Abstract: The file contains papers relating to the defence of Qatar.It includes a copy of a letter from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to the Air Officer Commanding, British Forces in Iraq, 8 August 1938, concerning the defence of Qatar, including the possibe need to protect an oil field and pipeline against tribal attack and sabotage in the event of Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited striking oil.It also includes: a copy of a paper entitled ‘Appreciation of the Situation regarding the Defence of the Qatar Peninsula Against Tribal Attack and Sabotage’, by the Major R G Price, GSO2, Air Headquarters, British Forces in Iraq, January 1939 (which includes a blueprint sketch map of Qatar, IOR/L/PS/12/3936, f 13); and copies of letters from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to the Air Officer Commanding, British Forces in Iraq, 2 March 1939, and from the Political Agent at Bahrain to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, 17 February 1939, regarding Price's report.In addition, the file includes correspondence dated January 1943 between the India Office, the War Office, and the Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, relating to the proposed gift of guns and ammunition to the Shaikhs of Qatar, Dibai [Dubai, also spelled Debai in the file], and Sharjah.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 27; 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 A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.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 between British officials concerning the protocol around granting members of the Royal Air Force on service in the Persian Gulf the authority to give small presents to local notables (usually referred to as notabilities in the file) as gestures of respect or in return for services provided. Aside from the specific arrangements needed for such an eventuality, the correspondence also discusses the broader political context of such a gift.The correspondence is between officials at the India Office, the Political Residency in Bushire, the Air Ministry, the Royal Air Force in Iraq, the Foreign Office and the Treasury.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 front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 60; 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 item contains four documents:1. A copy of a letter from Harford Jones, Resident in Bagdad [Baghdad], to Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay, sent from Bagdad and dated 12 December 1799. In response to Duncan’s letter of 16 October (see IOR/L/PS/9/76/100), Jones discusses routes of communication between Bussora [Basra] and Constantinople [Istanbul], recommending the route via Bagdad. The letter includes tables displaying the estimated travel time from Bussora to Constantinople via Bagdad and the rulers of the territory on this route.2. A list of presents sent by Tipoo Sultan [Tīpū Sulṭān of Mysore] to the Grand Signior [Selim III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire] and the Grand Vizier [Yūsuf Ẓīa al-Dīn Pāshā] which arrived in Bagdad on 24 December 1799.The list was compiled by Jones on 26 December 1799.3. A copy of a letter from Harford Jones to Rear-Admiral John Blankett, Commander of the British naval squadron in the Red Sea, sent from Bagdad and dated 13 November 1799. The letter forwards dispatches and an intelligence report from Aleppo (not enclosed).Another copy of the same letter is catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/76/96.4. A copy of a letter from Rear-Admiral Blankett to Jones, sent from HMS
Leopardat Mocca [Mocha] and dated 31 July 1799. It covers subjects including:The retreat of the French forces led by General Napoleon Bonaparte from Accre [Acre]Planned Turkish [Ottoman] and Mameluke attacks on the French occupation forces from Suez and Upper EgyptThe French capture of Cossire [Al Qusayr]Relations and trade between the Government of Mecca and the French forcesThe supplies of the French forces in CairoReports from Maltese defectors that the French forces intend to offer peace termsThe disruption of the coffee trade by Bedouin tribesThe state of the British-occupied island of Perim.Physical description: 1 item (10 folios)
Abstract: A translation of a letter from Mahomed Allee Khan [Muhammad ‘Ali Khān], Persian [Iranian] envoy in Russia, to Abbas Meerza [‘Abbās Mīrzā, Crown Prince of Persia], undated.The author reports his reception in St Petersburgh [Saint Petersburg] and Sarskoe Selo [Tsarskoye Selo] and meeting with the Emperor [Tsar Alexander I] to whom he presented a gift of horses. The author also reports meetings with Count Karl Nesselrode, Foreign Minister of Russia, at which he discussed the complaints of the Russian veterinary surgeon Colonel Kersing and the exile of Muslims to Siberia, and meetings with the Empress and Empress Mother.The translation was enclosed in the letter of Henry Willock, HM Chargé d’Affaires to Persia, to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company dated 14 July 1824 (IOR/L/PS/9/69/186).Physical description: The letter was perforated in an attempt to stop the spread of disease.
