Abstract: The volume contains correspondence received by the Political Resident at Bushire in regard to test drilling at Kuh-I-Mund [Kūh-e Mand, Bushire] by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC), and records anti-British feelings among the locals.Physical description: The foliation sequence commences at the title page with 1, then 1A and 1B and terminates at 6; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and can be found in the top right corner in the recto side of each folio. This file is bound with IOR/R/15/1/637 in the same volume; each file has its own foliation sequence.
Abstract: Genre/Subject MatterThis view of Bushire (Bushehr), from an elevated position looking south, is taken from the roof of the offices of Gray, Paul and Co. (sister firm to Gray, MacKenzie and Company), a company that acted as shipping agent for British India steamers between India and Europe, via the Gulf ports.A number of buildings are seen in the photograph, though relative degradation of the image obscures much of the background and horizon area. A building under construction extends from the lower left of the image to the centre. Immediately behind this, the terrace of a flat-roofed building is fenced off. Next to the building under construction, and immediately below the centre of the image, bricks can be seen stacked high against the wall of an adjacent building.In the far right of the image, towards the horizon, a domed roof can clearly be seen amongst the flat-roofed buildings. Although the dome is windowless, a smaller dome with openings to allow light to filter through sits atop it. This is possibly a bath house.InscriptionsLower right, in pencil, alongside image: ‘83’Below image: ‘The Town looking South from Gray. Paul's Office. 23. Feb. 1902’Physical description: Dimensions:109 x 155 mm [landscape]Format:Materials:Condition:The image is considerably faded throughout, with surface losses along the upper edge.Foliation:'83'Process:
Abstract: Imprint:N.S. (P.D.) April 1933.Distinctive Features:Sketch map compiled from the Admiralty Chart No. 3540 showing the proposed location of the British naval base at Al Jufayr, Bahrain, attached to a letter no. P.D. 04289/33 dated 1 May 1933 (folios 114-115).Classified ‘Secret’. The land owned by the Government indicated by a dotted line with position of proposed causeway and piers marked and pencil additions indicating proposed site for the base and recreation grounds.Physical description: Dimensions:290 x 206 mm, on sheet 330 x 245 mm
Abstract: Genre/Subject MatterThis view, from an elevated position looking east, is taken from the roof of the British Residency at Bushire (Būshehr).The foreground is occupied by a courtyard, from which several doors and windows appear to lead to different compartments. In the left-most corner of the courtyard a figure can be seen emerging from one of the doors.Beyond the compound, in the middle-ground, there is a green area occupied by trees, including at least one palm.Upon close inspection much architectural detail can be observed, even in the far distance along the horizon. For instance, it is clear that the majority of the structures visible are flat-roofed dwellings with roof terraces protected by fencing, or by high parapets punctuated with latticed sections, allowing air to circulate.InscriptionsLower right, in pencil, alongside image: ‘84’Below image: ‘The Town looking East from British Residency. 23 Feb. 1902’Physical description: Dimensions:109 x 158 mm [landscape]Format:Materials:Condition:The image is slightly faded in the left of the image and ther are some small surface losses in the sky area. An elongated white mark at 50 mm from lower, 30 mm from right probably originates in the printing phase.Foliation:'84'Process:
Abstract: The volume is
Treaties and Agreements between the British Government and Certain Arab Rulers and Agreements between the Said Rulers inter se Affecting the British Government(Calcutta: Government of India Press, 1926). The volume contains transcripts of treaties and agreements dated 1915 to 1925 relating to Najd, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait, Trans-Jordan, and Kaf.The texts of some of the treaties and agreements appear in both English and Arabic in vertical parallel columns.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the front cover and terminates at 25 on the back cover. These numbers are written in pencil, are enclosed in a circle, and appear in the top right hand corner of the recto page of each folio. An original printed pagination sequence is also present in the volume. The following folio folds out: f. 15.
Abstract: Distinctive Features:Districts labelled for reference with boundaries outlined in colour, roads shown in red and rivers in blue. Shoals indicated by pecked line.Physical description: Dimensions:214 x 342 mm, on sheet 309 x 422 mm
Abstract: The first part of the volume contains correspondence to and from the Political Residency between 1912 and 1927, relating to the costs of providing refuge to slaves seeking manumission, incurred by the Persian Gulf Political Agencies and Consulates. Letters between the Treasury of the Government of India and the Political Residency discuss the annual budget allocated to the suppression of the slave trade, from which dietary expenses, as well as clothing and repatriation expenses, were taken. Amongst the particular issues discussed are the expenses related to increasing numbers of slaves originating from Baluchistan in 1923 as a result of that area’s famine, and the increasing costs of feeding slaves due to rising food costs near the end of the First World War.The second part of the volume comprises correspondence sent between the Residency and Agencies/Consulates between 1910 and 1939 on how to deal with the manumission of slaves. The file includes guidelines for manumission (folios 56-58), created by Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Cox in his capacity as Persian Gulf Political Resident in 1912. Cox’s guidelines were distributed to the Gulf Agencies and Consulates. These guidelines responded to the ambiguities present at the time in determining whether manumission should be given: the date of an individual’s enslavement, where their owner resided, the nature of their servitude (domestic or otherwise). The guidelines outline the authorities (treaties and proclamations) governing the prohibition of the slave trade in the Gulf, and grounds and procedure for manumission. Procedure for manumission varies dependent on whether slaves have come from Persia, the Arab Coast (Kuwait, Bahrain, Trucial Coast, Muscat), and slaves from Persian territory under British protection. Queries over the status of slaves from Persia occupy a significant portion of the remainder of this part of file, due to official Persian policy regarding slaves having changed with Persia’s abolition of slavery in 1928. Also included is a revised set of manumission guidelines drawn up in 1938 (folios 127-29), intended to replace Cox’s earlier rules. These updated guidelines reflect the change in Persia (now Iran’s) policy towards slavery.Physical description: Foliation: Volume is foliated from the front cover to last folio with a small number in the top-right corner of each recto. Blank folios have not been foliated.
