Abstract: The report was printed for the Committee of Imperial Defence, November 1911, and approved on 14 December 1911. It concerns the situation in the Persian Gulf regarding the extent to which Turkish claims aligned with British interests, and engagements already made with the Sheikh of Koweit [Kuwait] and other chiefs.It includes the following:Report - The Standing Sub-Committee advise on the terminus of the Baghdad Railway, control of the navigation of the Shat-Al-Arab [Shatt al Arab], and the limits of Turkish sovereignty in the Shat-Al-Arab and on the shores of the Gulf.Proceedings - minutes of the First Meeting, 24 May 1911; and minutes of the Second Meeting, 15 June 1911.The following appendices are also contained in the report:I. Memorandum on Turkish aggression in the Persian Gulf, by the Foreign Office.II. Memorandum on local action in the Persian Gulf, by the General Staff, War Office.III. Letter on the Shat-Al-Arab and Koweit, from the Naval Commander-in-chief, East Indies, to the Government of India.IV. Report of the Inter-Departmental Conference on the Baghdad Railway terminus, by the Foreign Office, 1907.V. Foreign Office correspondence on the frontier of Muhamrah (Mohammerah)[Khorramshahr].VI. Memorandum on the Turco-Persian boundary question 1833-1906, by the Foreign Office.VII. Foreign Office correspondence on the frontier of Mohammerah, 1906-1911.Some treaty extracts and agreements are in French.Also contains three maps:f 25: 'MAP OF MOHAMMERAH AND DISTRICT PREPARED IN 1850'f 43: 'Sketch of APPROACHES TO KUWEIT HARBOUR AND SHATT AL ARAB'f 44: 'PERSIAN GULF AND ADJACENT COUNTRIES'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 45; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: The item consists of a collection of documents signed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Edward Grey) and the Grand Vizier of Ottoman Empire (Ibrahim Hakki Pasha) on 29 July 1913.It contains the following: a convention concerning the establishment of a commission to improve the conditions of navigation from Shatt al-Arab; a list of lighthouses and buoys on Shatt al-Arab; a series of declarations concerning the question of the border that separates the Persian and Ottoman territories from the region of Haouizé [Hoveyzeh] to the sea, and navigation on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; and agreements between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Grand Vizier of Ottoman Empire on Koueit [Kuwait], El Katr [Qatar], Bahreine [Bahrain], Golfe Persique [Persian Gulf], and the commission of delimitation.It also includes translations of agreements with the Sheikh of Koweit [Shaikh of Kuwait] dated 1899, 1900, and 1904, on protecting British interests, along with correspondence between Edward Grey and Tewfik Pasha regarding these agreements and railways in Asiatic Turkey.The majority of text is in French, with some English.Also includes two maps:IOR/W/L/PS/18/B381 (i) – 'MAP TO SHOW THE LIMITS OF KOWEIT AND ADJACENT COUNTRY'.IOR/W/L/PS/18/B381 (ii) – 'SKETCH MAP OF THE PERSIAN GULF & ARABIAN COAST'.Physical description: 1 item (8 folios)
Abstract: This secret file is a collection of printed correspondence. It contains telegrams between Joshua Milne Crompton Cheetham, Acting High Commissioner at Cairo, and the Foreign Office, letters from and correspondence between Shaikh Abdalla Ibn Hosayn [Abd Allāh ibn al-Husayn] and his father, Hussein bin Ali [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī ], Sherif of Mecca, and Mr Storrs, Oriental Secretary to the British Representative in Cairo and Sir McMahon, High Commissioner in Cairo. The subject of the correspondence is the Arab revolt to obtain independence from the Ottoman Empire, with the Sherif writing to the British to request protection and acknowledgment of the Arab countries' independence under an Arab Caliphate.Physical description: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover, and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: A printed précis of correspondence on various Persian Gulf subjects, prepared for the Foreign Department of the Government of India, Simla, in July 1911 (Part I) and July 1913 (Part II). The document is divided into two parts. Most subjects relate to Turkish claims to sovereignty in the region, including the presence of Turkish garrisons, and were chosen and prepared because of the negotiations between the British and Turkish authorities connected to the Baghdad Railway plans.Part I (folios 2-35) covers various subjects and is organised into eleven chapters, each devoted