Abstract: The volume comprises copies of correspondence, memoranda and other papers, produced in response to the prospect of an oil company backed by German capital taking control of future oil concessions in Mesopotamia [Iraq], and the implications that such concessions might have on the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s (APOC) own oil concession in neighbouring Persia. The prospect of foreign capital exploiting Mesopotamia’s oil resources was a particular cause for concern amongst senior officials in the Admiralty, who were dependent on APOC’s oil production for their fuel supplies, and the Foreign Office. The more peripheral interest of such a concession in Mesopotamia to the Government of India and the India Office is reflected in the volume’s papers.The volume’s principal correspondents are: the Secretary to the Admiralty (Sir William Graham Greene); Secretary at the Foreign Office (Sir Louis du Pan Mallet); Secretary of the Political Department at the India Office (Sir Arthur Hirtzel); Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the India Office (Sir Thomas William Holderness); the Managing Director of APOC (Charles Greenway).Subjects covered include:correspondence dated late 1912, chiefly between representatives of the Admiralty and Foreign Office, airing concerns over the implications of exploratory oil concessions agreed for Mesopotamia between a consortium including the National Bank of Turkey, Shell (referred to in the volume as either the Shell Transport Company or the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company) and Deutsche Bank, to APOC oil exploration in Persia;discussion of the Government of India’s interest in maintaining an independent APOC, and whether the Government of India should not invest in APOC, including a proposal that it purchase oil from APOC for use on the Indian railways, or contribute to the purchase of fuel supplies on behalf of the Royal Navy;through February 1913 to April 1913, diplomatic negotiations (including some correspondence in French) seeking to secure concessionary agreement for oil exploration in the Mesopotamian vilayets of Mosul and Baghdad for APOC (based on earlier arrangements made between the Ottoman Government and William Knox D’Arcy on APOC’s behalf) against the competing claims of the National Bank of Turkey consortium, and oil exploration rights outlined in the railway concession held by the Société du Chemin de Fer ottoman d’Anatolie (Anatolian Railway Company);between May 1913 and July 1913, with the likelihood of APOC not being given exclusive oil concessionary rights to Mesopotamia, negotiations to secure ‘absorption’ (with a British-controlling interest) of APOC with the National Bank of Turkey or its partners, Shell and Deutsche Bank.The core correspondence in the volume dates between September 1912 and September 1913. The earlier date indicated in the volume’s date range refers to a copy of a contract between Turkish Government’s Ministry of the Civil List and the Société du Chemin de Fer ottoman d’Anatolie, dated 17 July 1904 (ff 147-148).The volume includes a divider which gives the subject (Turkey in Asia: oil concessions) and part number (1), the year the subject file was opened (1912), and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (f 1).Physical description: The foliation sequence commences with 1 and terminates with 411. The front and back covers, along with the leading and ending flyleaves have not been foliated.
Abstract: The volume is a chronological continuation of File 3877/1912 Pt 1 ‘Turkey in Asia: oil concessions’ (IOR/L/PS/300), and comprises papers concerning ongoing negotiations over oil concessions for the Mesopotamian vilayets of Mosul and Baghdad, in which the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC), Deutsche Bank, the British-backed National Bank of Turkey, and the Anglo-Saxon Oil Company (ASOC, a division of Royal Dutch Shell) are the principal claimants.The papers largely deal with the British Government’s concern that APOC achieve a predominant position in any final concession, at the cost of ASOC and the National Bank of Turkey, the latter holding a stake in the Turkish Petroleum Company. The principal correspondents in the volume are: the president of the National Bank of Turkey (Sir Henry Babington Smith); the Managing Director of APOC (Charles Greenway); Foreign Office representatives (Alwyn Parker; Sir Eyre Alexander Barby Wichart Crowe); Deutsche Bank board member Emil Georg von Stauß.The correspondence covers:the withdrawal of the National Bank of Turkey from concessions negotiations;negotiations between officials representing the British Government and Deutsche Bank over the form of any concession agreement;arrangements for the division of Turkish petroleum concession interests between the British and German Governments, the Deutsche Bank, National Bank of Turkey, the ASOC and APOC.The volume includes a divider which gives the subject (Turkey in Asia: oil concessions) and part number (2), the year the subject file was opened (1912), and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (f 1).Physical description: Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last with folio 148; 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: The volume consists of three parts: Part 1 relates to the Consulate escorts at Kerman, Shiraz, and Kermanshah in Persia [Iran]; Part 2 relates to the British Consulate at Kermanshah; and Part 3 concerns the re-building of the Kermanshah Consulate.