correspondence chiefly deals with attempts to extract compensation to cover medical costs from the Persian Government, for injuries sustained to Mrs Hart (ff 27-132)In 1935, insecurity on the Meshed to Zahidan [Zahedan] road (ff 19-26)In 1937, a break-in by an Iranian soldier into the Zahidan Vice-Consulate. Papers include an account of the break-in, with a plan of the Vice-Consulate and the intruder’s route through its rooms, prepared by J Campbell, HM’s Vice-Consul at Zahidan (ff 3-18).The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 148; 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 2-147; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.