Abstract: This file concerns prospective Saudi oil concessions for Asir and the Farsan Islands.In a telegram to the Foreign Office, dated 4 June 1933, His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan) reports that the recent Hasa concession, which was granted by the Saudi Government to the California Arabian Standard Oil Company, has stimulated interest in the possibility of further oil concessions for other parts of Saudi Arabia, notably Asir and the Farsan Islands. Ryan's telegram also reports that King Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], who has been approached by Italian oil companies, wishes to know whether any British oil companies would be interested.The remaining correspondence reports on communications between the British Government's Petroleum Department and various British oil companies (including the Iraq Petroleum Company, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the Shell Group, and the Eastern and General Syndicate) regarding those companies' interest (or lack thereof) in pursuing a concession for either location.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 21; 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 file relates to boundaries in eastern Arabia (specifically Saudi Arabia and Qatar). It concerns British policy regarding what is referred to as the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, as laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of the following year).Much of the correspondence relates to a request for a copy of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention, which was submitted by the United States Embassy in Angora [Ankara] to its British counterpart (reportedly on behalf of the United States' State Department), as well as to the wider significance of this request in relation to the United States' oil interests in the region.The correspondence also discusses Foreign Office concerns that aerial survey work carried out by the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) in relation to its Hasa oil concession might extend beyond the blue line (subsequent correspondence relays reports of Casoc's aeroplane having crossed the blue line).Although the date range of the file is 1913-1934 most of the material dates from 1934. In addition to correspondence from 1934, the file includes two letters between officials of the Foreign Office and the India Office dating from 1924, and printed copies of the Anglo-Ottoman Conventions of 1913 and 1914 (in English and French), both of which contain enclosed maps (with text in English and Arabic). Also included with the Conventions are printed copies of agreements and treaties between Britain and various Gulf rulers, covering 1820-1904, and printed copies of Anglo-Ottoman protocols, covering 1903-1905.Notable correspondents include the following: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the British Ambassador in Angora (Percy Loraine); Hugh Millard, United States Embassy, London; officials of the Foreign Office and the India Office.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 (folio 2).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 91; 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 file primarily relates to oil concessions in Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea coast. Much of the correspondence discusses the progress and outcome of negotiations between the Saudi Government and Petroleum Concessions Limited.The correspondence includes discussion of the following:Whether the Farsan Islands will be included in the Red Sea coast concession.Foreign Office concerns that one or more non-British companies (from the United States, France, or Italy) might compete with Petroleum Concessions for the concession.A trip to Jedda in late 1936, undertaken by Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Micklem, a director of Selection Trust Limited, a British company interested in securing a mining concession from the Saudi Government.The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard); His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); officials of the Foreign Office.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 (folio 2).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 78; 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 file relates to oil concessions in south-eastern Saudi Arabia. Much of the correspondence discusses British concerns regarding the possibility of oil being discovered in the Ruba' al Khali [Rubʻ al Khālī], and the bearing that such a discovery might have on the question of the eastern and south-eastern frontiers of Saudi Arabia. Also discussed are the prospect of Petroleum Concessions Limited securing an oil concession for territory in the Ruba' al Khali, and the extent of the territory covered in the concession secured by the Standard Oil Company of California in 1933.The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); Major Stephen Hemsley Longrigg of Petroleum Concessions Limited; officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office and the Admiralty.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 40; 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 file concerns Saudi-Japanese relations. (Yemen is mentioned in the file's original title, but no reference to Yemen is made in the surviving correspondence.) It includes discussion of the following:Reports in 1938 of a Saudi Government representative having suggested to his Japanese counterpart that Japan establish a legation in Jedda.The visit of a Japanese minister to Riyadh in March 1939.Japanese interest in securing an oil concession in Saudi Arabia.British concerns regarding reported Chinese and Japanese propaganda in Saudi Arabia.Further reports in 1939 regarding the possibility of Japanese diplomatic representation being established in Saudi Arabia.Correspondents include His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Trenchard Craven William Fowle), and officials of the Foreign Office and the Government of India's External Affairs Department.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 (folio 2).