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 main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 312; 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 5-309; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The volume comprises correspondence, memoranda, drafts, and minute papers relating to political events in Persia [Iran]. The majority of the papers consist of telegrams and regular reports concerning the evolving political situation in the country, sent to the Foreign Office by the British Minister in Tehran, Sir Percy Lyham Loraine, or the Chargé d'Affaires, Esmond Ovey, when the Minister was absent.The papers notably cover the following:The emergence and eventual failure of a republican movement in Persia in the early part of 1924Resistance within the country to the idea of a republic, leading to the storming of the Majlis [legislative assembly, also written as Mejlis] by anti-republicans in March 1924The resignation of Reza Khan [Reżā Shāh Pahlavī] as Prime Minister in April 1924Reza Khan's return and his ascension to the position of Shah following the legal abolition of the Kajar [Qājār] dynasty on 31 October 1925The British discussion of, and response to, these events, including the question of maintaining a policy of non-interferenceReaction to events from within Persia and from other foreign powers.Less prominent matters covered within the volume include:
Arms imports into PersiaRelations between the USA and Persia, including the perceived unpopularity of US advisers in the countryThe potential of republicanism spreading to AfghanistanThe reaction in Turkey to the idea of a Persian republicOil concessions in Persia, in particular the Northern Oil Concession to Sinclair and Company [Sinclair Oil Corporation]The separatist movement in Arabistan [Khuzestan] and its defeat by the Persian Army led by Reza Khan in November 1924Bolshevik influence in PersiaRoutine political events such as the opening of parliamentary sessions and changes to the Cabinet.Other correspondents include: Godfrey Thomas Havard, Oriental Secretary, Tehran [also written Teheran]; Major William Archibald Kenneth Fraser, British Military Attaché, Tehran; Lord Crewe [Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe], British Ambassador to France; Edmund St John Debonnaire John Monson, Embassy Counsellor, Tehran; the Government of India, Foreign and Political Department; Sir Ronald Charles Lindsay, British Ambassador to Turkey; Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Beville, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; Lieutenant-Colonel Lionel Haworth, British Consul-General Meshed [Mashhad]; H G Chick, British Consul, Shiraz; Noel Patrick Cowan, British Consul, Kermanshah; and Bernard Gilliat-Smith, British Consul, Tabriz.The volume contains a number of newspaper cuttings and extracts, including those from
The Times,
Shafagh Sorkh[
Shafaq-e-Surkh]
,and
Le Messager de Teheran(in French).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 353; 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 volume contains papers, mostly correspondence and India Office Political and Secret Department minute papers, relating to naval incidents in the Persian Gulf, and visits of British warships to Persian ports.It includes correspondence regarding the following: the Persian Government’s objection to British shipping, including HM Ships, calling at Persian ports without notice; the reporting of movements of British warships in the Persian Gulf; the treatment of HM ships in Persian ports, including Persian quarantine and customs procedure at Henjam and Abadan; incidents which took place on the occasions of the visits of HM Ships
Lupinand
Crocusto Abadan and Bunder Abbas [Bandar Abbas] respectively; the Persian draft bill regarding territorial waters; discussions between the Admiralty and the Foreign Office concerning the drafting of an article to regulate visits of British warships to Persian ports, for inclusion in a General Treaty between Britain and Persia; and new regulations imposed by the Persian Government in connection with the landing of officers and crews and of visits of vessels to Persian ports.The main correspondents are as follows: the India Office; the Foreign Office (including the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Austen Chamberlain); HM Minister, Tehran (Sir Percy Lorraine, Sir Robert Henry Clive, and Sir Reginald Hervey Hoare, successively); HM Chargé d’Affaires, Tehran; the Admiralty; the Colonial Office; the Minister of Court, Persia (Mirza Abdul Hussein Khan Taimourtache [Abdolhossein Teymūrtāsh, also spelled Teymourtache in the correspondence]); the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Government of India Foreign and Political Department; the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf; and the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.The file includes several documents in French, including: correspondence between Sir R H Clive and Taimourtache; copies of documents entitled ‘Projet de Loi portant Réglement des Conditions d’Admission des Bateaux étrangers dans les Eaux persanes’ (Draft Law Regulating the Conditions of Admission of Foreign Vessels in Persian Waters) ‘Traduction de l'Instruction adressée par l'Administration centrale de l'Hygiène à ses Fonctionnaires au golfe Persique’ (Translation of the instructions sent by the Public Health Department to its officials in the Persian Gulf) and ‘La Quarantaine à Henjam’ (Quarantine in Henjam); correspondence between HM Minister, Tehran, and the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs; letters from the Director of Customs, Bushire, to