Abstract: Administration Report on the Persian Gulf Residency and Maskat [Muscat] Political Agency for 1901-02, published by the Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, Calcutta [Kolkata], forming part of the Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department, and based on reports sent to Government by the Political Resident and other Agents in the Persian Gulf.The Administration Report is organised as follows:1.
General Summary, submitted by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Arnold Kemball, Officiating Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, dated 21 April 1902 (folios 4-6), with overviews of: the year’s rainfall and harvest, and the impact of drought; the governorship of Bushire and Gulf ports; public peace; public health; currency; customs administration in the Gulf, under Belgian control; settlement of claims for compensation. The General Summary also includes summaries for key towns and regions, chiefly comprising accounts of local politics: Oman and Muscat; the Oman Coast; Bahrain; Koweit [Kuwait] and Nejd, including details of the loss of a decisive battle by Shaikh Mubarak al-Sabah at the hands of the Amir of Nejd, and the capture of Riadh [Riyadh] by Abdul Aziz [Ibn Sa‘ūd]; Persian Arabistan; Fars and the Persian Coast; Persian Baluchistan. Further reports are included on: the slave trade, including numbers of slaves manumitted by British officials in the region; incidents of piracy; naval movements, chiefly British but also Russian and French vessels; changes in British official personnel; and movements and changes in foreign representatives. An appendix to part 1 comprises statistical tables with meteorological data for the region.2.
Administration Report of the Muscat Political Agency, 1901-02, submitted by Major Percy Zachariah Cox, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul and Political Agent at Muscat, dated 2 April 1902 (folios 7-9) including: an account of recent tribal politics of Oman, most notably disturbances at Wadi Maawal; events in Sohar; ill-treatment of British Indian subjects in Muscat and Oman; customs; arms trafficking; pearl disputes; the death of the Sultan’s Vazir [Wazir], Sayyid Saeed bin Mahomed bin Salimin, and a brief account of his life; opening of the Muscat to Jask telegraph cable; epidemics and preventative measures; the slave trade; and naval movements.3.
Trade Report of the Persian Gulf for the Year 1901, submitted by Kemball, in his capacity at His Britannic Majesty’s Acting Consul-General for Fars, Khuzistan, etc., dated 31 March 1902 (folios 9-39), with summaries on: imports and exports; the harvest; exchange; currency and specie; mule hire; freight and shipping activity; Russian commerce; customs administration; administration of justice; further details of imports and exports, with reference to particular commodities including cotton, medicines, kerosene, opium and shells. An appendix follows with tabulated trade data of the principal imports and exports, and number, tonnage and nationality of vessels.4.
Trade Report for Maskat[Muscat],
1901-02, submitted by Cox (folios 40-41), with brief summaries on the import of arms, cereals, coffee and silk, and the export of dates and dried fish. An appendix follows the report, containing tabulated trade statistics.5.
Report on the Trade and Commerce of Mohammerah[Khorramshahr]
for 1900(folios 42-46), with remarks on: exchange; exports; imports; shipping; caravan routes; agriculture; health; and the river trade. An appendix follows the report, containing tabulated trade data.6.
Trade Report of Bundar Abbas[Bandar-e ʻAbbās]
for the Year 1901, submitted by Captain C H Boxer, His Britannic Majesty’s Vice-Consul at Bandar-e ʻAbbās, dated 12 March 1902 (folios 46-52), with remarks on: the value of imports and exports; harvest; exchange; transport; shipping; and the benefits to British trade that an extension of the telegraph cable to Bandar-e ʻAbbās would bring. An appendix follows the report, containing tabulated trade data.7.
Report on the Trade and Commerce of the Bahrein Islands for the Year 1901, submitted by John Calcott Gaskin, Assistant Political Agent, dated 7 February 1902 (folios 53-60), containing remarks on: total trade in Bahrain; the year’s pearl fishing season; importation of cotton and coffee; exports, including oyster shells; imports from India, Turkey and Persia; weights and measures in Bahrain; shipping; and a schedule of the lighterage rates at the Port of Bahrain. An appendix follows the report, containing tabulated trade data.Physical description: The report is arranged into a number of parts and sections, with tabulated statistical data directly following written sections. There is a contents page at the front of the report (folio 3), which refers to the report’s internal pagination sequence.
