Abstract: Genre/Subject Matter:This printed pen sketch shows the town of Fao in latter-day Iraq and was probably sketched from on board ship. A flagstaff to the left of the image probably denotes the location of the telegraph station and post office. Fao is described as ‘the Turkish town’ on p. 7 of the same volume; this is indicated by the ay-yıldız (star and crescent) indicated on the flag atop the flagstaff.Inscriptions:Printed, below image: ‘FAO Telegraph Station and Post Office’Physical description: Dimensions:130 x 193 mm; 129 x 195 mmCondition:The prints are in good condition with minor transfer from opposite printe page and surface dirt throughout. Some light foxing and creasing at edges.Foliation:‘23’
Abstract: The memorandum, written by Francis Leveson Bertie of the Foreign Office, 15 October 1893, discusses questions relating to the Guttur or El-Katr [Qatar] following rumours that the Ottoman Government intended to separate England from the Sheikhs on the Arabian Coastline of the Persian Gulf that had signed treaty agreements with the British Government.The questions discussed include:the actions of Jasim bin Muhammad bin Thani, Kaïmakan (Shaikh of Qatar) in opposing the authority of the Vali of Bussorah [Basra];the Porte's (Government of the Ottoman Empire) desire to punish the Shaikh, and the British Resident in the Persian Gulf (Colonel Adelbert Cecil Talbot)'s desire to mediate between the two parties which the Porte objected too;attempts by the Vali of Bussorah to bring about a conflict with Shaikh Jasim and Colonel Talbot's recommendation that the El Katr Chief's be reinstated on an independent footing and the 1868 treaty be renewed.Also referred to in the memorandum are:A complaint made by the Porte of the intervention of British Consular authorities in matters concerning the inhabitants of Bahrein [Bahrain], and a reminder to the Porte that Bahrein was under British protection;Work undertaken by Ottoman Engineers to build three military guard posts at Fao [Al Fāw], which were considered to be a potential threat to British commerce on the Shat-el-Arab [Shaţţ al ‘Arab].Physical description: Foliation: The foliation for this description commences at folio 101, and terminates at folio 102, since 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. An additional foliation sequence is also present in the top right-hand corner of the recto of each folio. These numbers are written in pencil, but are not circled.Pagination: The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: A memorandum of the events and correspondence relating to the Turkish construction of a fort at Fao on the Shat-el-Arab. The memorandum reproduces a number of representations made by the British Government both directly to the Turkish Porte and through the Persian Government, objecting to the construction of the fort on the grounds that it was said to contravene a Turco-Persian agreement of 1847. By June 1897 the fort is said to have fallen into decay and to be without guns, but the memorandum concludes that the British must resort to other means if construction of the fort is revived. The memorandum is written by Edmund Neel, Political and Secret Department, India Office, and provides a map at folio 19.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at folio 18 and terminates at folio 26, as it is part of a larger volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Two additional foliation sequences are present in parallel; these numbers are also written in pencil, but one set is circled and crossed through, the other set is not circled.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence related to Kuwait-Iraq smuggling. British officials suggested a mixed commission representing both the Shaikh of Kuwait and the Iraqi Government, and authorized the investigation all the frontier incidents by land and by sea that had occurred between the two states since April 1933.The Shaikh of Kuwait raised his complaints to the Political Agent, Kuwait, about Iraqi customs attacking Kuwaiti nationals, and about tribesmen accusing them of smuggling. In turn, the Political Agent, Kuwait, shared the Shaikh’s concerns with the Political Resident, Bushire, and other British officials. On the other hand, reports were also sent by the Iraqi Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the British Embassy regarding the Iraqi Government investigating the incidents.The volume also contains correspondence related to meetings held between Iraqi and Kuwaiti delegations in few places in Iraq and Kuwait in order to discuss the incidents issue, as well as records of a meeting held in London to consider establishing frontier committee to investigate the incidents.Among other correspondents in the volume are the Iraqi Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ruler of Kuwait, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, London, and the Secretary of State for India, London.The volume core correspondence covers the period April 1936 to February 1937. The earlier start date given for the volume is a result of correspondence related to the investigations made by the Iraq Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the depositions of Kuwaiti nationals, these are dated December 1935, (ff 138-145).