Abstract: This volume contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, telegrams and minutes. It mainly covers conversations between British officials regarding the process of sending gifts to the Sheikh of Mohammerah [Shaikh Khaz‘al bin Jābir al-Ka‘bī of Mohammerah, now known as Khorramshahr, also written in this volume as Mohammera and Mahomerah].Related matters of discussion include the following: the Sheikh of Mohammerah and his role in Mesopotamia [Iraq] in recent years, as well as his relationship with British officers; a gift of recognition to the Sheikh of Mohammerah for supporting the British during the war [First World War]; an evaluation of the gift, which consists of a vessel and guns; the procedure of presenting the gift to the Sheikh; the valuation and cost of the supplies (of rifles and ammunition); payment; departure and arrival; disagreement among British officials (between the Government of India and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf) on the quantity of supplies; a related argument regarding Persia [Iran] becoming a signatory to the Arms Traffic Convention; information regarding the Sheikh of Mohammerah’s investment in a British war loan; conversations about the suspicions of a plot by the Persian Government with the Bakhitiari [Bakhtiyārī] tribe.In addition, the volume includes: ‘Memorandum on British Commitments (during the war) to the Gulf Chief’ (ff 175-181); a disposal and liquidation commission: a statement of guns, fittings and ammunition issued by the General Officer Commanding, Mesopotamia, to the Sheikh of Mohammerah (ff 92-93); a list of stores requirements (f 62).The correspondence in the volume is mostly internal correspondence between British officials of different departments, along with some correspondence with French Government officials. The principal correspondents are: Civil Commissioner in Mesopotamia; Political Officer, Baghdad; War Office; Ministry of Munitions of War; Disposal and Liquidation Commission; Inland Water Transport, Basrah [Basra]; and Army Council.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 223; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: A copy of a letter from Major George Willock, Acting Chargé d’Affaires in Persia [Iran], to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, sent from Tabriz and dated 6 August 1822.The letter reports that Mr Edward James Matthews has successfully delivered gifts from the Court of Directors to the Shah, who in return has sent a portrait and a letter of thanks (IOR/L/PS/9/69/115). It also praises Matthews’s conduct during his assignment.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: Copy of dispatch No. 17 from HM Chargé d’Affaires to Persia [Iran], Henry Willock, in camp at Ardebil [Ardabil], to HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, George Canning, of 17 August 1826. Willock reports the gift of a diamond ring made by the Russian envoy to Persia, Prince Minchikoff [Prince Aleksandr Sergeevich Menshikov], to the British surgeon Dr John Cormick, as an expression of gratitude for his attendance on the members of the Russian diplomatic mission at Tabriz.This document was originally enclosed in Willock’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 20 August 1826 (IOR/L/PS/9/70/109).Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: Copy of a letter from HM Ambassador to Persia [Iran], Sir Gore Ouseley, in Tabriz, to the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and the Court of Directors of the East India Company, of 15 July 1813, which was received on 11 January 1814. The letter encloses a firman [order] and its translation (not included in this item, see IOR/L/PS/9/68/138-139), from the Shah of Persia, concerning the delivery of a present of China porcelain to the Shah from the Company. The letter also concerns a financial transaction for the purchase of some articles in London on behalf of the Shah.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: Copy of a letter from HM Chargé d’Affaires to Persia [Iran], Henry Willock, in camp at Sultanieh [Solţānīyeh], to the Russian envoy to Persia, Major General Prince Minchikoff [Prince Aleksandr Sergeevich Menshikov], of 23 July 1826. The letter is in reply to Minchikoff’s letter requesting that Willock offer his protection to Noskoff [Noskov] and his party, who are travelling to Tehran to deliver a gift of a glass couch to the Shah of Persia [Fath-‘Ali Shāh Qājār] (see IOR/L/PS/9/70/112). Willock assures Minchikoff that he will place under his protection Noskoff and his party, and also all Russian subjects remaining in Persia.This document was originally enclosed in Willock’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 20 August 1826 (IOR/L/PS/9/70/109).Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: A copy of a letter from the Russian Chargé d’Affaires to the Ottoman Empire, Minciacky [Matvey Yakovlevich Minchaki], in Constantinople [Istanbul], to HM Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Stratford Canning, of 7 January 1827 [Old Style]/ 19 January 1827 [New Style]. The letter asks for the intervention of the British Mission in Tehran in the case of Honorary Consul Noskoff [Ivan Fyodorovich Noskov], a representative of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Glass Factory, who has been imprisoned in Persia [Iran] along with his companions while transporting a gift to the Shah. In return Minciacky promises a reward from the Emperor of Russia [Tsar Alexander II].This document was originally enclosed, numbered 3 in No. 42, in the letter of the East India Company Envoy to Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 23 March 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/70/192).Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: Copy of a letter from the Russian envoy to Persia [Iran], Prince Minchikoff [Prince Aleksandr Sergeevich Menshikov], in Sultanieh [Solţānīyeh], to HM Chargé d’Affaires to Persia, Henry Willock, of 23 July 1826. In the letter, Minchikoff requests that Willock take under his protection the party of Honorary Consul Noskoff [Noskov], who is travelling to Tehran to deliver a crystal couch to the Shah of Persia [Fath-‘Ali Shāh Qājār] as a gift, and to facilitate Noskoff’s return to Russia in the event of war breaking out between Russia and Persia.This document was originally enclosed in Willock’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 20 August 1826 (IOR/L/PS/9/70/109).Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: A copy of a letter from Henry Willock, HM Chargé d’Affaires in Persia [Iran], to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, sent from Tabriz and dated 27 April 1822.The letter concerns the transportation of chandeliers from Bushire [Būshehr] to Tehran as presents for the Shah [Fath-‘Ali Shāh Qājār], under the supervision of Mr Edward James Matthews.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)