Abstract: Administration Report on the Persian Gulf Residency and Maskat [Muscat] Political Agency for 1902-1903, published by the Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India (Calcutta), forming part of the Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department, and based on reports sent to Government by the Political Resident and other Agents in the Persian Gulf. Folios 181 and 168 are copies of notes, dated 15 and 21 May 1903 respectively. Both notes were sent by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Arnold Kemball, Officiating Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, to Louis William Dane, Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department. The first note (no.82) enclosed the Residency and Muscat Political Agency reports. The second note (no.87) enclosed statistical tables of trade at Ahwaz and Shuster for 1902, drawn up by His Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Mohammerah [Khorramshahr] from returns supplied by Messrs Lynch and Brothers.The Administration Report is organised as follows:1.
General Summary, submitted by Kemball (folios 183-87), including reports on: the year’s rainfall and harvest; the governorship of Bushire and Gulf ports; public health, with details of outbreaks of cholera and smallpox; customs administration in the Gulf; settlement of claims against the Persian Government; and the coronation of King Edward VII. The General Summary also includes summaries for towns and regions, chiefly comprising accounts of local politics: Oman and Muscat; Oman and the Pirate Coast, including an assessment of the pearling season; Bahrain, including news from El Katr [Qatar]; El Hassa [Al-Hasa] and El Katif [Al-Qaṭīf]; Koweit [Kuwait] and Nejd, with an update on the fighting taking place between Abdul Rahman bin Feysul el Saood [Ibn Sa‘ūd] and the Emir of Nejd, Ibn Rashīd; Persian Arabistan; Fars and the Persian Coast, with separate reports from Shiraz, Lār, Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh], and Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]; Persian Baluchistan. Further reports are included on: the slave trade, including numbers of slaves manumitted by British officials in the region; incidents of piracy; naval movements, chiefly British but also Russian, French and Persian vessels; changes in British official personnel; and movements and changes in foreign representatives. An appendix to part 1 comprises statistical tables with meteorological data for the region.2.
Administration Report of the Muscat Political Agency, 1902-03, submitted by Major Percy Zachariah Cox, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul and Political Agent at Muscat (folios 187-92), including: an account of the tribal politics of Oman; reports from Seeb, Awabi, Nezwa [Nizwa], and Gwadur [Gwadar]; the Political Muscat Agent’s tour, including Fujeyrah [Fujairah], a Persian flag flying on Sirrī Island, and the journey from Abu Thabi [Abu Dhabi] to Muscat; a report of Cox’s attendance of the Delhi coronation durbar; customs; the arms trade; public health; slave trade activity; telegraph rates; Agency buildings; naval movements at Muscat, chiefly British but also Russian, French and U.S. vessels; official changes and the Resident’s visit. A trade report for Muscat is appended to the administration report, summarising imports and exports, itself followed by an appendix of tabulated trade statistics.3.
Report on the Trade and Commerce of the Persian Gulf for the Year 1902, submitted by Kemball (folios 192-99), including: general remarks on trade; imports and exports; exchange; mule hire rates; freight and shipping rates. An appendix follows with trade data of the principal imports and exports, and number, tonnage and nationality of vessels.4.
Report on the Trade of the Bahrein Islands for the Year 1902, submitted by John Calcott Gaskin, Assistant Political Agent (folios 200-02), with details of: coffee imports; pearling season; shell exports; exchange; port improvements. An appendix follows the report, containing tabular data on the principal imports and export at Bahrain.5.
Report on the Trade of Mohammerah[Khorramshahr]
for the Year 1902, submitted by William McDouall, His Britannic Majesty’s Vice-Consul, Mohammerah (folios 203-08), with summaries on: exchange; shipping; river trade; caravan routes; and agriculture. An appendix follows the report, containing trade data in tabular format.6.
Trade Report of Bundar Abbas[Bandar-e ʻAbbās]
for the Year 1902, submitted by Captain William George Grey, His Britannic Majesty’s Vice-Consul, Bandar-e ʻAbbās (folios 208-11), with summaries on: openings for British trade; mistakes made by British traders; the progress or decline of rival trade; obstacles to trade; communication between traders and the Consular Officer; legislative and tariff regulations; shipping. An appendix follows the report, containing trade data in tabular format.Physical description: The report is arranged into a number of parts and subsections, with statistic data in tabular format directly following written sections. There is a contents page at the front of the report (folio 180) which lists the report’s contents, and refers to the report’s own pagination sequence.
