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, reports and other papers submitted by British officials in Iran, relating to the movements and actions of the Shah of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, and labour legislation passed by the Government of Iran. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/9 ‘Persia; Internal affairs; Shah’s tours in Persia: general situation reports’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3404). The file includes:Two reports written by the British Consul-General for Khorasan and Sistan (Captain Giles Frederick Squire). Both are entitled ‘An appreciation of the political situation in East Iran’, and dated 31 May 1938 (ff 59-65) and 6 December 1938 (ff 48-54) respectively.A report describing the Shah’s visit to Ahwaz [Ahvāz] in March 1939 (ff 39-43).A copy of a report, written by the Press Attaché at the British Legation at Tehran (Ann Katherine Swynford Lambton), dated 1 May 1941, on the state of public opinion in Iran in response to events in the Second World War in Iran’s neighbours, Iraq and Russia (ff 33-34).Papers relating to new labour legislation introduced by the Government of Iran in 1946, including a translation of regulations concerning the duties, organisation and procedure of the Supreme Labour Council (ff 18-19), and a translation of minimum wage regulations (ff 8-12).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 66; 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: This file contains correspondence, 1905-1911, between officials in the Foreign Office and the Government of India discussing policy options concerning the maintenance and control of telegraph lines in the Arabistan province of Persia.Correspondence discusses the acquisition of control of the Mohammerah-Ahwaz-Borasjun telegraph line. Also discussed is the Government of India's suggestion that Mohammerah-Ahwaz-Borasjun telegraph line be brought under the control of the Indo-European Telegraph Department as well as the the costs of making the necessary repairs.The file contains the Command Paper (Cd 1004) 'Convention between the United Kingdom and Persia extending the system of telegraphic communication between Europe and India through Persia'. Treaty Series, No. 5, 1902, signed at Tehran, August 16 1901.Correspondents include: Major E B Burton, Vice Consul, Mohammerah; Arthur Henry Hardinge, Consul-General, Persia; Percy Zachariah Cox, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; Louis Dane, Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 189; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The volume contains parts 1 and 2 of the subject 'South Persia'. Part 1 (IOR/L/PS/10/86/1 is entitled 'Persia Trade in South: Conditions on the Bushire-Shiraz Road; Russian Commercial Competition in South Persia'. It includes correspondence discussing trends in trade between the southern region of Persia including caravans of trade to be bartered. The volume includes statistics of products (including beer, cigarettes, dates, nails, tamarind, tea) taken inland from Gulf ports by caravans of mules.Part 2 (IOR/L/PS/10/299/2) concerns conditions of trade in South Persia and German documents relating to this including a copy of a book
La Perse et la Guerre Europpeeneand another book
Behind the Veil in Persia: English Documents.Other visual items of interest in Part 2 include a 'Map of Persia' (folio 299) depicting the Russian and British zones of influence along with project railways, frontier lines and provincial boundaries.The title on the spine reads '1912 3852 Pts 1 and 2. South Persia: Conditions in Trade in South. German documents.'Correspondents include: Foreign Secretary to the Government of India (Sir Hamilton Grant); Vice Consult, H B M Vice Consulate, Ahwaz; British Consul, Batoum; Deputy Political Resident, Persian Gulf; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Arthur J Balfour); and H B M Consul, Shiraz (W F T O'Connor).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 324; these numbers are written in pencil, 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 leading and ending flyleaves.
Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda and notes relating to the security on the Ahwaz to Isfahan Road (this road was also known as the Lynch Road). It also contains correspondence concerning the relations between the Bakhtiari clans and the Shaikh of Mohammerah over the Jerrahi lands.Family trees (folio 121; folio 141) of the branches of the Bakhtiari Khans (Ilkhani family) are supplied in an attempt to understand the feuds impacting on British interests. Also mentioned in the correspondence is the Bakhtiari Oil Fields Company and arms trafficking taking place.The principal correspondents are His Majesty's Vice-Consul and Assistant Resident, Ahwaz (Captain A J H Grey); First Assistant Resident (Captain R L Birdwood); Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); and Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department, Simla (Sir Henry McMahon).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 152; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The volume comprises copies of printed correspondence, handwritten correspondence, notes and other papers. This relates to the operation of British Indian post offices in Persia, and in particular in the region known as Arabistan [Ahvāz] by British officials. The file is a direct chronological continuation of File 1912/897 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf. British post offices [also in Turkish Arabia]’ (IOR/L/PS/10/242). Principal correspondents in the volume include: HM Minister in Tehran (Sir Charles Murray Marling); India Office staff (John Evelyn Shuckburgh; Arthur Hirtzel); the Deputy Chief Political Officer at Basra (Captain Arnold Talbot Wilson); the Chief Political Officer at Basra (Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); and the Officiating Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Major Stuart George Knox).Subjects covered in the volume include:a printed copy of the Convention of Rome (dated 26 May 1906), created by the Universal Postal Union, incorporating detailed regulations for its execution, in French and English, printed in 1907 by HM Stationery Office (ff 160-224);office notes relating to protests from the Persian Government at the opening of Government of India post offices at Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām] and Charbar [Chābahār], and the anticipated post office at Ahwaz [Ahvāz] (ff 153-159);a copy of a letter from Knox to Sir Walter Beaupré Townley, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia, dated 21 June 1914, countering complaints made by the Persian Government about British Indian postal service activities in southern Persia, by pointing out the perceived inadequacies in the Persian postal system (ff 130-133);complaints made by HM Consul at Kerman (Lieutenant-Colonel David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer), of deficiencies in the existing Persian postal service at Kerman. The Consul emphasises insecurities and delays on routes to Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] and Tehran, the inefficiency of staff, and the importance of the service to Kerman’s European community (ff 135-136, ff 77-78);a memorandum written by Wilson to Cox, dated 21 July 1917, giving a detailed account of the prevailing political situation (including Anglo-Persian relations) in Northern Arabistan (ff 41-44);the proposal, put forward by Cox in 1916, to open a British Indian post office at the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s (APOC) concession at Maidan-i-Naphtum [Meydān-e Naftūn]. It provokes much discussion between British officials in the Gulf, Government of India officials, and officials from the India Office and the Foreign Office, chiefly relating to the likely response of the Persian authorities to such a move, and whether the move could be justified. A useful précis of the differing opinions of officials involved in making the decision can be found at ff 14-18.Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 226; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Pagination: an original printed pagination sequence is present between ff 160-224.
Abstract: This part contains papers, mostly correspondence, relating to British interests in the South of Persia [Iran]. It includes papers relating to the following:the Persian Transport Company considering the question of improving the Bakhtiari Lynch road between Ispahan and Ahwaz, so as to make it suitable for wheeled traffic, or to possibly find an easier route by another alignmentthe question of where the road should end, and possible Russian objections to the road terminating at IspahanCaptain Noel’s proposal of Kuh-i-Mangasht as a practicable hill stationthe expenses of the survey of the proposed new road, which was carried out by the engineer to the Persian Transport CompanyThe correspondence is largely between the following:HM Minister to Persia (Charles Murray Marling) and the Foreign OfficeCaptain E Noel, HM Vice-Consul, Ahwaz, and Captain Arnold Talbot Wilson, Deputy Chief Political Officer, Basrah [Basra]Captain E Noel and Major-General Sir Percy Zachariah Cox, Chief Political Officer, BasrahThe India Office and the Foreign OfficeThe Persian Transport Company Limited and the Foreign OfficeHM Vice-Consul, Ahwaz, and HM Minister to PersiaPhysical description: 1 item (123 folios)
