Abstract: A copy of a note from Brigadier-General John Malcolm, Envoy of the Supreme Government of India to Persia [Iran], to Persian Ministers, undated. The note concerns the confusion created by the presence of both Malcolm and Sir Harford Jones, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia, in the country, and also mentions the supply of arms to Persia under the Preliminary Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, 1809.The extract was enclosed in Jones's Letter No. 6 to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company dated 23 May 1810.Physical description: 1 item (4 folios)
Abstract: A translated copy of a Firman (edict) from Fath Ali Shah [Fath-‘Ali Shāh Qājār], Shah of Persia [Iran], to Abbas Meerza [‘Abbās Mīrzā], Prince Royal (Crown Prince), dated Suffer [Safar] 1125 (March-April 1810). The Firman concerns the Persian Court's relations with Sir Harford Jones, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia, and Brigadier-General John Malcolm and Captain Charles Pasley, who are also present in the country representing the Supreme Government of India.The letter was enclosed in Jones's letter No. 5 to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company dated 26 March 1810.Physical description: 1 item (4 folios)
Abstract: Enclosures in Letter No. 5 from Sir Harford Jones, British Envoy Extraordinary to Persia [Iran], to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company dated 11 March 1811, consisting of:A copy of a letter from Henry Rudland, British Agent in Mocha, to Francis Warden, Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay [Mumbai], sent from Mocha and dated 16 July 1810. The letter reports the arrival in Mocha of a man named Abdool Kauder [Abdul Kader] from Gogah [Ghogha], who had accompanied Sir Harford Jones to Persia, and subsequently left the country with the ousted French Envoy General Claude-Mathieu Gardane and travelled to EuropeA translated copy of a letter from Meerza Sheffea, [Mīrzā Muḥammad Shafī' Māzandarānī], Prime Minister of Persia, to Abbas Meerza [‘Abbās Mīrzā], Crown Prince of Persia, reporting the detention of an unidentified Frenchman and an Indian in PersiaAn extract from the
Bombay Courierdated 13 January 1811, reporting the arrival in Bombay en route to Persia of Mirza Abul Hassan [Mīrzā Abul Hassan], Persian Ambassador to London, accompanied by Sir Gore Ouseley, British Ambassador to Persia.Physical description: 1 item (5 folios)
Abstract: Enclosures in Letter No. 8 from Sir Harford Jones, British Envoy Extraordinary to Persia [Iran], to Sir Robert Dundas, President of the Board of Control, dated 1809, consisting of:A copy of a letter from Brigadier-General John Malcolm to Sir Harford Jones, sent from Bombay [Mumbai] and dated 14 February 1809. The letter concerns Malcolm’s decision to delay his expedition to the Persian Gulf until further instructions are received from the Governor-General of Bengal.A copy of a letter from Lord Minto, Governor-General of Bengal, to Malcolm, sent from Fort William [Kolkata] and dated 17 January 1809, enclosed in the above letter. Minto reports French setbacks in the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and the effect of this on British strategic interest in Persia, orders the suspension of Malcolm’s planned expedition to the Gulf and occupation of the island of Karrack [Khārg], and repeats that Jones should withdraw from Persia.Physical description: 1 item (6 folios)
Abstract: A copy of a letter from the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company to Francis Warden, Secretary to the Governor of Bombay [Mumbai], dated September 1807. The letter informs the Government of Bombay that John Michael Guy will be accompanying Sir Harford Jones, British Envoy Extraordinary to Persia [Iran], to Bombay on board HMS
Sapphire, and orders the Bombay Government to pay Guy at the rate of Acting Lieutenant in the Bombay Marine until his arrival.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: This volume contains papers relating to the construction of the Trans-Persian Railway. It contains material relating to:The Persian Railway Syndicate’s attempt to enlist the aid of Rabbi Joseph Saul Kornfeld, the United States Envoy to Persia [Iran], and the British Foreign Office’s subsequent unfavourable attitude towards the SyndicateThe Persian Railway Syndicate’s proposal to invite American companies for the construction of railways in PersiaThe concessions for the Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]-Khanakin [Khanaqin] and Khanakin-Tehran railwaysThe proposed railway from Khanakin to Tehran and the estimated cost for the three principal divisions of the railwayThe restrictions of the British Government on the Persian Railway Syndicate’s