Abstract: Administration Report on the Persian Gulf Residency and Maskat [Muscat] Political Agency for 1903-1904, published by the Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India (Calcutta), forming part of the Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department, and based on reports sent to Government by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the Political Agent at Muscat. Folios 165 and 166 are copies of notes, dated 18 April 1904 and 18 May 1904 respectively, sent by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Arnold Kemball, Officiating Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and Captain William George Grey, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul and Political Agent, Muscat, to Louis William Dane, Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department, submitting their respective annual administration reports.The Administration Report is organised as follows:1.
General Summarysubmitted by Kemball (folios 167-69), including reports on: the year’s rainfall and harvest; the governorship of Bushire and Gulf ports; public health, with details of outbreaks of cholera and plague; settlement of claims; the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon’s visit to the Gulf, including details of the itinerary; the British Minister at the Court of the Shah of Persia’s visit to the Gulf; and the postal service. The
General Summaryalso includes summaries for towns and regions, as follows: Oman and Muscat; Oman and the Pirate Coast, with an assessment of the pearling season, incidents of piracy and tribal relations; Bahrain [referred to as Bahrain], with an assessment of the pearling season; El Hassa [Al-Hasa] and El Katif [Al-Qaṭīf]; Koweit [Kuwait] and Nejd, with an update of the struggle between Abdul Rahman bin Feysul el Saood [Ibn Sa‘ūd] and the Emir of Nejd, Ibn Rashīd; Persian Arabistan; Fars and the Persian Coast, with separate routes from Shiraz, Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh], and Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]; Persian Baluchistan; the slave trade, including numbers of slaves manumitted; incidents of piracy; movements of British naval vessels; reports on changes in British officials; and visits made by foreign representatives. An appendix to part 1 (folios 168-70) comprises statistical tables with meteorological data for the region.2.
Administration Report of the Muscat Political Agency, 1903-04, submitted by Grey (folios 170-77), including an account of the tribal politics of Oman; a detailed account of Lord Curzon’s visit to Muscat, including copies of the addresses presented to Lord Curzon by the community of British subjects and other British protected persons in Muscat, and Sultan Seyyd Faisal [Sa‘id Fayṣal], and Curzon’s replies to each. The report also includes details of the Resident’s visit to Muscat; political tours made by the Muscat Agent; administration of customs; Gwadur [Gwadar] customs; arms trafficking; health; law; building work in Muscat; improvements to the coal depot at Makullah cove; marine incidents, principally the wrecking of the French steamship
Amiral Gueydon; naval movements at Muscat; the slave trade, including numbers of slaves manumitted at Muscat; and changes to official personnel at Muscat.3.
Report on the Trade and Commerce of the Persian Gulf for the Year 1903, submitted by Kemball (folios 178-87), including general remarks on trade, and more detailed remarks on customs tariffs; imports and exports; tea; indigo; exchange; freight and shipping. Two appendices to part 3 contain tabular data on the value and quantities of imports and exports into Bushire and other Gulf ports, as well as data on the numbers, tonnage and nationality of visiting vessels.4.
Trade Report for Muscat, 1903-1904, submitted by Grey (folios 187-91), containing details on imports and exports at Muscat, and followed by an appendix with trade statistics.5.
Report on the Trade of Mohammerah[Khorramshahr]
for the Year 1903, submitted by William McDouall, His Britannic Majesty’s Vice-Consul, Mohammerah (folios 190-92) with summaries on: exchange; shipping; caravan routes; and agriculture. An appendix follows the report, containing trade data in tabular format.6.
Trade Report of Bundar Abbas[Bandar-e ʻAbbās]
for the Year 1903, submitted by Arthur Prescott Trevor, His Britannic Majesty’s Vice-Consul, Bandar-e ʻAbbās (folios 193-96), with summaries on: openings for British trade; mistakes made by British traders and their foreign competitors; the progress of rival trade; obstacles to trade; changes to trade tariffs; communications; exchange; and shipping. An appendix follows the report, containing trade data in tabular format.7.
Report on the Trade of the Bahrein Islands for the Year 1903, submitted by John Calcott Gaskin, Assistant Political Agent, dated 9 January 1904 (folios 196-99), with details on: cotton, rice and coffee imports; lantern manufacture in Bahrain; assessment of the pearling season; the oyster shell export trade; boatbuilding activity; exchange; and shipping. An appendix follows the report, containing tabular data on the principal imports and export at Bahrain.Physical description: The report is arranged into a number of parts and subheadings, with statistic data in tabular format directly following written sections. There is a contents page at the front of the report (. 164) which lists the report’s contents, referring to the report’s own pagination sequence. Some statistical tables (ff. 197-99) are arranged on the page in landscape format.
