Abstract: The third of four volumes comprising a
Gazetteer of Persia.The volume, which is marked Confidential, covers Fārs, Lūristān [Lorestān], Arabistān, Khūzistān [Khūzestān], Yazd, Karmānshāh [Kermānshāh], Ardalān, and Kurdistān. The frontispiece states that the volume was revised and updated in April 1885 in the Intelligence Branch of the Quartermaster General’s Department in India, under the orders of Major General Sir Charles Metcalfe Macgregor, Quartermaster-General in India. Publication took place in Calcutta [Kolkata] by the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, in 1885.The following items precede the main body of the gazetteer:a note by Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Sever Bell, Deputy Quartermaster General, Intelligence Branch, requesting inaccuracies, omissions and suggestions for the gazetteer be reported to the Deputy Quartermaster General;a second note, dated 26 November 1885, describing the geographical scope of the four volumes comprising the
Gazetteer of Persia, and also making reference to the system of transliteration used (Hunterian) and authorities consulted;a preface, containing a summary of the geographical boundaries of the Gazetteer, a description of the Persian coast of the Persian Gulf, an abridged account of trade in the Persian Gulf for the year 1884, and a description of telegraphs in the regions described by the Gazetteer.The gazetteer includes entries for human settlements (villages, towns and cities), geographic regions, tribes, significant geographic features (such as rivers, canals, mountains, valleys, passes), and halting places on established routes. Figures for latitude, longitude and elevation are indicated where known.Entries for human settlements provide population figures, water sources, location relative to other landmarks, climate. Entries for larger towns and cities can also include tabulated meteorological statistics (maximum and minimum temperatures, wind direction, remarks on cloud cover and precipitation), topographical descriptions of fortifications, towers, and other significant constructions, historical summaries, agricultural, industrial and trade activities, government.Entries for tribes indicate the size of the tribe (for example, numbers of men, or horsemen), and the places they inhabit. Entries for larger tribes give tabulated data indicating tribal subdivisions, numbers of families, encampments, summer and winter residences, and other remarks.Information sources are provided at the end of each gazetteer entry, in the form of an author or source’s surname, italicised and bracketed.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 341; 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 has two printed pagination systems, the first of which uses Roman numerals and runs from I to XIII (ff 3-10), while the second uses Arabic numerals and runs from 1 to 653 (ff 12-338).
Abstract: This item consists of copies of a General Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 18 August 1873 and received by the India Office Secret Department 16 September 1873, forwarding copies of a paper containing an account by the Assistant Political Agent at Bussorah [Basra] of his recent visit to the Naphtha Springs in Khuzistan, Persia [Khuzestan, Iran].Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 207, and terminates at f 212, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains one foliation anomaly: f 210a.
Abstract: Printed and typewritten monthly reports submitted by the British Consul for Khuzistan [Khūzestān] (Herbert Reginald Dauphin Gybbon-Monypenny; Arnold Edwards Watkinson; Alfred John Gardener) to the India Office. The reports, which evolve over time from one-page summaries to comprehensive documents consisting of up to twenty-five sheets, cover a range of affairs taking place in the west Persian [Iran] province, and its chief towns of Ahwaz [Ahvāz] and Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]:British interests, including the movements of British consular, military and naval officials, individuals involved in commercial concerns, the activities of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) at Abadan and elsewhere, and the activities of the Mesopotamia Persia Corporation Limited.Persian administration, including the movements, appointments and actions of Persian officials, and general Government administration.Foreign interests (including Soviet, Iraqi, Japanese, French, German, American) with an emphasis on trade and shipping movements at Mohammerah.Persian military affairs, including army, conscription, police, the Anmieh (rural police), air force, navy.Internal affairs, including security (robberies and raids in the region, smuggling), the activities of the region’s tribes, including the Bakhtiari, judicial affairs.Public health, including outbreaks of cholera and deaths caused by the hot weather.Public works, covering roads, railways, bridges, municipal improvements, ports, posts and telegraphs.Agricultural activity and locust reports.Trade and commerce, including customs, the National Bank of Persia, industry, Persian monopoly companies.Weather reports.The reports also mention historical events of note, including: the Silver Jubilee and death of King George V; modernisation in Persia/Iran, including changes in dress (the adoption of ‘European hats’, the removal of ladies’ veils), and changes to place names.Earlier reports are enclosed with minute papers containing handwritten notes written by India Office staff, summarising points of interest in the reports. In many instances the handwritten notes are labelled a, b, c, etc., which refer to pencil annotations in the margins of the reports.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 766; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and ending flyleaves.
