Abstract: This file concerns a Japanese oil broker named Shunkichi Nomura; his intention to travel from Kabul to Iraq; the possibility he may be acting for the Japanese Government; and his eventual abandonment of plans to travel to Iraq. The file contains correspondence between Captain Everard Huddleston Gastrell, Political Agent at Bahrain, and Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven Fowle, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the back cover with 9; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: Papers concerning relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and proposals in 1940 to fix the Saudi-Iraq border, including:The British Minister in Saudi Arabia Reader Bullard’s views, dated 27 April 1939, on Saudi Arabia’s status in the event of war, including any risks posed towards the country by Italy or Iraq (ff 3-4).A copy of an agreement defining the procedure to be followed by the Commission appointed to demarcate the frontier between Iraq and Arab-Saudiya [Saudi Arabia], dated 1940 (ff 10-12), and an explanatory note on certain articles in the draft Iraqi-Saudiya Frontier Demarcation Agreement (ff 13-14).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 20; these numbers are written in pencil, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The memorandum is a report produced for the Inter-Departmental Committee on Eastern Unrest, which includes intelligence covering the period October 1922 to March 1923. It provides an overview of Russian-Persian relations and of changes made to Russian official representation at Tabriz, Tehran, and Kermanshah. It also reports on Bolshevik intrigue (and anti-British activities) in Persia, and to a lesser extent Iraq and India. This includes a brief report of anti-British articles produced by the Persian Press and efforts to suppress them, as well as reports on the Persian Communist Party.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 31; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: This is a secret printed memorandum by the Political Department of the India Office, dated 25 June 1935, concerning the Persian Gulf. The memorandum is divided in nine numbered sections, which include: 'Procedure for dealing with Persian Gulf Questions', 'British Relations with Persian Gulf States', 'The Arab Shore Air Route', 'Oil', 'Relations with Saudi Arabia', 'Koweit' [Kuwait], 'Saudi Blockade of Koweit', 'The Sheikh's Date Gardens in Iraq', and ’Koweit-Iraq Smuggling'.Physical description: Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover, and terminates at the inside back cover; 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: The volume contains brief biographical statements on individuals active in Iraq, often including comments on their character, reputation, political affiliations, command of armed forces, and attitudes towards European and regional powers.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 157; 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 (138 pp).
Abstract: The volume is titled
Iraq and the Persian Gulf(London: Naval Intelligence Division, 1944).The report contains preliminary remarks by the Director of Naval Intelligence, 1942 (John Henry Godfrey) and the Director of Naval Intelligence, 1944 (E G N Rushbrook).There then follows thirteen chapters:I. Introduction.II. Geology and description of the land.III. Coasts of the Persian Gulf.IV. Climate, vegetation and fauna.V. History.VI. People.VII. Distribution of the people.VIII. Administration and public life.IX. Public health and disease.X. Irrigation, agriculture, and minor industry.XI. Currency, finance, commerce and oil.XII. Ports and inland towns.XIII. Communications.Appendices: stratigraphy; meteorological tables; ten historical sites, chronological table; weights and measures; authorship, authorities and maps.There follows a section listing 105 text figures and maps and a section listing over 200 illustrations.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 430; 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: The volume contains records of correspondence (abstracts, lists, copies and originals) concerning relations between Russia and Persia during the period 1837-1875. The papers are as follows:Papers relating to Russian proceedings on the island of Ashoorada [Ashuradeh] covering the years 1837-1854 (but compiled at an unspecified later date):abstract of correspondence covering the years 1837-1854 (folios 1-13);lists of dispatches and correspondence covering the years 1837-1852 (folios 14-21A).Papers relating to Russo-Persian relations, c1860-1862:abstract of a memoir on the general policy of Russia in the East by M. Sawarykielwiez (folios 22-33). The abstract is signed WHB. A note in blue crayon on folio 22 reads '?About 1860';letter from Charles Alison, Tehran to John Russell, Earl Russell, dated 14 June 1862, enclosing a translation of a draft [not transcribed] of a secret treaty between Persia and Russia proposed during the Crimean War (original manuscript copy and two typescript copies) (folios 34-37).Copies of secret dispatches from the British Embassy at St Petersburg to the British Government, dated 1874-1875, relating to Russian activities in Transcaspia and Central Asia, with copies of supporting correspondence (folios 38-146). Many of the dispatches are in French.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the first folio after the front cover and terminates at 157 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. Foliation anomalies: ff. 21, 21A; ff. 74, 74A; ff. 114, 114A; ff. 115, 115A; ff. 116, 116A; ff. 127, 127A; ff. 130, 130A; ff. 131, 131A; ff. 132, 132A; ff. 136, 136A; ff. 137, 137A; ff. 139, 139A; ff. 140, 140A; ff. 141, 141A; ff. 146, 146A; ff. 151, 151A; ff, 152, 152A.
