Abstract: Copy of General Orders issued by Lieutenant-Colonel Reginald Ronald Macdonald, Military Secretary, and Deputy Adjutant General HM Forces Bombay [Mumbai].The orders concern the organisation and command structure of the Army of the Indus, henceforth to be under overall command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Keane.Physical description: 1 item (4 folios)
Abstract: This file contains working drafts of confidential prints, correspondence and telegrams from the room of Sir Edmund Barrow, Military Secretary in the India Office, collected for the Mesopotamian Commission which was convened to examine the causes of the besieging and surrender of the Indian Expeditionary Force in Kut-el-Amara [Al Kūt].The papers cover a range of topics and include the following: General Townshend's assessment of the situation after the Battle of Kut-el-Amara; a précis of correspondence relating to the origins and development of the Mesopotamia expedition; and a collection (ff 396-399) of private telegrams between the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy, prior to the outbreak of war with Turkey.The file also includes some tables showing the strength of General Townshend's force at Ctesiphon (folio 111) as well as the Indian Expeditionary Force 'D' (In Mesopotamia) Troops of the 6th Poona Division (folio 114).Correspondents include: General Sir John Nixon; Major-General Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend; the Viceroy of India; officials of the Admiralty; officials of the War Office.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 686; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Multiple additional mixed foliation/pagination sequences are present in parallel; these numbers are written in crayon and pencil; where they are written in pencil and circled, they are crossed through.The file has one foliation anomaly, f 374A.
Abstract: Despatch by Major-General James Marshall Stewart, the General Officer Commanding, Aden Field Force, addressed to the Chief of the General Staff, Army Headquarters, Simla.The file comprises copies of two letters containing a summary of the operations of the Aden Field Force for the period 1 April 1918 to 31 August 1918.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 3; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: Despatch by Major-General James Marshall Stewart, the General Officer Commanding, Aden Field Force, to the Chief of the General Staff, Army Headquarters, Simla.The file contains amendments to be included in a previous despatch dated 18 February 1918, in order to bring the record of operations at Aden up to 31 March 1918. It includes a paragraph on field operations, and statement of casualties in the Aden Field Force since 16 August 1917.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 3; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: This file consists of a report, written by Sir Arthur Hirtzel, Political Secretary, India Office, which provides the British perspective on recent events in Persia, from mid-1916 to early 1917. The report is divided into sections using headings, which cover the following locations: Tehran, Ispahan, Fars, Bushire, Kerman, Seistan and Khorassan.The report discusses the threat posed to Britain's position in Persia, mainly by Turkish troops, but also by tribal groups which are reportedly under the influence of German agitators.The report states that the Persian Government has acquiesced in the formation of a force [South Persia Rifles] commanded by Sir Percy Sykes, which will be incorporated into the Persian army and will amount to 11,000 men.The report concludes that the situation across Persia is 'in the highest degree unstable', with Turkish forces occupying 30,000 square miles of Persian territory.The report is followed by a cutting from the
Daily Telegraph, dated 21 February 1917, which reports on a House of Lords session from the previous day, in which Earl Curzon [George Nathaniel Curzon] is reported to have spoken about Sir Percy Sykes's mission, and to have described the improvement in the general situation in Persia as considerable.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 68, and terminates at f 74, 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. