File 7512/1919 ‘MESOPOTAMIA – LEVIES’

Title:

File 7512/1919 ‘MESOPOTAMIA – LEVIES’

Date:

1919/1921

Description:

Abstract: This volume consists of papers relating to the Arab and Kurdish Levies in Mesopotamia [Iraq].The papers include correspondence from the Acting Civil Commissioner in Mesopotamia at Baghdad (also spelled Bagdad in this volume), Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold Talbot Wilson, to the India Office, mostly forwarding copies of memoranda, reports and other papers concerning the levies, for information. The papers forwarded by Wilson include: notes on the training of the Arab and Kurdish Levies and Gendarmerie; a memorandum regarding the reconstitution of the Arab Levies in the Hillah, Diwaniyah and Najaf Divisions (which includes an annexed specimen enrolment form in both English and Arabic); a copy of the Arab and Kurdish Levy and Gendarmerie Proclamation, 1920; a report on the 2nd Euphrates Levies and District Police in the Hillah, Diwaniyah, and Shamiyah Divisions by Brigadier-General Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, and a supplementary report dealing with the two squadrons at Diwaniyah.The papers also include:Copies of telegrams and draft telegrams between the India Office and Wilson, and (after 4 October 1920) between the India Office and the High Commissioner in Mesopotamia, Sir Percy Zachariah CoxIndia Office Political and Secret Department minute papers and internal notesParliamentary Notices of questions to be asked of the Secretary of State for War and the Secretary of State for India in the House of Commons, with draft replies, and extracts from Hansardof the relevant proceedings in the House of CommonsCorrespondence between the India Office and the following two MPs in relation to questions they asked of the Secretary of State for India in the House of Commons: the Earl of Winterton, concerning reparation for the widows and dependents of members of the levies; and Colonel Charles Edward Yate regarding his question about whether efforts are being made to recruit levies from ‘the Chaldeans and Syrians’, leading to the Secretary of State for India suggesting to the High Commissioner in Mesopotamia that levies might be recruited from Assyrian refugeesCopies of telegrams between the General Officer Commanding Mesopotamia and the War OfficeDraft letters from the India Office to the War Office: forwarding a memorandum regarding the Arab and Kurdish Levies in Mesopotamia of 12 August 1919; and forwarding copies of telegrams from the High Commissioner in Mesopotamia of 1 and 5 February 1921, regarding the difficulty of obtaining suitable British Officers for the levies without the prospect of their permanent employment.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 177; 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 mixed foliation/pagination 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:

Armed forces
Military recruitment
Refugees

Geographic region:

Mesopotamia

Rights:

المُلكية العامة

Identifier:

81055/vdc_100000000419.0x000300_ar
81055/vdc_100000000419.0x000300_en
IOR/L/PS/10/874
IOR/L/PS/10/874

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