Abstract: Administration Report on the Persian Gulf Residency and Maskat [Muscat] Political Agency for 1904-1905, published by the Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India (Calcutta).The report is divided into a number of parts:1.
General Summary, prepared by Major Percy Zachariah Cox, Officiating Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (pages 1D-16), including reports on: the year’s rainfall and harvest, governorship of Bushire; public peace and tranquillity in and around Bushire; quarantine and public health, with details of plague and cholera epidemics in the region; administration of customs in the Persian Gulf, including new posts created in the Imperial Customs Administration; postal service; events in the ports of the Trucial coast, including an assessment of the year’s pearling season, comments about the character of each ruling shaikh’s administration, changes of rulers, visits made on shaikhs by the Resident; events in Bahrain [referred to as Bahrein], including the taking over of Political Agent’s duties by Captain Francis Beville Prideaux from John Calcott Gaskin, assessment of the year’s pearling season, the character of Shaikh Esa’s [Shaikh ‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfah] administration, and unrest and violent incidents; unsafe conditions and customs at El Hassa [Al-Hasa] and El Katif [Al-Qaṭīf]; events in Koweit [Kuwait] and Nejd, including Captain Stuart George Knox’s appointment as Political Agent for Kuwait, Ibn Saood’s [Ibn Sa‘ūd] territorial gains in Nejd, and subsequent meetings between Wahhābī and Turkish representatives, and friction between Turkish officials and Shaikh Mubarak bin Ṣabāḥ Āl Ṣabāḥ’s Land Agent over the Shaikh’s date gardens; events in Persian Arabistan, including the appointment of governor, security in the region and violent incidents, including assaults on a Lieutenant Lorimer and Colonel Douglas; events in Kermānshāh, chiefly the appointments of British officials; events in Fārs and on the Persian coast, including restrictions on movement as a result of the cholera epidemic; events in Kermān and Persian Baluchistan, including the appointment of officials, epidemics of smallpox and cholera; the slave trade, with numbers of slaves freed; incidents of piracy; cases of arms trafficking; details of the Resident’s annual tour; the movements of British naval vessels, and changes of British and foreign official personnel. The appendix to part 1 contains statistical tables of meteorological data.2.
Annual Administration Report of the Maskat[Muscat]
Political Agency for the Year 1904-1905, prepared by Major William George Grey, Officiating Political Agent (pages 17-20) including reports on inter-tribal quarrels; the political situation in Muscat; the cholera epidemic; fires caused by the hot weather in Muscat; customs administration at Muscat, Soor [Sur] and Gwadur [Gwadar]; arms trafficking; rainfall; the acquisition and construction of new government buildings; the slave trade, including measures taken to suppress the trade, and numbers of slaves seeking manumission at Muscat; the marriage of the Sultan’s son, Sayyid Taimoor [Sa‘īd ibn Taymūr]; events at sea, including the wrecking of the British vessel
Baron Inverdaleand the murder of its crew.3.
Report on the Trade and Commerce of Bushire for the Year 1904, prepared by R A Richards, His Britannic Majesty’s Vice-Consul (pages 21-128), with general remarks on imports and exports, with additional notes on tea, wheat, and vegetables; rates of exchange for London and Bombay; cost of freight and transport; customs, and the effect of the new Customs Tariff on small traders; advice to shippers and steamship companies; and total figures on the numbers and tonnage of shipping at Bushire. Appendix A is comprised of tabular data showing trade figures for the years 1902-04, indicating: the value and quantities of all goods imported and exported between Bushire and England, and between Bushire and other countries in the world; imports and exports to and from to other ports in the Gulf, with details of the nationalities and tonnage of vessels, and volumes and values of the different categories of goods traded.4.
Trade Report for Maskat[Muscat],
1904-05, prepared by Major William George Grey, Officiating Political Agent, Muscat (pages 129-32), with an overview of trade, included value of imports and exports, and chief items traded; and percentages of Muscat trade to other countries. Appendix A includes tabular data of imports and exports into Muscat for the years 1902-04, indicating the quantities of goods and their value in dollars, and the tonnage and nationality of vessels visiting Muscat.5.
Report on the Trade and Commerce of Arabistan for the Year 1904, prepared by William McDouall, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul for Arabistan (pages 133-40), with a general overview of trade; rate of exchange; shipping; details of the local cotton trade, caravan trade routes; agriculture (wheat, dates and wool); public works; health; and customs. Appendix A contains tabular data of trade into the port of Mohammerah [Khorramshahr] and other Kārūn ports for 1904.6.