to a different topic or geographical area, as follows: Chapter I, British interests in the Persian Gulf, Extent of Arabian littoral; Chapter II, Extent of Hasa and Katif [Qatif], Claims of the Turks to the whole of Eastern Arabia, Extent to which Turkish claims on the Arabian littoral are recognised by His Majesty's government, Proposed arrangement with the Turkish Government defining their sphere of influence on the Arabian littoral; Chapter III, Turkish occupation of El Bida [Doha], Extent of the Katar [Qatar] Peninsula; Chapter IV, Turkish designs on Katar, Policy of His Majesty's Government; Chapter V, Trucial Chiefs (Pirate Coast); Chapter VI, Maskat [Muscat] and Gwadar; Chapter VII, Kuwait; Chapter VIII, Um Kasr [Umm Qasr], Bubiyan and Warba; Chapter IX, Bahrain, Zakhnuniyeh [Zahnūnīyah] and Mohammerah [Korramshahr]; Chapter X, Proposed British action consequent on Turkish aggression; Chapter XI, Pearl fisheries. There are three appendices containing further correspondence relating to the main text.Part II (folios 36-60) relates entirely to the Baghdad Railway and the negotiations between the British and Ottoman authorities that the proposal of the railway initiated. The negotiations covered several matters, including: the political statuses of Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar; the location of the railway's terminus; the ownership of the railway; and the creation of a commission for the improvement of navigation in the Chatt-el-Arab [Shaṭṭ al-‘Arab]. It opens with an introduction of the related issues (folios 37-41) followed by the relative correspondence (folios 42-53). It ends with the draft agreements (folios 53-60) - never ratified - drawn up by the two powers.Physical description: Foliation: the sequence commences at the front cover, and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.Condition: folios 59 and 60 have both been torn in two corners, resulting in the loss of some text.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence in the form of letters, memoranda and telegrams related to the supply of overprinted stamps of Mesopotamia/Iraq. The main issues discussed in the volume are the following:The question of whether to continue using the overprinted Turkish stamps after the declaration of peace or notThe currency to be adopted in Mesopotamia and the preparation of new designs for postage and revenue stampsThe required supply of overprinted Turkish stamps to the Civil Post Office in BaghdadBradbury, Wilkinson and Company, Limited to provide the monthly supply of the overprinted stampsHarrison and Sons Limited to provide the overprinted Ottoman Government envelopes and reply letter cards/postal stationeryThe increase of charges on printing stamps and currencyThe reopening of the Turkish civil post office at Mosul Vilayet [province]The question of which overprint to use on the available Turkish stampsThe arrangement of four sets of stamps of each variety to be sent to His Majesty King George V, the Imperial War Museum, and to the General Post OfficeThe request of certain stamp dealers to buy parcels of the overprinted stamps of Mesopotamia.The main correspondents in the volume are: John Evelyn Shuckburgh; the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Foreign Office; Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company, Limited; Harrison and Sons Limited; the Imperial War Museum; the General Post Office, London; and a number of stamp dealers such as, Edwin Healey and Company and Whitfield King and Company.This volume consists of four parts. 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 first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 342; 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 leading and ending flyleaves. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence in the form of letters and telegrams related to the temporary administration of Baghdad Vilayet [province] and the question of the type of postage stamps to be used for the civil post office at Baghdad during the British occupation. The correspondence is particularly related to a small supply of Turkish stamps that was found in Baghdad after the Ottoman troops left the city. The British Government proposed to issue these stamps with the overprint 'Baghdad under British Occupation.' The volume includes correspondence with stamp printing firms and publishers to provide lists of the Turkish stamps and their values. The volume also includes correspondence between Buckingham Palace and the India Office arranging for a collection of the overprinted Turkish stamps to be sent to His Majesty King George V. Another set of stamps and envelopes was also kept aside in order to use it in an exhibition at the National/Imperial War Museum, London. The main correspondents in the volume are: John Evelyn Shuckburgh; Sir Percy Zachariah Cox, the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Viceroy of India's Foreign Department; the Foreign Office; the Government of India's Department of Commerce and Industry; Harrison and Sons Limited; and Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company, Limited.