grant of a loan to the Persian GovernmentThe possibility of a ‘fusion of interests’ between the Persian Railway Syndicate and the Stronach Dutton System of Road Rails LimitedThe possible extension of the American Chester Group’s railway concession from Turkey into PersiaThe plans of the Prime Minister of Persia [Rezā Khān Sardār Sepah] for a railway line extending from Ahwaz [Ahvaz] to Khorramabad, Dizful [Dezful], and Sultanabad [Arak] to TehranThe endeavour of an American group to obtain a concession for a line from Mohammerah to Khorramabad and TehranThe expenditures of the Persian Railway Syndicate for the Khanakin-Tehran and the Mohamerah-Khoramabad surveysThe possibility of forming a Railway Syndicate with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and Standard Oil CompanyThe Persian Government’s decision to carry out a survey of the Mohammerah-Tehran-Bandar-i Gez [Bandar-i Gaz] railway line with the assistance of a German engineerThe Consortium industriel pour l’Orient’s proposal to build a railway connecting Meshed [Mashhad] to the Tripoli-Homs LineThe preference of the British Army Council and the Air Council for an East-West rather than a North-South railway in Persia for strategic reasonsThe exploitation of coal and iron deposits in Mazanderan [Mazandaran] for the construction of railways in Persia, and the concerns of Russia about a Trans-Persian Railway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Caspian SeaThe Act of the Persian Majlis [Parliament] for the construction of the Persian Trunk RailwayThe Persian Majlis’s Passage of the Bill for Railway Survey and ConstructionThe Persian Majlis’s passage of the Railway Construction Bill, from Mohammerah and Bandar-i Gez to TehranThe Persian Majlis’s passage of a law for constructing a railway between Khor Musa-Mohammerah-Bandar-i Gez;The Persian Majlis’s authorisation of the Minister of Public Work to employ foreign experts for the construction of the Railway;The inauguration of the Bandar-i Gaz-Tehran-Ahwaz Railway in the presence of the Shah of Persia [Rezā Shāh Pahlavi]The British concerns and preference for a British rather than an American firm to build the Southern Section of the RailwayThe passage of the Railway Survey Law by the Persian Majlis and the contract between the Persian Government and the American company Ulen, and two German companies, Philipp Holzmann and Julius Berger-Siemens Union [sic., Siemens Bauunion] to carry out a complete survey of the RailwayThe contract between the Persian Government, represented by Minister of Public Works [General Ḥabib Allāh Khān Shaybānī], and the Persian Railway Syndicate, represented by MD Carrel and MNS MavrogordatoThe contracts between the Persian Government and the Persian Railway Syndicate for the constructions of ports at Bandar-i Qays and Khor Musa (Bandar-i Shahpur) and a dam over the Karun River at AhwazThe plans for building the line from Bandar Shapur north of Ahwaz, and revival of the line from Hamadan to TehranThe construction of the railway lines from Bandar Shah and Khor Musa, the diversion of German resources to the construction of electrical and cement works, and the postponement of building a port at Khor MusaThe reservations of the British Minister in Persia [Robert Henry Clive] about the construction of the Railway as opposed to motor roads in Persia, and the subsidisation of the enterprise through the tea and sugar monopoliesThe increase in the cost of the Southern Section of the Railway and predicted opposition of the Persian GovernmentThe visit by the Shah of Persia to the Southern Section of the Railway, his unfavourable impression of the state of the railway, and the American Minister in Persia’s advice to Ulen and Company to stop working on the railway in case of difficulties with the Persian GovernmentThe cancellation of the contract between the Persian Government and the Persian Railway Syndicate over delayed payments, and the agreement between the German and Ulen groups within the Syndicate to work on the Northern and Southern sections of the Trans-Persian Railway respectivelyThe Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s concerns about the Railway providing greater access and mobility to the RussiansThe dispute between the Persian Government and the German-American syndicate for the construction of the RailwayThe negotiations between the Persian Government and the German companies Julius Berger Konsortium, Philipp Holzmann, and Siemens Bauunion for the construction of the Northern Section of the Trans-Persian RailwayThe possible takeover by the Batignolles Construction Company of the building of the Southern Section of the Trans-Persian Railway from the American and British companies Ulen and Company and Stewart and McDonnellThe Persian