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover 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. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-26; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This volume relates to the eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia and the southern boundary of Qatar.Much of the correspondence discusses the legal and international position of what is referred to as the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, as laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman convention of the following year), which is regarded by the British as the eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia, but is disputed by the Saudi Government, mainly on the grounds that it is no longer correct, following various developments during the years since the line was demarcated.British concerns regarding these boundaries follow a recent oil concession for the Hasa [Al Hasa] region of Saudi Arabia, granted by the Saudi Government to the Standard Oil Company of California, as well as reports of the possibility of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company securing an oil concession in Qatar.Related matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:The British policy regarding the blue line.The views of India Office and Foreign Office officials, as well as other British officials (most notably Sir Percy Zachariah Cox, former Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, Political Agent at Kuwait), regarding the demarcation of the southern boundary of Qatar.British concerns regarding the land lying between the blue line and the southern boundary of Qatar, as recognised by the Sheikh of Qatar [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī].A request for a copy of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention, submitted by the United States Embassy in Angora [Ankara] – reportedly on behalf of the United States' State Department – to its British counterpart, and the wider significance of this request in relation to the United States' oil interests in the region.Foreign Office concerns that aerial survey work carried out by the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) in relation to its Hasa oil concession might extend beyond the blue line.The volume features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the Political Agent, Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson); the Secretary of State for India (Samuel Hoare); the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India; the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs; officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Admiralty, and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department.In addition to correspondence, the volume includes extracts from Bahrain political intelligence reports and minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, which concern the Qatar boundary.Whilst the volume contains material dating from 1923 to 1934, the vast majority of the material dates from 1934. The French material consists of a short extract from the aforementioned Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, which is contained in copies of an India Office memorandum on the southern boundary of Qatar.The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folios 3-4).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 374; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The front and back covers have not been foliated.
Abstract: These papers, which are spread across two volumes, contain material relating to mines and mining rights in Persia, and more specifically to the affairs of the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation Limited, of which George Nathaniel Curzon was a director.The first part (26 March 1890-27 March 1892) is mostly comprised of received correspondence regarding Curzon's appointment to the board of directors of the recently formed Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation and the company's interests in mines and mining rights in Persia. Also included in this part are facsimiles of company correspondence and reports, forwarded to Curzon by the company's Secretary, Lewis Hamilton, concerning the company's affairs, with discussion of existing and potential mining sites in Persia. Notable correspondents in this part include Edward Albert Sassoon of David Sassoon and Company, as well as fellow board members and other representatives and associates of the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation such as Lewis Hamilton, Sir Lepel Henry Griffin, and Albert Houtum-Schindler.The second part (1 July 1889-20 December 1892) consists of Curzon's own handwritten notes plus a selection of reports, printed papers, newspaper cuttings, and correspondence, not only on mining and mining rights in Persia, but also regarding the affairs of the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation. It includes a list of those mines that are privately-owned and those that have been given in lease by the Persian Government, as well as details of Persian mines that are at the disposal of the Imperial Bank of Persia. Papers directly relating to the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation include copies of a memorandum and articles of association, as well as circulars, balance sheets, and a copy of extensive correspondence between the company and Houtum-Schindler. Also included is a copy of the general report of another company, the Persian Road and Transport Company, dated March 1891.Among the papers are four plans: three of the Elburz [Alborz] mountains (folios 33, 36 and 45) and one showing transport routes across Persia (folio 266).The German language material consists of three book titles cited by Houtum-Schindler.Physical description: Foliation: this file consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio of volume one (ff 1-138) and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 139-276); 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 1-276; these numbers are printed, and are not circled. The foliation sequence does not include either the front and back covers or the flyleaves of the volumes.