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This item consists mostly of copies of correspondence, minutes and resolutions cited in, or enclosed with, letters from the governments of Bombay [Mumbai] and Bengal. It is the seventh in a series of eight items on the subject of the alleged piracy of the Joasmee [al-Qawasim, also referred to as Joassmee] (the others are: IOR/F/4/648/17850, IOR/F/4/649/17851 and 17852, IOR/F/4/650/17853, IOR/F/4/650/17854, IOR/F/4/651/17855, and IOR/F/4/652/17857). The main topics covered are:The military expedition against the Beni Boo Ali [Bani bu ‘Ali, also referred to as Beni Abou Ali and Bunee boo Ulee], a tribe in southern Oman, including:Reports of acts of piracy committed by the Beni Boo Ali tribe, the investigations into these reports, and the decision by Britain and the Imam of Muscat to send a joint military force against the tribe, led by Captain Thomas Perronet Thompson, Political Agent at Kishme [Qishm, also referred to as Kishm and Kishmee]Reports of the expedition, leading to the defeat of the joint forcePreparations for a second military expedition, led by Major General Lionel SmithReports on the second expedition, resulting in the victory of the joint force against the Beni Boo Ali, and the subsequent burning of the port of Lashkara [Al Ashkharah, also referred to as El Asharrah]The situation of the Beni Boo Ali prisoners sent to Bombay following the expedition, including the tribe’s two principal sheikhs [shaikhs], Mahomed Ben Ali [Muhammad bin ‘Ali] and his brother Kadhim bin Ali [Kazim bin ‘Ali]Extracts from the proceedings of the courts martial brought against Lieutenant William Morley and Captain Thompson regarding their conduct during the first expedition against the Beni Boo Ali.The development of measures to ensure the maintenance of the settlement reached following the 1819 expedition, including:The question of the extent to which Britain should cooperate with Sultan Ben Suggar [Sultan bin Saqr al-Qasimi], the Ruler of Shargah, and details of a dispute between Sultan Ben Suggar and Zied Ben Sief [Zayid bin Sayf al-Falahi] of Debaye [Dubai] regarding an alleged act of piracyThe question of whether to retain a British military force at Kishme, the opposition of Persia [Iran] to this, and the sending of Andrew Jukes, Political Agent at Kishme, to attempt to assuage Persian concernsThe instructions issued to the ships tasked with patrolling the waters of the Gulf and enforcing the terms of the General Maritime TreatyA ‘description of the shores of the Persian Gulph [Gulf]’ prepared by Major William Colebrooke, focusing on the navigability of the coastline and with details of the key settlements, including the identities of the resident tribes, the size of the populations, the strengths of their defences, and the quality of their water supplies.The primary correspondents are: Francis Warden, Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay; Captain Thompson; Major General Smith; Captain Deschamps, Acting Political Agent at Kishm [Political Agent for the Lower Gulf?]; Lieutenant Colonel N P Warren; Captain Charles J Maillard; Lieutenant John Michael Guy, Commander of the
Psyche.The title page (f 5) of the item contains the following references: ‘PC 16, Draft 383, 1821/2’ and ‘Examiner’s Office 1821’.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with f 5 and terminates at f 227, 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 volume also contains an original pagination sequence.
Abstract: Two confidential reports and two maps, describing military operations taking place in Europe (Bulgaria and Romania) and Asia (Turkey) during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 57; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: Printed report published by the Intelligence Department of the Admiralty, 1903. The report includes advice on collecting information on defences such as defended areas, minefields, ordnance, under-water defences. Much of the information was extracted from the Persian Gulf Report, 1898.There are details on Muscat; Mussandam Promontory; Khor Kawi [Khawr al Quway‘], Elphinstone Inlet [Khawr ash Shamm], Khasab; Pirate Coast; Bahrain; Kuwait; Fao [Al Fāw]; Basra; Bushire; Lingah; Bundar Abbas [Bandar Abbas].Also included is an 'Official statement of British Policy with regard to (1) the proposed Baghdad Railway; and (2) Persia and the Persian Gulf generally' given in the House of Lords, May 5, 1903.Maps include: rough sketch of operations in the vicinity and Bushire from the 3rd to the 10th February 1857 (Reproduced from Outram's Persian Campaign 1857); sketch of the attack on the batteries of Mohumra [Khorramshahr]: combined naval and military forces under command of Sir James Outram; sketch of the ground in the neighbourhood of Ahwaz [Ahvāz] on the Karun [Kārūn], showing the position occupied by the Persian Army, and the advance of the British detachment upon the town, March 1857. At the back of the report there is a large fold-out map: General Outline Map of the Persian Gulf showing Submarine Cables and the Principal Places mentioned in the Report.Physical description: Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on a map that is stored in a sleeve at the back of the volume, on number 57.