Government’s appointment of Suzuki Hajime from the Japanese Railway Department’s Engineering BureauThe breakdown of negotiations between the Batignolles Construction Company and the Government of Persia, and the latter’s decision to proceed with the construction of the remaining sections of the railwayThe proposals of the Batignolles Construction Company to the Government of Persia in the absence of a contractThe extension of the Southern Section of the Railway from Khor Musa to Dizful, Hamadan and Kazvin [Qazvin], and the Northern Section from Tehran to Sari and the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.The volume also includes the following sketch maps:A sketch map of the Trans-Persian Railway, from Khor Musa to Sari and the coast of the Caspian Sea, showing the ‘Line Completed’, ‘Line Surveyed’, and ‘Division between the Northern and Southern Sections’ (f 14)A sketch map of the Northern Section of the Railway, showing the routes to Pahlavi, Semnan, and Balfurush [Barfurush], with a second map of the Southern Section, showing alternative routes and termini, running either from Mohammerah or Khor Musa to Dizful and Hamadan (f 156)A sketch map showing the existing and projected railways in Persia (f 204).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 573; 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 part contains papers relating to the question of whether Koweit [Kuwait], Bahrein [Bahrain], Muscat, and the Trucial Coast Sheikdoms should become formal British protectorates, including the views on this question of the following: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; HM Minister at Tehran (Sir Robert Clive); the Government of India; the Colonial Office; the India Office; and the Persian Gulf Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence.This part also includes papers relating to the question of the terms of a draft article for inclusion in a treaty with Persia [Iran] regarding the status of Bahrain.The papers include correspondence, India Office memoranda, India Office Political Department minute papers, and Committee of Imperial Defence Persian Gulf Sub-Committee papers.The main correspondents are the India Office, the Government of India Foreign and Political Department, and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Lionel Berkeley Holt Haworth).Physical description: 1 item (96 folios)
Abstract: An extract from the minutes of a meeting of the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company on 3 July 1807, signed by Charles Grant and Edward Parry, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Court of Directors. The Committee orders that Sir Harford Jones be reimbursed £2000 for expenses incurred by preparations for a diplomatic mission to Persia [Iran] which has now been suspended following Sir Robert Dundas’s dispatch of 30 June [IOR/L/PS/9/67/94].Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: A copy of a letter from Sir Robert Dundas, President of the Board of Control, to Amin ud Dowlah [Muhammad Hossein Khān Amīn al-Dawlah], Second Vizier of Persia [Iran]. The letter concerns: the arrival of Mirza Abul Hassan [Mīrzā Abul Hassan], Persian Ambassador, in London; the hope for stronger relations between Persia and Britain; and the appointment of Sir Gore Ouseley as British Ambassador to Persia. It also thanks the Amin ud Dowlah for his kind treatment of Sir Harford Jones, Ouseley's predecessor.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: A copy of a letter from Sir Robert Dundas, President of the Board of Control of the East India Company, to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, dated 30 June 1807. The letter advises suspending the departure of Sir Harford Jones’s diplomatic mission to Persia [Iran] due to developments in Russia and Turkey [Ottoman Empire].Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: A copy of a letter from Sir Robert Dundas, President of the Board of Control, to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, dated 4 September 1807. The letter sanctions the payment of £700 to Captain Davies of HMS
Sapphireto lay in stores in preparation for the departure of Sir Harford Jones as British Envoy Extraordinary to Persia [Iran].Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: A copy of a letter from Sir Robert Dundas, President of the Board of Control, to Mirza Shefia [Mīrzā Muḥammad Shafī' Māzandarānī], First Vizier (Prime Minister) of Persia [Iran]. The letter concerns: the arrival of Mirza Abul Hassan [Mīrzā Abul Hassan], Persian Ambassador, in London; the hope for stronger relations between Persia and Britain; and the appointment of Sir Gore Ouseley as British Ambassador Extraordinary to Persia.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)