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 257; 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 3-252; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence, and related papers, regarding a court case over the ownership of date gardens claimed by the Shaikh of Kuwait [Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], and his relations, around Fao in Iraq. The court case in question was prosecuted by the heirs of Ali Pasha Al-Zuhair at the Court of Basra. The volume also contains correspondence regarding legal aid provided to the Shaikh of Kuwait by the British Government, as a result of a pledge made to Shaikh Mubarak [Shaikh Jābir II al-Mubārak Āl Ṣabāḥ] in 1914 guaranteeing his ownership of these lands.A number of copies of statements (or memoranda) submitted to the Court of Basra can be found in the file:A statement submitted by the attorneys of the defendants 23 May 1938 in reply to the plaintiff's claim, with appended supporting correspondence: folios 74-106.A translation of ‘the important parts’ in a statement (in reply to the Shaikh's lawyer) submitted to the Court of Basra by Sulaiman ash-Shawwaf, the agent of Abdulla as-Zuhair: folios 123-131.The third memorandum presented by the attorneys of the defendants to the Court of Basra June 1938: folios 325-336 English translation, and folios 337-348 original Arabic version.A biographical entry on Tewfik Doss Pasha – an Egyptian lawyer selected by the British to provide assistance to the Shaikh of Kuwait – from
Personalities in Egypt for 1937can be found on folios 37-38. A translation into English of a power of attorney dated 26 Dhil-Qa‘ada 1326 [19 December 1908] given by Ahmed Pasha Al-Zuhair can be found on folios 312-313, with the original Arabic version on folio 314. A list of the heirs of Ali Pasha Al Zuhair is on folio 310.Related topics which are also covered within are the cutting down of trees within the Shaikh's date gardens by local Iraqi authorities and a proposed draft of a new land settlement law before the Iraqi Parliament.The main correspondents are as follows: the Kuwait Political Agent (Gerald Simpson de Gaury), the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Sir Trenchard Craven William Fowle and Hugh Weightman), HM Ambassador to Egypt (Sir Miles Lampson), the Shaikh of Kuwait, HM Consul at Basra, and officials at the British Embassy in Baghdad (mainly James Morgan). It also contains some correspondence with the Shaikh's advocate Abdul Jalil Pertow.The volume includes a significant amount of Arabic material, but in most cases an English translation is also available.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 372; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Three additional foliation sequences are also present in parallel between ff 6-367, ff 48-367, and ff 73-113; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: Distinctive Features:Hand drawn diagram enclosed with a letter no. C-113 dated 26th March 1936 (folios 145-149), compiled from a rough sketch made on the spot by the British Political Agent in Kuwait, Gerald Simpson DeGaury.Depicts an area of land disputed between Shaikh Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah of Kuwait and the Government of Iraq on which Colonel Ward, the Director of Basra Port, had applied to construct a camp for workers.Oriented with east to the top.Physical description: Material:Pen and ink on paperDimensions:208 x 346 mm
Abstract: The file contains papers, mainly correspondence and India Office Minute Papers, relating to the Shaikh of Koweit’s [Kuwait’s] date gardens at Fao [Al-Faw] in Iraq. It includes correspondence concerning:Unrest among the fellaheen [agricultural labourers or peasants] on the Fao estates in 1933, with the fellaheen refusing to pay rent and reported to be committing acts of sabotage and intimidation, claiming that they are the owners of the soil and that the Iraqi Government would make them proprietors in place of the Sheikh of Koweit.The role of the Mutasarrif of Basra in the unrest.HMG’s representations to the Government of Iraq to take action to stop the unrest amongst the fellaheen.Legal issues preventing the Shaikh of Koweit from proceeding with law suits in the Iraqi courts against certain of the fellaheen at Fao, relating to the refusal of the Iraqi Ministry of Justice to confirm the Shaikh’s Power of Attorney to his agent.Trees of the date gardens at Fao being cut down in the Spring of 1938 by the local Iraqi authorities to clear the ground for a road, and the question of the Shaikh of Koweit obtaining compensation.The correspondence mostly consists of correspondence between the India Office and the Foreign Office, correspondence between the India Office and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and copy correspondence sent to the India Office by the Foreign Office and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf. The main correspondents in the copy correspondence are as follows: the Foreign Office; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; HM Ambassador, Baghdad; HM Representative, Baghdad; the Political Agent, Kuwait; the Iraqi Ministry for Foreign Affairs; and Shaikh Sir Ahmed Al-Jabir As-Subah, Shaikh of Koweit.