File 4722/1918 Pt 5 'Mesopotamia: Administration - Future Constitution'
- Holding institution:
- British Library. India Office Records and Private Papers
- Data provider:
- Qatar National Library
- Title:
- File 4722/1918 Pt 5 'Mesopotamia: Administration - Future Constitution'
- Date:
- 1920/1920
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume comprises copies, drafts, and originals of correspondence, minutes, and memoranda relating to the administration of Mesopotamia [present-day Iraq, sometimes referred to as Irak in this volume] following the decision by the League of Nations to assign the territory as a British mandate.A number of matters are covered by the volume, including the following:The form, extent, and timing of self-government in IraqThe framing of a constitution and electoral lawDiscussion of potential candidates to lead any future governmentReaction to the British mandate among the people of Mesopotamia, including nationalist, pan-Arab, pan-Islamic, and pro-Turkey groups, and the outbreak of the Iraq Revolt of 1920, and British efforts to appease or suppress these groupsThe timing and wording of announcements made in Mesopotamia by the civil administration regarding British intentionsThe question of sufficient military and administrative presence in the countryDiscussion of how to respond to the subject of Mesopotamia being raised in the UK Parliament and the British and Iraqi pressBritish fears of French, American, and Italian influence in the region.Notable within the volume are the following:Drafts of the mandate for Mesopotamia, 26 May 1920 (ff 163-176)A summary of proposals on the Mesopotamian constitution by the Bonham-Carter Committee (ff 97-99) and a memorandum on the subject by Henry Robert Conway Dobbs, Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, 26 May 1920 (ff 94-95)Copy of a public proclamation (written in English and Arabic), made by the Civil Administration in Mesopotamia and regarding British troop withdrawals, dated 17 June 1920 (f 67)Translation of a ‘manifesto’ by leading men of Najaf, Abdul Muhsin Shalash [‘Abd al-Muḥsin Shalāsh], Saiyid Nur [Sayyid Nūr al-Yāsiri], Abdul Raza al Ibrahim Shaikh Razi [‘Abd al-Riḍā al-Ibrāhīmī, Shaikh Rāḍī], Abdul Karim Jazairli [‘Abd al-Karīm Jazā’irlī], and Jawad Sahib ul Jawahir [Jawād Ṣāḥib al-Jawāhir], 11 June 1920 (f 42).The principal correspondents are Arnold Talbot Wilson, Acting Civil Commissioner for Mesopotamia, and Edwin Samuel Montagu, Secretary of State for India. Other correspondents include: Nuri Said [Nūrī al-Sa‘īd, also written Noury Saïd in this volume], leading Arab Iraqi politician and officer; Major-General Percy Zachariah Cox, Acting Minister in Tehran and appointed High Commissioner of Iraq; General Headquarters, Iraq; the War Office; the Foreign Office; and Political Officers and Military Governors in Amarah, Baghdad, Samarra, Diwaniyah [Al Diwaniyah], Hillah [Al Hillah], Basra, and Shamiyah [Al Shamiyah].Some of the Arab and Iraqi leaders and officials discussed in the volume include: the Naqib of Baghdad [‘Abd al-Raḥmān Al-Kīlānī al-Naqīb al-Ashrāf]; Hasan Suhail [Ḥasan al-Suhayl, Shaikh of the Banī Tamīm]; Mirza Mahammed Taqi Shirazi [Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqi al-Shīrāzī], leading Mujtahid (Islamic legal authority) of Karbala; Sayed Talib [Sayyid Ṭālib bin Rajab al-Naqīb al-Refā‘ī], Arab nationalist, Feisal [Fayṣal bin Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī, also written Feisul in this volume], King of Syria; and Abdullah [‘Abdullāh bin Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī], Feisal’s brother and future Amir of Transjordan [present-day Jordan].The volume contains several cuttings and extracts from The Baghdad Times, The Times, The Morning Post, The Pioneerand Reuters.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 192; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Multiple intermittent additional pagination and foliation sequences are also present.The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.
- Language:
- English
- Type:
- Archival file
- Type (Narrower):
- Other Texts
- Type (Broader):
- Text
- Subject:
- Mandates
Colonial administration
Constitutions
Iraqi Revolt (1920) - Geographic region:
- Mesopotamia
- Rights:
- غير معروف
- Identifier:
- 81055/vdc_100000000419.0x00028d_ar
81055/vdc_100000000419.0x00028d_en
IOR/L/PS/10/759
IOR/L/PS/10/759