Abstract: This file contains papers relating to the construction and maintenance of buoying and lighting facilities in the Persian Gulf, primarily for the Quoin Island Lighthouse. The letters are exchanges between the Government of India and British Authorities in the Persian Gulf, and mainly discuss the cost and logistical arrangements for the construction of the permanent navigation equipment in the Gulf.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 210; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This file contains papers relating to the planning and construction of marine navigation equipment, namely lighted buoys at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the northern Persian Gulf. The correspondence is mainly between British authorities in the Persian Gulf, The Foreign and Political Department in India and the India Office in London.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 173; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This file contains correspondence between British authorities in the Persian Gulf, the Government of India, and Trinity House in London regarding the planning and construction of permanent navigation equipment in the Persian Gulf. Of note are some papers that discuss the need to establish British rather than Persian or Turkish buoys and lighthouses so as to ensure the dominance of British shipping and Naval power.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 284; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This file contains papers relating to the buoying of navigation routes and shipping lines in the Persian Gulf. The papers discuss the costs, logistical requirements and standardisation of lighting and marking of buoys in the Gulf. The file contains a variety of discussions by the various parties involved in maintaining the Persian Gulf's maritime navigation infrastructure.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 313; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This file contains papers relating to the instalment and maintenance of lighting and other navigation facilities in the Persian Gulf, and particularly around the Shatt-al-Arab waterway. Most of the papers pertain to the capital expenditures of the new navigation aids for ships. A minority of the papers document some geo-political concerns regarding the presence of Turkish ships in the Persian Gulf, and the Ottoman State's possible intention to maintain a permanent presence in the Gulf.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 196; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This file contains papers relating to the instalment and maintenance of lighting and other navigation facilities in the Persian Gulf, and particularly around the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, and waters around Kuwait, Bushire, and Bahrain. Most of the papers pertain to the capital expenditures on the new navigation aids for ships.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 233; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This file contains letters relating to the construction of a lighthouse depot on Abadan Island, in Persia. The papers are exchanges between British authorities in the Persian Gulf, Trinity House in London, and the British Government of India. The bulk of the papers relate to the replacement of the former site of the depot for its new location at Fao at the mouth of the Shatt al Arab waterway.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 131; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file contains correspondence regarding measures under consideration by the British government for preventing encroachments by Japanese and other foreign vessels on Arab pearl fisheries in the Persian Gulf.The correspondence is between: J P Gibson of the India Office, and T V Brennan and Lacy Baggallay of the Foreign Office; and Gibson and the Office of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf. The file also includes a copy of a letter from Sir Trenchard Fowle, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, to the Secretary to the Government of India, External Affairs Department, Simla.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 19; 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 2-18; 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.
Abstract: This volume contains correspondence on the disposal of river craft in Mesopotamia, exchanged between 9 May and 20 December 1919, after the conclusion of the First World War. It contains material relating to:The centralisation of the disposal of all small miscellaneous craft in the Ministry of Shipping, and the constitution of a Small Craft Disposals Department headed by Major Le MesurierThe appointment of the Shipping Controller as the Agent of the Disposal Board, and that of Colonel J MacGregor to represent the Ministry of Shipping in Mesopotamia in this connectionThe completion of the railway between Basra (also written as Busrah in this volume) and Baghdad, the availability of ‘a major portion’ of the Mesopotamian military fleet for disposal, and the effective monopoly established by Lord Inchcape [James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape] through his posts as the Government Director of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and as sole Agent of the Standard Oil Company in the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia, while also trading through the Mesopotamian-Persian Trading CorporationThe agreement between the Shipping Controller and the Minister of Munitions for the latter to assume responsibility for the disposal of the surplus of small craft in MesopotamiaThe Ministry of Shipping’s general policy to release all vessels on full requisition and arrange with shipping firms to carry troops and supplies at contract ratesThe information from the ‘leading Mahometan [Muslim] merchant’ in Baghdad that he proposes to ‘form a company representing local Mahometan, Jewish and Christian commercial interests’ to run steamers on the Tigris, and requests facilities to purchase suitable boats and bargesThe submission by the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company for the return of SS
Khalifah, and the suggestion that ‘no tonnage should be hired to others until vessels have been hired to them to replace tonnage of which they have been deprived owing to military operations’The fleet of vessels on the rivers Tigris and Karun, controlled by the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company Limited, before and after the outbreak of the First World WarThe complaint of Lord Inchcape to Sir Thomas Holderness, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India, about the perceived opposition from the India Office to the commercial activities of Lynch Brothers and Company in MesopotamiaThe hostility of local Mesopotamian merchants towards the Mesopotamia-Persia Trading Corporation (formerly Lynch Brothers and Company) and its commercial monopolyThe suggestion from Lord Inverforth [Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth], Minister of Munitions, to Lord Inchcape to purchase the Mesopotamian FleetThe suggestion by the former Minister of Munitions, Winston Churchill, of a conference between the Ministry of Munitions and the India Office for the disposal of small craft in MesopotamiaThe schemes outlined by Colonel W R Dockrill on how to commercialise the transportation of supplies, materiel and personnel for the Mesopotamian Army of OccupationThe involvement of the Mesopotamian Feet in supplying the Army of Occupation at Kut [Al-Kut], and transporting coal and oil fuel stores to Baghdad from Basrah [Basra]A possible meeting between Lord Inverforth, an India Office representative and the Director of MovementsThe offer made by Strick, Scott and Company to purchase steamers, barges, tugs, and oil tanks for the transportation and storage of oil in MesopotamiaThe Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s interest in the Government’s oil fleet and installations in Mesopotamia, and information on the numbers, location and capacity of the vesselsThe offer of Bird and Company, Calcutta [Kolkata], to purchase the motor launch