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 337; 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 6-336; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes, relating to lighting and buoying installed by the Turkish Government in the Persian Gulf.Correspondence discusses concerns over the erection of a Turkish lighthouse in Fao and the basis upon which a protest could be lodged. Also discussed is the deployment of a Turkish lightship in the Shatt al-Arab, through the replacement of the old Turkish vessel (
Kilidi Bahr) by a new lightship (
Jaffari) and the ramifications of the correspondence with the Turkish Government about this matter. Dredging of various marine navigation channels by the Turkish Government is discussed. Part of these discussions and negotiations involved the creation of a Shatt al-Arab Navigation Commission.The principal correspondents include the Viceroy (Charles Hardinge), the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; HM Ambassador to Constantinople (Sir Gerard Lowther); and HM Consul at Basrah (Francis Edward Crow).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 119; 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 papers concern relations between Shaikh Mubarak [Mubārak bin Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], Ruler of Koweit [Kuwait] and the Government of Turkey [the Ottoman Empire]; particularly in regard to the purchase by the Shaikh of date gardens at Fao [Al Fāw] on the Shatt-al-Arab, and property at Fadaghia, near Fao, both of which were in Turkish territory. In both cases, the Turkish authorities insisted that the Shaikh should first register himself as an Ottoman subject before they would allow the legal formalities of ownership to be completed.The principal correspondents are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Zachariah Cox); the Political Agent, Kuwait (Major Stuart George Knox; from 1909 Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear); the British Consul at Basrah (also referred to as Bussorah) [Basra] (Francis Edward Crow); the British Ambassador at Constantinople (Sir Gerald Augustus Lowther); Shaikh Mubarak; and senior officials of the India Office, the Government of India, and the Foreign Office.The papers cover: papers concerning the Fao property, including the Shaikh's appeals for a committee of inquiry and arbitration over the matter, January 1908 - July 1909 (folios 115-199); papers concerning the Fadaghia property, February 1909 - December 1910 (folios 6-114); Foreign Office paper containing a memorandum communicated to the Turkish Ambassador concerning the Bagdad railway question and other matters, July 1911 (folios 4-5); and correspondence concerning a false report in a Turkish newspaper that an allowance had been granted by the Turkish Government to Shaikh Mubarak, May-July 1912 (folios 2-3).The French language content of the papers is confined to three folios of newspaper extracts (folios 133-135).The date range gives the covering dates of all the documents contained in the papers; the covering dates of the Secret Department minute papers that enclose them, as given on folio 1, are 1908-1912.Physical description: 199 folios
Abstract: This volume contains letters, reports and memoranda concerning the lighting and buoyage of the Shatt al-Arab. Correspondence discusses the poor state of the buoys and need for repainting; a re-survey of the Shatt al-Arab in order the prevent the Germans from gaining influence. Also discussed is the need to establish which British maintained-buoys are in Turkish or Persian waters and the dispatch of a British naval force to the area where British buoys had been laid.Correspondents include: Viceroy of India; Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department; Director, Royal Indian Marine, and the Vali of Basra.The volume is part 2 of 2. Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, year the subject file was opened, subject heading, and list of correspondence references contained in that part of the year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.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 327; 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.