1. Political No. 3 of 1874, Transmitting Copies of a Letter from the Bombay Government Reporting Mr Bircher's Resignation as Consul for the German Empire at Aden

Description:

Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 2 January 1874, transmitting copies of a letter from the Bombay [Mumbai] Government reporting (as conveyed by the Political Resident, Aden), Mr Bircher's resignation and sudden departure from the post of Consul for the German Empire at Aden. In the covering letter the Government of India Foreign Department asks whether the German Government intend to appoint a successor to Mr Bircher.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 8, and terminates at f 11, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains two foliation anomalies: f 8a and f 10a.

2. File 3443/1914 Pt 1 'German War: Turkish and German intrigues in India'

Description:

Abstract: The volume contains correspondence regarding the movements and activities of Pan-Islamic activists in India, Afghanistan and North Africa during the first year of the First World War. The correspondence is particularly concerned with possible German and Ottoman support for the activists in carrying out destabilising activities against British and other Allied regimes. The primary correspondents are: Foreign Office; Political Resident, Persian Gulf; Government of India; Admiralty; British Consul, Addis Ababa; British Embassy, Cairo; British Embassy, Constantinople; British Embassy, Rome; British Consulate, Smyrna; British Legation, Tehran. Much of the correspondence covers suspected anti-British agitators believed to be in or travelling to India. Other topics covered include:A reported purchase of rifles by a German company with the intention of arming Pan-Islamists in India (ff 165-175)A suggestion that Muslim rulers of Indian states should be persuaded to make pro-British statements (ff 137-140)Intelligence received from a German source that an unnamed Indian ruler has ordered a large amount of arms from Germany (ff 108-115)Reports that the German diplomat and archaeologist Max von Oppenheim is intending to stir up anti-British feeling in Iraq, Persia [Iran] and Afghanistan (ff 4-6 and 15-20).The volume contains a single folio in French (f 41), a communication from the Russian Consul in Turbat-i-Haidari [Torbat-e Heydarieh], Persia. 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 177; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.

3. File 3443/1914 Pt 2 'German War: German emissaries to Afghanistan'

Description:

Abstract: The volume contains correspondence regarding the Persian Campaign of the First World War and the movements and activities of the Central Powers in Persia [Iran] between June and November 1915. The correspondence is particularly concerned with German and Ottoman attempts to infiltrate Afghanistan from Persia, and of ensuring the continued neutrality of both Afghanistan and Persia.The primary correspondents are the British Legation, Tehran; the British Embassy, Petrograd [Saint Petersburg]; the Government of India; and the Foreign Office.The volume contains a single folio in French (f 184), a communication from the Russian Ambassador in London.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 238; 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 between ff 121-127, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.

4. File 3443/1914 Pt 3 'German War: Afghanistan and Persia; German agents; British troops in East Persia'

Description:

Abstract: The volume contains correspondence regarding the Persian Campaign of the First World War and the movements and activities of the Central Powers in Persia [Iran] between November 1915 and April 1916. The correspondence is particularly concerned with German and Ottoman attempts to infiltrate Afghanistan from Persia, and of ensuring the continued neutrality of both Afghanistan and Persia.The primary correspondents are the British Legation, Tehran; the British Consulate, Seistan and Kain; and the Government of India.The volume contains a single folio in French (f 164), a communication from the National Committee for the Protection of the Independence of Persia.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 165; 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. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.

5. File 3443/1914 Pt 4 'Persia: East Persia affairs; German agents'

Description:

Abstract: The volume contains correspondence regarding the Persian Campaign of the First World War and the movements and activities of the Central Powers in Persia [Iran] between May and November 1916. The correspondence is particularly concerned with finding and capturing German, Ottoman and Austrian agents active in Persia and Afghanistan.The primary correspondents are: British Legation, Tehran; War Office Directorate of Military Intelligence; Chief Commissioner, North-West Frontier Province; British Legation, Sistan and Kain; British Consulate General, Meshed; Government of India.The volume contains a single item in German (ff 149-150), a list of German military personnel active in Persia in February 1916 written by the German Military Attache, Tehran.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 181; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.

6. File 4949/1912 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf: Abu Musa oxide’

Description:

Abstract: Copies of correspondence and other papers relating to the mining of red oxide on the island of Abū Mūsá in the Persian Gulf, before and after the First World War. The volume’s principal correspondents are: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); Foreign Office officials (chiefly Eyre Alexander Barby Wichart Crowe); representatives of the British firm Frank C Strick & Company Limited (including Frank Clarke Strick); representatives of the German firm Robert Wönckhaus & Company.Correspondence dated 1912 to 1913 refers to informal negotiations between Foreign and India Office representatives, the German Ambassador to London, and Robert Wönckhaus & Company, over the payment of compensation to Robert Wönckhaus & Company for loss of income and the relinquishment of concession rights for the mining of red oxide at Abū Mūsá, in the wake of the withdrawal of the concession by the Ruler of Sharjah, Shaikh Seker [Shaikh Ṣaqr bin Khālid Āl Qāsimī] in 1907.Correspondence dated 1914 concerns assessments, submitted by representatives of Frank C Strick & Company Limited, and analysed by the British Government’s Board of Trade, on the value and deterioration in quality of the red oxide left by Robert Wönckhaus & Co at Abū Mūsá.Correspondence dated 1921 to 1923 relates to: Frank C Strick & Company’s concession negotiations with the Shaikh of Sharjah, over red oxide extraction at Abū Mūsá, mediated through the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; reports of concession negotiations undertaken by Persian commercial interests for red oxide mining on the island of Hormuz [Jazīreh-ye Hormoz, also referred to in the volume as Ormuz]; diplomatic exchanges between representatives of the British and Persian Government (some in French) over historic Persian claims to the islands in the Persian Gulf, including Abū Mūsá and Tamb [Tunb].Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 279; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.