Abstract: Correspondence concerning the presence of non-British foreigners in Persia [Iran], usually reported by HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Tehran, Robert Henry Clive, Reginald Hervey Hoare, Horace James Seymour. The papers include: a memorandum dated 1929 written by Alan Charles Trott, on foreigners employed by the Persian Government, with details of nationalities and post occupied (ff 33-36); the issue of an order by the Shah of Persia [Reza Shah Pahlavi] in 1931, curtailing contact between foreigners and Persian military officers (ff 27-28); the appointment in 1931 of Belgian financial experts to positions in the Persian Government (f 26); the discharge in 1932 of a number of Germans from their employment in the Persian arsenal (f 24); the dismissal in 1932 of Dr Lindenblatt, a German citizen, from the Persian National Bank (ff 21-23); the Persian Government’s engagement in 1933 of a number of Austrians and Germans, who are experts in forestry, geology, botany, metallurgy (ff 18-20); in 1934, the non-renewal of contracts of a number of Belgian customs officials (ff 13-17); orders issued by the Persian Government in 1938 for the expulsion of Jews from Persia (ff 4-12), with particular reference to the implementation of the order in the province of Khuzistan [Khūzestān].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 37; 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: The volume concerns the situation in Persia during the First World War. The main focus is the protection of Anglo-Persian Oil Company's (APOC) oilfields and pipelines in south-western Persia.The volume covers:Defence of APOC property.Notes on oilfields in Arabistan [Khuzestan].Water supply of the oilfields.Creation of Inter-departmental Committee on the Defence of the Persian Oil Fields and its report (ff 230-235).Despatch of a small force to defend the oilfields in 1917.Acquiring British control over the oilfields.King's Regulation impeding to leave APOC without the consent of the Consul General for Fars, for the period of the war (f 110).Providing a guard for APOC's oilfields at Maidan-i-Neptun.Military training for European APOC employees.The volume’s principal correspondents are: John Nixon, General Officer Commanding, India Expeditionary Force 'D', Basrah; Charles Hardinge, Viceroy of India; Thomas William Holderness and Arthur Hirtzel, India Office; William Graham Greene, Oswyn Murray and Edmond John Warre Slade, Admiralty; Eyre Alexander Barby Wichart Crowe and Maurice de Bunsen, Foreign Office; Austen Chamberlain, Secretary of State for India; Anglo-Persian Oil Company; Charles Marling, British Minister at Tehran; Percy Cox, Political Resident in Persian Gulf.There are three maps within the file, 'Map A' (2 copies) on folios 264 and 271, and 'Part of River Karun' on folio 265.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 273; 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 present in parallel between ff 3-272; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The volume concerns the situation in Persia during the First World War. The main focus is securing cordial relations with the Bakhtiari to ensure security for British trade.The volume covers:Proposed grant of British honours to two Bakhtiari khans, Sirdar Assad and Sirdar Jang.Proposed matrimonial alliance between Sheikh of Mohammerah and Bahktiaris.Proposal to subsidize Bakhtiari Khans.Proposal to guarantee local autonomy to Bakhtiaris in event of dissolution of Persia.Attitude of Bakhtiari Khans.Letters from Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) staff regarding German intrigues among Bakhtiari and other tribes of southern Persia.Payment of a subsidy to Bakhtiari Khans.Measures for protecting APOC's property in Arabistan [Khuzestan].Proposed subsidy to the Bawi tribe.Arab raids to APOC's parties.The volume’s principal correspondents are: Walter Beaupre Townley and Charles Marling, British Ministers at Tehran; Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; George Buchanan, British Ambassador in Russia; Eyre Alexander Barby Wichart Crowe and Walter Langley, Foreign Office; J G L Ranking, British Consul at Ahwaz; Percy Cox, Political Resident in Persian Gulf; Thomas William Holderness, Lionel Abrahams and Arthur Hirtzel, India Office; Charles Hardinge, Viceroy of India; Anglo-Persian Oil Company.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 162; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.