Abstract: This volume relates to the establishment of British consular offices and accommodation at Ahwaz [Ahvaz, also known as Naseri, Khuzestan] during the period 1918-32, proceedings which were particularly driven by: the end of hostilities with the Central Powers (Treaties of Sevres, 1920, and Lausanne, 1923); the increasing activities of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in the wider region; the poor state of existing consular offices rented from the Sheikh [Shaikh] of Mohammerah [Khorramshahr], Sheikh Khazel Khan or Khazal Jaber [Shaikh Khaz‘al bin Jābir al-Kaʾbī, Mu‘izz al-Salṭanah]; and the political necessity of maintaining British prestige in the consular district of Ahwaz.The papers notably cover and include:Deliberations over whether to construct a new building or purchase another outright for the Consulate at Ahwaz, including consideration of a site on the banks of the river Karum [Karun] and the site of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s hospital owned by ‘Iraqi’ named Razoogh Bashuri [Rusūkh Bāshūrī?]The recommendation in a report of another building suitable for the location of the British Consulate, valued at ‘Tomans [tūmān] 122’, as well as the following: subsequent reports of its unsatisfactory condition; proposals for expansion and improvement; the potential increase in rental costs; sanction of its lease, including a contribution by the Government of India; and clarification of ownership and running costsCopy of the lease for the British consular buildings (f 45) (modelled on the lease for the house of the Consul)The site of the British consular building (formerly occupied by the Vice-Consul) leased from the Sheikh of Mohammerah, including: a report on plans for construction works (ff 246-250); a copy of the indenture signed by the Secretary of State for India and the Sheikh, dated 16 July 1924 (ff 275-278); and correspondence concerning the disposal of deteriorating unused construction materials, including the ‘breach of contract’ ascribed to the Sheikh for non-disposal (due to his imprisonment by the Persian Government over various disputes), detailed schedules of materials (ff 114-116, ff 126-129; ff 270-274, ff 371-374), and proposals to sell the stone to the Anglo-Persian Oil CompanyThe ‘breach of contract’ ascribed to the Sheikh of Mohammerah in relation to unused construction materials at the site of the British consular building, which is explained as a ‘force majeure connected with the Sheikh’s arrest and imprisonment by the Persian [Pahlavī] Government and the embargo subsequently placed on his properties’ (f 33)Further explanations of the Sheikh’s agreements and disputes with the Persian Government (ff 57-59), including descriptions of the political, personal, and physical circumstances of the Sheikh of Mohammerah (ff 301-302)Sanction for a moiety charged to [British] Imperial revenues covering the rent of a house for HM Vice-Consul at Ahwaz (including water and electricity supplies) at the rate of six hundred krans per month, for the limited period of two years (f 124)Assurances from the Indian Political Department at Ahwaz that the Vice-Consul will always be a ‘bachelor’ [unmarried], and recommendations for the abolition of the post in November 1931Assessment of the possible damage that may be caused to the building of the Consulate at Ahwaz by the construction of a dam across the river Karun; the building of the Karun dam is considered less likely in favour of works in the region of Shush [Shushtar]Correspondence on accounts of expenditure regarding the diplomatic and consular establishments in Persia for the years 1928-29 (ff 109-112).The principal correspondents are: India Office; Foreign Office; HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, London; Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, London; Under-Secretary of State for India, London; Secretary of State for India, London; HM Minister, Tehran; HM Chargé d’Affaires, Tehran; HM Consul for Arabistan, Ahwaz; Acting Consul, Basra; Ministry of Finance, Government of Persia; Sheikh of Mohammerah; Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ahwaz; and Foreign Secretary to the Government of India.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 404; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The volume also contains multiple original foliation sequences.
Abstract: The file consists of correspondence and other papers mostly related to the Eastern Bank being invited by the Secretary of State for India to open a branch at Basra and to conduct the banking business of the Government of India at Basra. It also includes papers relating to: the Eastern Bank offering the services of their Baghdad branch to the Government of India, and the status of the Baghdad branch; the proposal of the Eastern Bank to open new branches at Ahwaz, Dizful [Disful] and Bahrein [Bahrain]; the Bank’s suggestion that all its employees in India should be exempted from military service (in the First World War); and applications for passports by the Bank for Bank employees.The file mainly consists of internal India Office notes, Minute Papers, and Reference Papers, and correspondence between the India Office and the following: the Manager of the Eastern Bank, Limited, London; the Viceroy of India, Foreign Department; and the Foreign Office. It also includes India Office correspondence with the Treasury, the Colonial Office, the Imperial Bank of Persia, the War Office, and other correspondents.The file 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 212; 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 leading and ending flyleaves.
Abstract: This volume is formed of two parts regarding British political and consular representation in Arabistan [Khuzestan] and its affairs.The two parts are as follows:Part 1 (IOR/L/PS/10/942/1) ‘Persia: – Arabistan – Consular arrangements in General Question' (ff 4-348)Part 2 (IOR/L/PS/10/942/2) ‘'Persia: – Ahwaz Consulate. (Consul for Arabistan' (ff 349-449).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 451; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: There are multiple intermittent pagination sequences.
Abstract: Distinctive Features:Tracing attached to a letter dated 9 February 1909 (folio 125). Shows land near the Kārun River at Ahwaz with proposed site for a consulate. Properties labelled for reference with the approximate position of new buildings indicated by red pecked line and dimensions reported.Physical description: Materials:Pen and ink on tracing paperDimensions:200 x 327 mm