HM Consul, Bushire; and articles of draft General Treaty with Persia.The volume 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 inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 825; 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 114-119; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This volume contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, correspondence and minutes regarding the financial affairs of the Government of Persia [Iran].The papers notably cover:Financial requirements for the Government of PersiaCost of the movement of British forcesRefund and paymentPayment of Cossack Division officersProposed loans to the Persian Government from the Imperial Bank of Persia, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the Standard Oil Company, and the governments of the United States and RussiaProvision of financial assistance to the Persian Government.The principal correspondents are the British Legation at Tehran and the Foreign Office.The volume 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 front of the correspondence.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 263; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Multiple intermittent additional mixed foliation/pagination sequences are also present.
Abstract: This volume contains papers relating to the policy of HM Government in the Persian Gulf, and negotiations between the British and Persian [Iranian] Governments for a general treaty between the United Kingdom and Persia.Part 8 mostly concerns the question of whether Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, and the Trucial Coast Shaikhdoms should become formal British protectorates. Part 11 concerns the policy of HM Government in the Persian Gulf in relation to the treaty negotiations.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 (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 291; 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 contains papers, mostly correspondence and India Office minute papers, regarding the withdrawal from Persia [Iran] of the Indo-European Telegraph Company and the Indo-European Telegraph Department (IETD).It includes papers relating to the following:The decision of the Indo-European Telegraph Company to withdraw from Persia because of loss of revenue due to wireless and other causesThe effect on the communications of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf of the withdrawal from Persia of the IETD and the Indo-European Telegraph Company, and the importance to HMG of securing the retention of the cable stations in the Gulf and the Jask-Gwadur lineThe desire of HMG to temporarily postpone the transfer to the Persian Government of the apparatus of the Bushire wireless station until reconstruction of the Bahrein station had been carried outHow HM Chargé d’Affaires, Tehran, should respond in the event of representations being received from the Persian Government in connection with the withdrawal of the Indo-European Telegraph Company from PersiaThe transfer to Imperial and International Communications Limited of the Persian Gulf Cable System, and the transfer of the IETD telegraph lines in Persia, connecting Tehran with the Persian Gulf cables and with India, to the Persian GovernmentNegotiations between the British Government and the Government of India on the one part and the Persian Government on the other for a governmental agreement to settle questions in connection with the withdrawal of the IETD from PersiaThe volume also includes some papers relating to the intention of the Indo-European Telegraph Company to withdraw from the Soviet Union on 1 March 1931.The main correspondents are as follows: the Foreign Office; HM Minister, Tehran (Sir Robert Clive), and HM Chargé d’Affaires, Tehran (Raymond Cecil Parr); the Indo-European Telegraph Company Limited; the Government of India Foreign and Political Department; and Imperial and International Communications Limited.The volume includes some copies of documents in French, including correspondence between Sir Robert Clive and the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs.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 inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 410; 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 telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes, relating to British policy towards Persia within the context of maintaining British interests there in the light of the war with Germany. In particular the correspondence details the British financial relationship with the Governor of Fars, Farman Farma [ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn Mīrzā Farmānfarmā], and his role in maintaining governance and order in Shiraz. This is in the wider context of the Persian famine of 1917-1919 caused partly by the requisitioning of foodstuffs by the occupying British and Russian armies.The principal correspondents in the volume are: the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Arthur James Balfour); the Director of Military Intelligence, War Office; the Deputy Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign and Political Department; HM Minister, Tehran (Sir Charles Marling); the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; the Under-Secretary of State for India; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Percy Zachariah Cox).