Abstract: The volume contains parts 2 and 3 of the subject ‘Persian Gulf: Moin-ut-Tujjar’s concessions’. Part 2 (IOR/L/PS/10/409/1) concerns the lease of islands in the Persian Gulf and Part 3 (IOR/L/PS/10/409/2) concerns British occupation of the islands in the Persian Gulf in case of war with Persia. The date range gives the covering dates of all the documents in the volume; the minute and reference papers of the Political and Secret Department of the India Office in London, which enclose these documents, are dated 1914 to 1918.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 front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 188; 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 comprises copies of correspondence, papers and maps relating to the British Government’s telegraph station and the Persian Government’s customs house on the island of Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām], questions of Persian sovereignty over the island, and the status of the island’s Arab inhabitants. The volume’s principal correspondents are: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Major Percy Zachariah Cox); the British Ambassador (or Chargé d’Affaires) at Tehran (Sir Arthur Henry Hardinge; Sir Evelyn Mountstuart Grant Duff); the Assistant Resident and British Consul at Bandar-e ʻAbbās (Lieutenant William Henry Irvine Shakespear); the Senior Naval Officer of the Persian Gulf Division, also Commanding Officer of HMS
Fox(Captain John Bridges Eustace).A large portion of the correspondence concerns British officials’ reaction to the Persian Government’s construction of a customs house on Henjam (itself a response to the British Government’s revival of their telegraph office on the island):British officials’ proposals to send Indian troops to keep the peace on the island (ff 221-225);a report of a visit to Henjam by Cox and Shakespear, June 1905, with an accompanying map of the island (ff 189-193, f 200);fresh water supplies at Henjam, and discussion amongst British officials over whether the Persians should be refused access to the island’s water supply;copies of correspondence and a tracing of a sketch, dated 1868, relating to the original agreement between the Persian and British Governments for a telegraph cable and station at Angaum [Jazīreh-ye Hengām], enclosed as part of an attempt to establish the extent of the original telegraph concession on the island, covering the years 1868 to 1880 (ff 133-136);use of flagstaffs on the island, specifically Persian flagstaffs as a statement of sovereignty, and the proposal for a British flagstaff as part of a Lloyd’s Signal Station;negotiations between the British Government and Persian Government (represented by Mushir-ed-Dowleh) on the acknowledgement and extent of a British concession at Henjam;correspondence and reports relating to a survey undertaken by the Royal Navy (HMS
Fox) of the northern tip of Henjam in April 1906, in order to ascertain the extent and boundary of the area required for the British telegraph office concession (ff 2-16).The file also covers the status of Henjam’s Arab inhabitants, including:claims made by Shaikh Ahmed bin Abeid of Henjam to be under the protection of Shaikh Mookhdoom [Shaikh Maktūm bin Hashar Āl Maktūm] of Dubai, and to have been settled on the islands by ancestors of the Sultan of Maskat [Muscat] (f 233, f 138, f 92);British officials’ procrastination in confirming their acceptance of Persian sovereignty over Henjam to the island’s Arab inhabitants, amid concerns of potentially violent confrontations between Henjam’s Persians and Arabs once Britain’s acceptance of Persian sovereignty is confirmed (f 124, ff 110-112);proposals made by Cox to resettle the Arabs of Henjam at Basidu [Bāsa‘īdū], rejected by Government officials (ff 99-103).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 252; 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 is concerned with negotiations with the Ottoman Government over a new navigation concession for the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. These negotiations — facilitated by the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade — are between Ibrahim Hakki Pasha and Lord Inchcape (James Lyle Mackay), and also involve the formation of a new Anglo-Turkish Company to operate the concession. It is equally concerned with insuring that Henry Finnis Blosse Lynch and his firm the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company are compensated for the introduction of the new company and provided with a suitable stake in the new concern. Both Mr Lynch and Lord Inchcape employ solicitors to represent them, these firms being Messrs Slaughter and May, and Messrs Walters and Company respectively. The negotiations between the two do not proceed smoothly; the file therefore includes discussion by British officials of Mr Lynch's 'intrigues', particularly in Germany (e.g. folios 85-94), to influence negotiations for the new concession in his favour. It also includes counter complaints from Mr Lynch about his treatment by the Foreign Office, and