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 first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 272; 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 leading and ending flyleaves. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This file chiefly comprises: correspondence; India Office Political and Secret Department Minutes, Draft Papers and Draft Telegrams; copies of letters and telegrams; notes and memoranda; and reports.The file relates mainly to the discussions regarding the disposal of antiquities from Samarra [Samaria, also spelled Samara and Samarrah in this volume], originally excavated by German archaeologists prior to the First World War and intended for shipment to Berlin, that were captured by British-led forces in 1917 and designated for export to the British Museum by the Army Council on apparent recommendation of the (War Office) ‘Trophies [Sub] Committee’. The file notably covers and includes:The divergence of opinion between the Foreign Office and India Office (who opposed the export of antiquities from Mesopotamia [Iraq], and the Army Council and Office of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, over the advisability of removing the items from Basrah [Basra], considering the political and physical risks, financial implications and prospects for scholarly accessThe decision of the Eastern Committee of the War Office to overrule the Army Council’s recommendationSeparate expressions of interest by, and promises made to, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in respect of the Samarra itemsDiscussion regarding the short and medium-term feasibility of establishing a museum in Baghdad to house those and other itemsTypescript copy of a report, 7 June 1919, by Captain Henry Reginald Hall, Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum, to the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, on his examination of the antiquities stored at the political office, Basrah (ff 148-151)Discussion over whether to unpack, examine and list the items in Basrah or in London and the question of obtaining the co-operation of the original German excavators in the opening and cataloguing of the Samarra and other German collections, particularly the possible involvement of Professor Ernst Emil Herzfeld, former head of the German archaeological expedition working at Samarra 1911-1913Copy of two draft letters, dated 21 and 25 February 1921, by Thomas Edward 'T E' Lawrence, Colonial Office, advising Sir Frederic Kenyon, Director of the British Museum, that Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies, has given authority to Sir Percy Cox, High Commissioner of Mesopotamia, to send the Samarra items to the British Museum, due to the developing political uncertainty in Basrah (ff 2 and 4).The file also includes papers (ff 17-125) relating to measures for the ‘restoration by Turkey of articles of religious, archaeological, historical or artistic interest removed from territories to be detached from Turkey under the Treaty of Peace’ (f 25), in particular the claim of the Government of Hejaz [also spelled Hedjaz in this volume] to the Koran of Caliph Othman [Quran of Caliph Uthman ibn Affan, also spelled Kaliph Osman in this file], as well as the requirement of the Mesopotamia Government to prepare a list of articles to be restored. Includes a proof copy of the ‘Conditions of Peace with Turkey, dated 11 May 1920 (ff 39-120).The primary correspondents are: the India Office; the Foreign Office; the Treasury; the Office of the Civil Commissioner in Mesopotamia, at Bagdad [Baghdad]; Sir Frederic Kenyon; and Cecil Harcourt-Smith, Director and Secretary of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London.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 end of the correspondence (front of the volume).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 240; 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 pagination/foliation sequences are also present. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.