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 (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 468; 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 file contains papers, mainly correspondence and India Office minute papers, mostly relating to the situation in the Bakhtiari [Baḵtīārī] territory in Persia [Iran], during the First World War. It includes papers concerning British negotiations with the Bakhtiari khans, and the agreement of February 1917 signed by Charles Murray Marling, HM Minister to Iran, and the principal Bakhtiari khans.The file also includes papers which relate to relations between the Bakhtiaris and the Russians in Persia, and the payment of £2,500 made to the Bakhtiari khans in December 1915 by Dr Young of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, in connection with the agreement concluded by Young with the Bakhtiari Sardars.The main correspondents include: the India Office; the Foreign Office; the Chief Political Officer, Basra (Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); the Government of India Foreign and Political Department; HM Minister, Tehran; HM Consul, Kerman; HM Consul, Sistan and Kain; and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.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 260; 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 contains papers (mainly correspondence and India Office minute papers) relating to the Bakhtiari [Baḵtīārī] tribe and Bakhtiari territory in Persia [Iran]. The papers largely concern the proposal to raise a force of gendarmerie, or Levy Corps, under British officers in the Bakhtiari territory, to settle potential incidents of ‘collision’ between Russian troops and Bakhtiaris. These papers include correspondence regarding the decision to postpone the Levy Corps scheme, following the Russian February Revolution of 1917, until the general political and diplomatic situation became clearer. The file also includes papers relating to the Bakhtiari offer of military co-operation with the British, in the form of the maintenance of a force of Bakhtiari sowars in Bakhtiari territory.The main correspondents include: the India Office; the Foreign Office; the War Office; the Treasury; the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India; Brigadier-General Sir Percy Sykes, Inspector-General, South Persia Military Police; HM Minister, Tehran (Sir Charles Marling); HM Vice-Consul, Ahwaz (Captain E Noel); the Deputy Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Cox, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and Chief Political Officer, Basra; HM Consul, Kerman; the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (C.I.G.S.); the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C), India; and the Chief of the General Staff, India.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 264; 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 telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, notes and printed papers in 1916 relating to the development of British policy towards Persia as well as the British relationship with Russia vis-à-vis its position and interests in Persia.The discussion in the volume relates to the terms, duration and articles of the Treaty of Alliance developed by 'three-cornered conversations between Teheran, London and Petrograd' as well as the views of the Government of India on the proposed Treaty.The volume includes:A printed copy of the proposed agreement with Persia (ff 260-261).Comments of HBM's Minister for Teheran (Sir Charles Murray Marling) on Persian proposals and details of the Russian counter-draft (ff 236-238).A draftt in French (ff 213-214) of the proposed treaty.A note (ff 161-165) on 'Persian Expenditure: the "half and half" arrangement' on the division of costs in Persia between HM Government and the Government of India.A telegram dated 31 August 1916 (f 81) listing the members of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister to the Shah of Persia Yossugh od Dowleh [Mushir-ed-Dowleh].A printed paper (ff 43-44) from the Minister to Tehran to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Viscount Edward Grey) detailing a history of Sipasalar's A'zam's administration.Further discussion surrounds the associated negotiations of issues including: the abrogation of the Treaty of Turcomanshai [Turkmenchay] in which Russia dictated terms to end the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828); cancellation of Persian debt; tenure of land by foreigners; recognition of Persian territorial claims in the Gulf; and Persian concerns over de facto partition.The correspondence also discusses the creation of a Cossack brigade for use by Persia and further potential military assistance to Persia; an Anglo-Russian subsidy to the Persian Government and mechanisms of financial control; the role of the South Persia Military Police in the 'restoration of order' in Fars and Kerman; and the loss by the Persian Government of correspondence relating to the Treaty.The principal correspondents in the volume include: the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Walter Louis Frederick Goltz Langley); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Edward Grey); HBM Minister at Teheran (Sir Charles Murray Marling); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Prescott Trevor); Permanent Under-Secretary of State, India Office (Sir Thomas William Holderness); HBM Ambassador to Petrograd (Sir George William Buchanan); the Viceroy (Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst); and the Prime Minister to the Shah of Persia (Mushir-ed-Dowleh).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 for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 281; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.