Trade Report of Bunder Abbas[Bandar-e ʻAbbās]
for the Year 1904, prepared by Lieutenant William Henry Irvine Shakespear, His Majesty’s Britannic Consul, Bandar-e ʻAbbās (pages 141-49), including: general remarks on the year’s trade; customs tariff and duties; opportunities for British trade and the progress of rival trade; difficulties faced in trade at Bandar-e ʻAbbās, including a lack of banking facilities and inadequate landing and storage facilities; rate of exchange; freight; and shipping. Appendix A contains tabular data presenting comparative data on trade between the years 1903 and 1904, value of trade, and nationalities and tonnage of trading vessels at the port.7.
Report on the Trade of the Bahrein[Bahrain]
Islands for the Year 1904, prepared by Captain Francis Beville Prideaux, Assistant Political Agent (pages 150-56), with reports on trade, including: the activities of Messrs Gray Paul & Co. of London, and the German company of Robert Wonckhaus; trade in cotton, rice, coffee and dates; assessment of the pearl fishing season; export of oyster shells. Appendix A contains tabular data presenting an overview of Bahrain’s principal imports and exports during 1903-04.8.
Trade Report for Koweit[Kuwait]
, 1904-05, prepared by Captain Stuart George Knox, Political Agent (pages 157-62), including estimated figures for the year’s trade. Appendix A contains tabular data of import and exports at Kuwait for the year ending 31 March 1905. Appended to the trade report is a medical report, prepared by Daudur Rahman, Assistant Surgeon at Kuwait, dated 2 April 1905, which reports on the work of the Kuwait dispensary, with an overview of the prevalence of diseases in the town (including eye diseases, tuberculosis, rheumatism, skin diseases, venereal diseases, and cholera epidemic), sanitation measures, and mortality.Physical description: Foliation: The volume contains an original printed pagination sequence, which starts on the title page and ends on the last page; these numbers are located in the top outermost corners of each page. Additions to this sequence have been made in pencil to account for any pages not originally labelled. In consequence, the following pagination anomalies occur: 1, and 1A-D.
Abstract: Fortnightly consular diaries (monthly from February 1946) submitted by HM Consul at Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās], Persia [Iran], covering the period March 1943 to October 1946. No diaries for the period November 1945 to January 1946 are included in the file. The diaries, which are organised under various subheadings, cover the following subjects: movements and activities of British and Persian officials; movements of foreigners; food supply, food prices, and rationing; economic activity, including a fish canning factory at Bandar Abbas; trade and shipping movements; communications, with particular reference to the roads from Bandar Abbas to Kerman and Minab, and the availability of motor vehicles; tribal and political affairs; local elections; security; public health; anti-locust activities; meteorological data, including minimum and maximum temperatures and rainfall; public relations, specifically local opinion on events in the Second World War; affairs at various places in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas, including Lingeh [Bandar-e Lengeh], Chahbar [Chābahār], Jask, and Hormuz [Jazīreh-ye Hormoz]. The file also contains the following reports: ‘Notes on road Bandar Abbas – Kerman’, August 1943 (f 44); appreciations of the conditions in the Bandar Abbas Consulate area for the periods 1 April to 15 August 1944 (ff 100-103), 1 January to 31 May 1945 (ff 164-167), 1 June to 1 December 1945 (ff 182-185), and 1 January to 30 June 1946 (ff 209-210).At the rear of the file is a copy of the consular diary for Ahwaz [Ahvāz] for January 1947, submitted by HM Consul at Ahwaz and presumably misfiled.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 218; 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: Printed copies of annual trade and commerce reports for the Persian port of Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās], compiled by HM’s Consul at Bunder Abbas (George Alexander Richardson, Cecil Henning Lincoln). The file includes reports for the years 1925-26, 1926-27, 1927-28, 1928-29, 1930-32, 1932-33, 1934-35, and 1935-36.The reports vary in extent from one year to the next, but broadly include sections on the following subjects: a general review of the year’s trade at Bunder Abbas; currency, weights and measures; trade at the Persian port of Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh]; taxation; military operations and conscription; agriculture (including opium production); industry; roads; public health and hygiene; shipping and navigation; statistical tables of shipping activity, commodities, imports and exports.The original copies of the reports were forwarded by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, with a request that printed copies be sent back to the Political Residency. Included amongst the reports are India Office Political Department minute papers and other notes, with comments written by India Office officials on the contents of the reports.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file 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 last folio with 122; 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.