StrathnaverA request from the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to the Under-Secretary of State for India for barges and tugs to transport oil from Abadan to the vilayets of Baghdad and BasraThe agreement between the War Office, India Office and Foreign Office for the sale of the whole surplus of the Mesopotamian Fleet, including the portion already returned to India.The volume also includes a ‘General Statement on Mesopotamian Craft’, listing the different types of vessels, including hospital craft, tugs and steamers, and barges, up to 8 November 1919; ‘Minutes of an Inter-Departmental Meeting held at the India Office on Monday, 27 October 1919, to consider Colonel [Arnold Talbot] Wilson’s proposal regarding the disposal of the fleets and barges in Mesopotamia’ (ff 83-88); ‘A Memorandum by Sir Thomas Holderness [Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India] on the Disposal of the Mesopotamian Fleet’ (ff 113-116); ‘A Brief Report [by Major H G Chesney, Assistant Political Officer] on the Proceedings of the Meeting [of local merchants] called for [in Basra] on Friday, 18 July 1919’ (ff 129-132); and the record of an inter-departmental conference held at the India Office to discuss the question of the disposal of surplus rivercraft in Mesopotamia (f 185).Physical description: Foliation: The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 275; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This volume consists of two parts: Part 11 (IOR/L/PS/10/663/1) contains papers relating to the future administration of the lighting and buoying service in the Persian Gulf; Part 12 (IOR/L/PS/10/663/2) consists of papers relating to the provision of a despatch vessel for the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.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 (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 558; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This volume is composed of interdepartmental correspondence relating to the future administration of the lighting and buoying service in the Persian Gulf.The correspondence discusses the possibility of control of buoying and lighting in the Persian Gulf being transferred to the Government of Persia. At this time the service was being maintained by the Royal Indian Marine, with its financing being shared between the British Imperial Government (specifically the Foreign Office) and the Government of India. The correspondence includes the point of view of the Government of India on the suggestion that the Shatt-Al-Arab Conservancy board should also be responsible for lighting and buoying along the Gulf coast. Furthermore, it discusses the major point to be settled in the present negotiations with Persia during 1928-30, which is the international boundary in the Shatt-el-Arab, as defined in the Treaty of Erzurum of 1847, and the Persia-Turkish Frontier Delimitation Agreement of 1913. The correspondence then moves on to cover the organisation and discussion of the tripartite conference taking place in Iraq regarding the future administration of the lighting and buoying service on the coast of the Persian Gulf, with the participating countries being Iraq, Persia and Great Britain (with India).Notable correspondents include the following: the Viceroy of India; the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf; the High Commissioner Iraq; the Director of the Royal Indian Marine; officials of the India Office, the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, the Treasury, and the Government of India's Marine Department; the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf; the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy, East India Section; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iraq; the Government of Iraq; the Council of Ministers, Iraq; the Port Directorate in Basra.In addition to correspondence, the volume contains the following: minutes of an interdepartmental conference held at the India Office in 1931 (ff 26-28), copies of an India Office memorandum entitled 'Memorandum on the Lighting and Buoyage of the Persian Gulf', dated 1931 (ff 62-64).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 inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 340; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The volume has one foliation anomaly, f 89a.
Abstract: The volume contains monthly news summaries compiled by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire. These were widely distributed to British ministers, senior officials and military officers in London, India and the Middle East.The copies of the news summaries in this volume were received by the India Office from the Colonial Office. The summaries are also referred to variously as the Persian Gulf news summaries, the Persian Gulf intelligence summaries and the Arab States monthly summaries.This volume contains fifty-six summaries. It begins with No. 1 of 1926, entitled
Summary of news from the Arab States for January 1926, dated 6 February 1926, and ends with No. 12 of 1930, entitled
Summary of the news from the Arab States for the month of December 1930, dated 25 January 1931.The news summaries use standard subject headings to report the latest developments in the Gulf region, starting with the movements of British officials and non-officials, Arab rulers and notables, followed by the movements of foreigners and the interests of foreign powers in the region. Other subjects regularly reported include aviation and the health of the Arab ports. These topics are followed by country profiles for Bahrein [Bahrain], Kuwait, Qatar, the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, the shaikhdoms of Trucial Oman and Bin Saud’s (popularly known as Ibn Saud) kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd.The country profiles report on the activities of rulers and tribes, foreign relations, local government, education, transport and communications, trade and commerce with particular emphasis on pearling and oil concessions, crime, riots and military expeditions.The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (f 4).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 448; 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.