Abstract: The file contains the following title deeds: title deed in Arabic, with plan on reverse, and accompanying translation in English, recording exchange of land by the British Government of a piece of land at Ghosaibia, Manamah [Manama] with the Government of Bahrain, for a plot of land situated at Ummul Hassam, Manamah for a sum of 3304 rupees dated 1 February 1944, by which the piece of land situated at Ghosaibia became the property of the Bahrain Government; and title deed in Arabic, with plan on reverse, and accompanying translation in English, recording transfer by the Bahrain Government of a piece of land situated at Umm al Hasam, Manamah to the British Government in exchange for a plot of land owned by them at Qadhaibieh, Manamah for a sum of 3304 rupees, dated 3 February 1944, by which the piece of land situated at Umm al Hasam became the property of the British Government;The file also contains a covering memorandum from the Political Agent, Bahrain, Major Tom Hickinbotham, to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, dated 15 April 1944, explaining that in order to provide the necessary separation between transmitters and receivers situated in the Royal Navy base [at Jufair] it had been necessary to acquire a transmitting site in the area by exchanging a piece of land at Qudhaibia belonging to the Royal Air Force for a property belonging to the Sheikh of Bahrain at Umm al Hassan.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation system in use commences at 1 on the front cover, and continues through to 7 on the back cover. The sequence is written in pencil, enclosed in a circle, and appears in the top right hand corner of the recto page of each folio. A second sequence, numbered 24-30, appears on all the pages bearing text between ff. 2-6. This sequence is also written in pencil, and appears in a similar position to the main sequence.
Abstract: Genre/Subject MatterThis panoramic view of the British Residency and sea-front at Bushire (Būshehr) consists of two small photographic prints pasted side by side, showing a series of buildings of uniform two-storeyed height receding into the distance along the sea-front from right to left.In the right-hand image rose bushes appear to be growing in the expanse between the sea and the buildings. Behind them a lone donkey is tethered.Although the clarity of the image is seriously compromised by fading, there appears to be a telegraph mast or flag pole along the right edge of the left-hand image, extending across to the right-hand image.Some distant figures and a boat are visible along the shoreline.InscriptionsLower right, in pencil, alongside image: ‘86’Below image: ‘Panorama of British Residency and Sea front. 23. Feb. 1902’Physical description: Dimensions:71 x 185 mm (71 x 96 mm; 71 x 89 mm) [landscape]Format:Materials:Condition:The right-hand image is heavily stained (likely originating in the printing process) with two scratch surface-losses near the left edge. and one longer scratch extending from the lower right corner.The left-hand image exhibits minor abrasion all along the left edge of the image with two small surface losses at centre in the sky area.While the left-hand image is considerably faded, the right hand image is darker due to staining.Foliation:'p. 14'; '86'Process:
Abstract: The file concerns the selection of a site in Bahrain for the transfer of the Persian Gulf Political Residency from Bushire.The main correspondents are the Political Agent, Bahrain; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; and the India Office. Correspondence forwarded to the Political Agent, Bahrain, includes correspondence from the Foreign Office and the Government of India. There is also correspondence from the India Meteorological Department, Poona and from staff of the Bahrein Petroleum Company (BAPCO).The papers include: discussion between the Political Agent, Bahrain and the Political Resident concerning the relative merits of the previously-selected site, Busaitin on Muharraq Island, and Essex Point, near the Jufair Naval Base, November 1937 - January 1938; Foreign Office letter dated 19 November 1937 giving the reasons for the desirability of transferring the Political Residency to the Arabian Coast of the Persian Gulf, January 1938; daily temperature and humidity readings for Muharraq and Jufair, compiled by locally-appointed observers, with associated correspondence, May 1938 - February 1939; correspondence with the India Meteorological Department, Poona over the supply of thermometers to obtain the readings, June 1938 - February 1939; the decision to select Essex Point rather than Busaitin as the location for the Residency, March-April 1939; correspondence with staff of the Bahrein Petroleum Company (BAPCO) over the installation of air conditioning in staff accommodation, May-July 1939, including house floor plan, folios 141 and 142; and further discussion of potential sites, July 1946 and January 1947.The date range gives the covering dates for the main items of correspondence; the earliest dated documents in the file are the two plans dated 15 August 1936 on folios 141-142; the last dated additions to the file are a Bahrain Agency receipt stamp on the last main item of correspondence (folio 138) and an entry in the notes on folio 163, both dated 11 January 1947, and the date Jan/51 on the envelope that constitutes folio 140. There is no correspondence in the file between November 1941 and July 1946.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 164; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 2-164; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in same position as the main sequence.
Abstract: Distinctive features:Title deed plan dated 8th Safar, 1363, corresponding with 3rd February 1944.Shows plot of land situated at Umm al Hasam, Manamah which was exchanged for the land situated in Ghosaibia, Manamah in order to provide space for the Royal Navy base at Jufair.Labelled and coloured for reference with measurements reported.Physical description: Materials:Pen and ink with wash on tracing clothDimensions:190 x 200 mm, on sheet 266 x 225 mm
Abstract: Distinctive features:Title deed plan dated 6th Safar, 1363, corresponding with 1st February 1944.Shows plot of land situated at Ghosaibia, Manamah which was exchanged for the land situated in Umm al Hasam, Manamah in order to provide space for the Royal Navy base at Jufair.Labelled and coloured for reference with measurements reported.Physical description: Materials:Pen and ink with wash on tracing clothDimensions:140 x 160 mm, on sheet 276 x 225 mm