against statements made about his company in the House of Commons by the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, on the 22 July 1913 (e.g. folios 10-26).There is also some discussion in the file of British interests in limiting German access to the Tigris and Euphrates, whether Britain should secure an interest for itself in the Baghdad Railway, and insuring that Britain obtains a suitable stake in any new port built at Basra. There is also some debate respecting the extent the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company is able to exercise the rights of its original concession from 1862, and its prospects for expansion.Most of the correspondence in the file is between officials representing the Board of Trade, the Foreign Office, and the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company. The Foreign Office is principally represented by Alywyn Parker. The Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company on the other hand by Fred W Parry and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Philip Picot. Numerous copies of the draft concession between the Ottoman authorities and Lord Inchcape can be found throughout the file; often including an additional copy in French.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 first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 279; 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 first and last ending flyleaves. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The volume contains memoranda, correspondence and telegrams, and minutes of letters between British officials regarding railway constructions in Persia, focussing on the line planned between Mohammerah [Khorramshahr, Iran] and Khoremabad [Khorramabad, Iran].The subjects covered are:the leasing of land around Khor Musa to the British by the Ruler of Mohammerah, in 1912 (document in Farsi with English translation on ff 182-183);railway concessions agreed by Persian Government and negotiations with Persian Railways Syndicate;Persian Railways Syndicate's application for a mining concession in the Kerman district (Draft Concession on ff 52 and 53);the Julfa-Tabriz Railway Concession, in French (ff 62-63).The main correspondents are: the Ruler of Mohammerah, Shaikh Kazal [Khaz‘al bin Jābir bin Mirdāw al-Ka‘bī], Persian Railways Syndicate Limited, the Imperial Bank of Persia, the India Office, the Foreign Office, and the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf.Some correspondence is in Farsi and some letters in French, from the Russian Embassy in London, are present in the volume. A map of Persia and Afghanistan, showing the projected railways, is on folio 77.The volume includes a divider which gives the year that the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in it arranged by year. This divider is placed at the front of the volume.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 224; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The map, f 77, is a very large fold-out sized at A1.
Abstract: Part 2 of the volume is comprised of copies of correspondence and other papers relating to the proposed merger of the Turkish-Government-operated Hamidieh Steamship Company and the British company, the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company (also referred to as the Lynch Company, ETSNC). The item’s principal correspondents are: representatives of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company (hereafter ETSNC, chiefly the Company Secretary, H W Maclean), the Director of the ETSNC (Henry Finnis Blosse Lynch); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Edward Grey); the Private Secretary to Sir Edward Grey (Louis Du Pan Mallet); the British Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul] (Sir Gerard Augustus Lowther); the Political Resident for Turkish Arabia (Captain John Gordon Lorimer).The majority of the correspondence is dated 1909 to 1910, and focuses on the controversial nature of the proposed merger of the two steamship operators, which bore more of the character of a takeover by the British concern of its Turkish counterpart. While many Turkish commentators understood the prospect of a likely British monopoly of navigation rights on the Tigris and Euphrates in Irak [Iraq], the British Government feared having their commercial activities in Iraq diminished, possibly to the advantage of competing German commercial interests. The controversy, which acquired the sobriquet the ‘Affaire Lynch’ in the British press, precipitated a local popular uprising in Iraq, and in part led to the resignation of the Grand Vizier Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha, who had supported the merger, in December 1909. The correspondence is thus split between the contractual negotiations over the navigation concession, and the political consequences of its controversy, including cuttings of articles published in the press in Britain (
The Times,
The Morning Post) and copies of articles published in Ottoman Turkey (
Tanin,
Truth).Physical description: 1 item (315 folios)