Abstract: Memorandum outlining oil concessions in Persia and Iraq held by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Standard Oil, and the Turkish Petroleum Company. It covers the Arabian littoral of the Gulf, and highlights the restrictions placed on Arab rulers by treaty engagements from granting oil concessions without approval of His Majesty's Government. In addition, it notes that Eastern and General Syndicate have a concession for Bahrein [Bahrain] Islands; and assesses the importance of Persian oil to Britain.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences and terminates at f 76, as it is part of a larger physical volume; this number is written in pencil, and is located in the top right corner of the recto side of the folio.
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 correspondence sent and received by the Political Agent at Bahrain concerning the development of new fisheries in Abadan, to improve the diet of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's staff. There are two copies of a report on Abadan fishery schemes, (ff 5-19 and ff 23-37) and a brief report on the fisheries of Iraq (ff 38-39), both by Dr George Colin Lawder Bertram.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the back cover with 40; 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 mixed foliation/pagination sequence is also located in parallel between ff 2-39; these numbers are written in pencil and crayon, but are not circled. They are located in the same position as the main sequence, except for some instances which are located on the verso.
Abstract: The file contains a public notice and the following correspondence about Iraqi and Iranian nationality laws:A circular memorandum dated 1927 from the British High Commissioner for Iraq, Baghdad, about the effect of the Iraq Nationality Law upon foreigners born in Iraq, so that the Political Agent, Bahrain and others could give further publication to the fact that the Iraq Government had provisionally extended up to 31 December 1927, the period during which renunciation of Iraq nationality could be made by persons already of age, who were born in Iraq and whose fathers were born and resident in Iraq;A public notice in English and Arabic dated 1927, issued by the Political Agent, Bahrain, advising eligible Iraqis of the extended period during which they might relinquish Iraq nationality;A memorandum from the Political Officer, Trucial Coast, Sharjah dated 1940, enquiring about the liability to conscription of certain travellers from Bahrain to Iraq and Iran, under the Iraq and Iranian nationality laws of 1924 and 1929 respectively;A circular letter and despatch from the British Ambassador to Iraq, Baghdad, in 1942, about persuading the Iraqi Government to lower the residency fees levied on foreigners living in Iraq, under the Iraq Stamp Law, including an exemption for British and British Indian subjects;A letter from the Political Agent, Bahrain dated 1943, enquiring about subjects from the Trucial Coast Sheikdoms living in Iraq, also being exempted from Iraq residency fees.The file also contains English translations of the following laws and regulations:Compilation of laws and regulations issued between 1st January 1924 and 31st December, 1925, published by the Government of Iraq, Ministry of Justice, Baghdad, 1926;The Hijaz (Hejaz) Nationality Law, 1926;The Saudi Arabian Nationality Regulation No.3, 1938;Iraqi Law No.40 of 1942, amending the Iraq Stamp Law No.30 of 1922.Physical description: Foliation: numbered 1-37, 37A, 38-81. The numbering is written in pencil in the top right corner of the folio and encircled. The numbering starts at the front of the file, on the file cover (f 1) and ends on the inside cover at the back of the file (f 81). Folio 37A is blank. In an earlier and incomplete secondary foliation sequence, folios 57 to 79 are also numbered 6 to 29 in pencil in the top right corner.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence relating to the adjournment, second phase, and collapse of the Kuwait Conference. The correspondence is between the Political Residency at Bushire, the Political Agencies at Kuwait and Bahrain, the High Commissioners in Baghdad and Jerusalem, the Colonial Office in London, the British Agency at Jeddah, the Government of India, Sheikh Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait, Ibn Sa'ud, Sultan of Najd, King Faisal of Iraq, and Amir Abdullah of Transjordan.The main aim of the conference was to settle issues of border delineation between Najd, Transjordan, the Hejaz, and Iraq. Other issues of negotiation were the return of Shammar refugees to Najd from Iraq and compensation for past raids. Much of the correspondence deals with this. The discussion focuses around the status of places that there is most disagreement on: Wadi Sirhan (Jauf [Jawf], Kaf [Kāf]), Akaba [al-‘Aqaba], Maan [Ma‘ān], and the Hejaz frontier (Khurma, Turbah, Khaybar). Other more practical issues are discussed, such as travel arrangements and the identity of attendees, including Ibn Sa‘ud's decision not to send one of his son's as delegate which led to King Hussein withdrawing his own representative.Other subjects covered by the volume are:a large raid by the Ikhwan on Iraqi shepherd tribes that effectively ended the conference;the presentation by the British of a silver plate to Sheikh Ahmed to thank him for his hospitality;the official Najd government publication of a 'green book' on the conference.Notable within the volume are Stuart Knox's notes and minutes on the numerous sittings of the conference: folios 1D-37, 57-90, 120-29, 252-63, 265-71, 274-80.Physical description: Foliation: the sequence starts on the title page and ends on the last folio. The numbering is written in pencil, circled, and found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. There are the following irregularities: 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D; 165A and 165B. There is a second, incomplete sequence the runs between folios 165-319. It is also written in pencil but is not circled.