Abstract: Papers concerning events in Mesopotamia and in the Persian Gulf, leading up to and immediately after the outbreak of war between Great Britain and Turkey. The file is a chronological continuation of File 3136/1914 Pt 1 ‘German War. Situation in Turkish Arabia & Persian Gulf’ (IOR/L/PS/10/462). Subjects covered include:Concerns amongst British officials that Turkey will lay mines in the Shatt al-Arab.Reports of the spreading of anti-British and pro-German propaganda by Turkish officials, including an undated manifesto (translated into English from Arabic) issued by an organisation called the Moslem Committee of Learned Men (ff 139-143).British intelligence on the movements, actions and correspondence exchanged between the region’s most prominent rulers and key figures, including the former Governor (Wali) of Basra, Seyyid Talib [Saiyid Talib ibn Saiyid Rajab], the Emir of Najd and Al-Aḥsā, Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and the Turkish Minister of War, Ismail Enver Pasha.Reports on public opinion amongst the Arab populations of the Persian Gulf, and proposed British propaganda measures, including plans to distribute copies of the
Illustrated War Newsto the various rulers in the Persian Gulf (ff 199-203).The breaking-off of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Turkey on 30 October 1914.Reports, submitted by Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Zachariah Cox, Chief Political Officer of Indian Expeditionary Force D (IEFD), on the progress of IEFD at Basra, including reports of military action at Fao [Al-Fāw], (f 56, f 65, ff 67-68, ff 116-120, f 123).The death of Captain Richard Lockington Birdwood, Assistant Political Officer to Cox, at Basra, on 17 November 1914 (ff 90-91).Reports of anti-British propaganda and activities at Erzeroum [Erzurum], as reported by the city’s British Consul (ff 84-89, ff 103-104).Proposals, including those set out in a letter written by Captain Arnold Talbot Wilson of the Indian Political Department, to the British Consul at Mohammerah [Khorramshahr], dated 28 November 1914 (ff 14-17) for Mesopotamia to become an Indian colony after the war.The file’s principal correspondents include: the India Office (John Evelyn Shuckburgh; Edmund George Barrow; Arthur Hirtzel); the Foreign Office (Eyre Alexander Barby Wichart Crowe; Louis du Pan Mallet); the Chief Political Officer of IEFD (Percy Zachariah Cox).The file includes a small number of copies of diplomatic exchanges between the British, Ottoman and Persian Governments (
notes verbale), which are written in French.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 248; 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.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence regarding the Persian Campaign of the First World War and the movements and activities of the Central Powers in Persia [Iran] between June and November 1915. The correspondence is particularly concerned with German and Ottoman attempts to infiltrate Afghanistan from Persia, and of ensuring the continued neutrality of both Afghanistan and Persia.The primary correspondents are the British Legation, Tehran; the British Embassy, Petrograd [Saint Petersburg]; the Government of India; and the Foreign Office.The volume contains a single folio in French (f 184), a communication from the Russian Ambassador in London.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 first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 238; 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 between ff 121-127, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence regarding the Persian Campaign of the First World War and the movements and activities of the Central Powers in Persia [Iran] between November 1915 and April 1916. The correspondence is particularly concerned with German and Ottoman attempts to infiltrate Afghanistan from Persia, and of ensuring the continued neutrality of both Afghanistan and Persia.The primary correspondents are the British Legation, Tehran; the British Consulate, Seistan and Kain; and the Government of India.The volume contains a single folio in French (f 164), a communication from the National Committee for the Protection of the Independence of 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 first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 165; 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. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence regarding the Persian Campaign of the First World War and the movements and activities of the Central Powers in Persia [Iran] between May and November 1916. The correspondence is particularly concerned with finding and capturing German, Ottoman and Austrian agents active in Persia and Afghanistan.The primary correspondents are: British Legation, Tehran; War Office Directorate of Military Intelligence; Chief Commissioner, North-West Frontier Province; British Legation, Sistan and Kain; British Consulate General, Meshed; Government of India.The volume contains a single item in German (ff 149-150), a list of German military personnel active in Persia in February 1916 written by the German Military Attache, Tehran.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 181; 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 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.