Abstract: This item consists of copies of correspondence, consultations, memoranda, resolutions, and minutes cited in, or enclosed with, political letters from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai]. The correspondents are: the Government of Bombay; Philip LeGeyt, Senior Magistrate of Police in Bombay; Rubeel bin Uslan [Rūbin bin Aṣlān], British Agent at Muscat; Captain Samuel Hennell, British Resident in the Persian Gulf; Henry Glass, Collector of Customs at Bombay; and Alexander Sutherland, Acting Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce at Bombay. It is the sixth in a series of fifteen items on the Persian Gulf (the others are IOR/F/4/2131/101199, IOR/F/4/2131/101200, IOR/F/4/2131/101201, IOR/F/4/2131/101202, IOR/F/4/2131/101203, IOR/F/4/2131/101205, IOR/F/4/2131/101206, IOR/F/4/2131/101207, IOR/F/4/2131/101208, IOR/F/4/2131/101209, IOR/F/4/2131/101210, IOR/F/4/2131/101211, IOR/F/4/2131/101212 and IOR/F/4/2131/101213).The item concerns:An allegation that fraud was committed by merchants in Bombay by entering goods on the cargo manifest of the
Narrayen Pursaad[
Nārayaṇa Parsād], but not transporting them on board the ship, and paying the nakhuda to pretend that he had thrown them overboard on his way to MuscatA quarrel between Seif bin Nubhan, Shaik of Bunder Abbas [Shaikh Sayf bin Nabhān al-Mu‘awali, Shaikh of Bandar-e ʻAbbās] and the Governor of Shiraz, and Seif bin Nubhan’s request for help from Mahomed bin Khuleefa [Shaikh Muḥammed bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah, Shaikh of Bahrain].The item contains a contents page, and the title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Draft 252/46, P.C. [Previous Communication] 5171, Collection No 25 of No 109’.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with f 616, and terminates at f 638, 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 volume also contains an original pagination sequence.
Abstract: Report detailing the military lessons of the Arab rebellion in Palestine in 1936 that was compiled by General Staff, Headquarters, The British Forces, Palestine & Trans-Jordan.The report is divided up into chapters as follows:IntroductionA Short History of the Rebellion I - to the end of June, 1936A Short History of the Rebellion II - from the 1st July, 1936 to the end of the yearConditions in Palestine as Affecting OperationsCommanders and StaffsIntelligenceIntercommunicationAdministrationTransportWeapons and EquipmentThe Employment of Various ArmsThe Employment of Aircraft in Co-operation with TroopsDefensive ActionProtection of CommunicationsOffensive ActionConclusion - Summary of Main LessonsThe report contains 46 photographs and a number of diagrams which are located throughout the volume. It also contains four maps, found at folios 140-143.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 144; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: Volume regarding affairs in Muscat relating to Syed Torkee [Turkī ibn Saʻīd Āl Sa‘īd] of Sohar's rebellious actions against Syed Soweynee [Thuwaynī ibn Saʻīd Āl Sa‘īd].The volume discusses the Joasmee [Āl Qāsimī] Chief's attempts at spreading dissention in Oman; the involvement of their brothers Sayid Majed [Mājid ibn Saʻīd] Sultan of Zanzibar and Syed Burgash [Barghash ibn Sa'id]; attempts at reconciliations between the brothers; the actions of the British Agent at Muscat (Lieutenant Walter Murray Pengelly) which were not approved of by the Government of Bombay; Wahabee [Wahhabi] interests in Sohar; and Sohar eventually being given over to Syed Soweynee, with Syed Torkee being confined to a fort in Muscat, which led to a large scale rebellion against Syed Soweynee. Contained within the volume are several letters in Arabic, some with translations, and one letter with translation in Hebrew.From folio 10 onwards the volume has been divided into smaller sections, each with their own subheading:English correspondence regarding differences between H H Syed Soweynee, Imam of Muscat and H H Brother Syed Turki of Sohar 1857-1860 (ff 10-119);Correspondence regarding piracies attended with murder during hostilities between the Chief of Sohar and the Imam of Muscat (ff 120-141);H H Syed Soweynee quarrel with Syed Majid of Zanzibar, Syed Bughash and Syed Torkee [who?] figure in the compilation (ff 142-194);Correspondence about Sued Soweynee's disputes with Syed Majid. Syed Soweynee intriguing secretly with the French attended to herein, also Syed Burgesh and Syed Torkee (ff 195-225);Miscellaneous. Complaints from Bombay Native Merchants against the authorities at Muscat for demanding customs upon the cargo of the Buglah
Fath El Khair; complaints of Syed Soweynee's indifference towards British Commissariat interests at Muscat; an attack on the
Fath El Khairsouth of Ras El Had [Ra’s al Ḩadd] (ff 226-317).Also included in the volume are four folios of manifest registers for goods exported by Bugla [Buggalow] to Aden produced 17 September 1856, which were sent to Colonel Atkins Hamerton, British Consul at Zanzibar in January 1857.The principal correspondents within the volume are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Commander James Felix Jones); the Secretary to Government, Political Department, Bombay (Henry Lacon Anderson); the Native Agent at Muscat (Khoja Hiskale); the British Native Agent at Shargah [Sharjah] (Haji Yaqub); the Commander of the Persian Gulf Squadron (Commodore Griffith Jenkins, Commodore Henry Albert Matthew Drought); the British Agent at Muscat (Lieutenant Walter Murray Pengelly); the Imam of Muscat (Thuwaynī ibn Saʻīd Āl Sa‘īd); Her Majesty's Consul and British Agent at Zanzibar (Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Palmer Rigby, Colonel Atkins Hamerton).Physical description: Foliation: The foliation sequence commences on the title page and terminates on the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, and can be found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Foliation anomalies: 1, 1A, 1B, 164, 164A, 165, 165A, 166, 166A.Folios 256, 257, 258 and 259 are blank.
Abstract: Correspondence from Ephraim Gerrish Stannus, the Resident in the Persian Gulf, primarily to William Newnham, Chief Secretary to Government at Bombay and Lieutenant Colonel John Macdonald, Envoy to the Court of Persia.The main subject of correspondence within the volume is the relationship between the British Government and the Government of Persia, centering on the attitude of the Prince of Shiraz (Ḥosayn-‘Alī Mīrzā) and the Government of Bushire to the British Officers based there.Affairs at Bushire are the main topic of discussion, with the abduction by the Imam of Muscat (Saʻīd bin Sulṭān) of the former Governor Abdool Russool Khan [‘Abd al-Rasūl Khān], the seizure of the Government of Bushire by Shaikh Ahmed [Aḥmad bin Khamīs] from Shaik Hussein [Shaikh Ḥusayn Khan], and the counter attack by Shaikhs Hussein and Nassir [Nasir Khan] which resulted in threats of violence against the Residency at Bushire, the Prince of Shiraz's troops occupying the town, and the Resident being forced to leave the limits of the Bushire Residency until the acts committed by the Government and its supporters against the Residency are acknowledged.Other tensions between the British Officers in Persia and the Prince of Shiraz and his Prime Minister Zekee Khan [Zakī Khān] are also discussed, including the seizure of packets and baggage by the Customs House at Shiraz and accusations made against the officers in relation to the abduction of Abool Russool Khan, which were unfounded.The correspondence also details the daily financial administration of both His Majesty's Mission to Persia and the Residency at Bushire and includes statements of accounts and registers of Bills, along with communication with the Accountant General and Civil Auditor at Bushire on financial matters; the movements of British vessels in the Gulf; and the situation on the Arab Coast including the Imam of Muscat's intention to attack the fort at Derah [Ad Dir‘īyah] and remove its inhabitants from that place; an encounter between Rahma bin Jabir and vessels from Bahrein [Bahrain] which resulted in Rahma bin Jabir's death; and the blockade of Bussorah [Basra] by the Imam of Muscat's forces, and subsequent mediation of the situation by the Resident at Bussorah, Captain Robert Taylor.Physical description: Foliation: The foliation sequence is circled in pencil in the top right corner of the recto of each folio. It begins on the first folio after the front cover, on number 2, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 140. There is also a former pagination sequence numbering 1-272, which is written in ink in the top left corner of each page and runs through folios 3-139.