Abstract: The memorandum — signed by Lieutenant-General Percy Lake, Chief of the Indian General Staff — considers whether Britain should accept Russian demands that the proposed Trans-Persian Railway should be routed via Kerman. It examines the potential strategic advantages to Russia, the consequent potential threat to British India, and how these would be negated if the railway passed via Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]. An estimate is also provided of the additional force that would be required to defend India should the railway be routed as the Russians desire.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at f 34, and terminates at f 36, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the bottom right corner of the recto side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: This file contains a photocopy of a typewritten draft of Sir John Richard Cotton's (b 1909) memoirs of his time in the Indian military and civil service. The memoirs, which were written when the author was 'in his seventy-fourth year', cover his time in the Indian Army, at Aden, Ethiopia, Attock, the Persian Gulf, Mount Abu, Hyderabad, Rajkot (Kathiawar), the Political Department in New Delhi, and finally the UK High Commission in Pakistan.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 78; these numbers are written in pencil and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The file also contains an original printed foliation sequence.
Abstract: Memoranda, statements, forms and other papers relating to military pension payments made from the Bahrain Treasury. The principal correspondents are: the Political Agent in Bahrain (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch; Captain Tom Hickinbotham; Hugh Weightman); the Controller (or Deputy Controller) of Military Pension Accounts (CMPA) in the Lahore Cantonment. The file is a direct chronological continuation of ‘File 16/23 [I] Miscellaneous. Payment of Military pensions from the Bahrain Treasury and other correspondence regarding.’ (IOR/R/15/2/1518).Papers in the file include:copies of statements (submitted by the Agency) of the names of pensioners transferred from the Bahrain Treasury to other Pension Disbursing Offices, and lists of pensions brought on the Check register of the Bahrain Treasury, for months covering period January 1935 to July 1938. Most statements and lists are marked ‘nil’;circular memoranda from the Lahore CMPA concerning various aspects of pension payments, such as procedure, policy, overpayments, fraud, pay increases;CMPA objection statements detailing the particulars of the CMPA objections over pension payments, audit remarks, replies, and audit decisions. The forms are printed with instructions;correspondence relating to checks on the identity of individuals claiming pensions, including depositions and supporting statements recorded at the Agency;correspondence relating to the transfer of pension payments.The file includes a number of items written in Persian and Arabic.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 241; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Two additional foliation sequences are also present in parallel between ff 2-225, and ff 229-238; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The file comprises three items:a copy of a telegram (f 2) from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel William Rupert Hay) to the Political Agent in Bahrain (Hugh Weightman) dated 28 May 1940. The Resident states that he is considering requesting a company of Indian infantry to be stationed in Bahrain, pending the formation of a local defence force, and asks the Political Agent if any local objection might be raised;the Political Agent’s reply to the Resident (f 3), dated 29 May 1940, in which the Agent suggests that the presence of such a force ‘may do more harm than good’, adding that careful explanation to the Shaikh and to the public would be required, and that mistrust and alarm might be the result;a typed list (f 4) of files in the War subject series (File 28). The list is similar to that given in Penelope Tuson,
The records of the British Residency and agencies in the Persian Gulf(London: India Office Library & Records, 1979), with the exception that the list includes those files subsequently destroyed and thus not listed in Tuson. Some files in the list have pencil annotations in the margin reading ‘With P.A. [Political Agent] S.’ It is unclear why this file list is included in the file.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the back cover with 2; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An addition foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 2-3; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
Abstract: Memoranda, statements, forms and other papers relating to military pension payments from the Bahrain Treasury, including to former employees of the State Police in Bahrain. The principal correspondents include: the Political Agent in Bahrain (Captain Charles Geoffrey Prior; Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch); the Controllers (or Deputy Controllers) of Military Pension Accounts (CMPA) in various administrative districts of British India (Southern and Western Command, Mhow; Lahore).Papers in the file include:correspondence relating to arrangements for the recording of depositions by pensions who have stopped receiving their pension payments;CMPA objection statements, detailing the particulars of the CMPA objections over pension payments, audit remarks, replies, and audit decisions. The forms are printed with instructions (ff 23-25, ff 48-50, ff 80-82, ff 115-117);printed payment sheets for ‘Indian Military, Family and Uncovenanted Pensions’ (ff 29-32);circular memoranda from CMPAs, concerning various aspects of pension payments, such as procedure, policy, overpayments, pay increases.The file includes two telegraphic messages written in Persian.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 189; 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 3-187; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This volume comprises printed copies of telegraphic correspondence, dated 1 January-31 December 1902, of Lord Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy and Governor-General of India, with Lord George Hamilton, Secretary of State for India.The beginning of the volume contains a detailed index of names, places and subjects (ff 4-15). This is followed by telegrams from the Secretary of State for India to Lord Curzon, numbered 1-588 (ff 18-97) and telegrams from Lord Curzon to the Secretary of State for India, numbered 1-584 (ff 99-198).A wide variety of subjects are covered, including matters relating to:The Aden Protectorate, notably the delimitation of the Aden boundary and relations with Turkey [Ottoman Empire]Afghanistan, including the Amir [Amīr Ḥabībullāh Khān] and Russian relations with AfghanistanThe Army in IndiaBerar [also known as the Hyderabad Assigned Districts], particularly relations with the Nizam of Hyderabad [Asaf Jah VI]Military operations of the Boer War 1899-1902Boer prisoners of war in IndiaChina, including the evacuation of British troops from ShanghaiA ceremony to mark the Coronation of King Edward VII (as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India) including the Delhi Coronation DurbarThe famine in IndiaFinancial and administrative mattersRecommendations and awards of Honours of the United Kingdom to the British Indian Army and Government and to indigenous Indian rulers and dignitaries, including Coronation HonoursThe Koweit [Kuwait] Protectorate, including relations with TurkeyBritish policy in Persia [Iran]The establishment of a Police Commission in IndiaConstruction and extension of railways in British IndiaBritish relations with Russia notably in connection with India, Persia, Afghanistan, China and TibetMilitary operations in the Somaliland Protectorate [the Republic of Somaliland]British policy in Tibet.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 198; 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.Pagination: the volume also contains two original printed pagination sequences.
Abstract: Memoranda, statements, forms and other papers relating to military pension payments made from the Bahrain Treasury. The principal correspondents are: the Political Agent in Bahrain; the Controller (or Deputy Controller) of Military Pension Accounts [CMPA] in the Lahore Cantonment. The file is a direct chronological continuation of ‘Miscellaneous:– Payments of Military Pensions from the Bahrain Treasury and their Correspondence regarding’ (IOR/R/15/2/1519).Papers in the file include:copies of monthly statements (submitted by the Agency) of the names of pensioners transferred from the Bahrain Treasury to other Pension Disbursing Offices, and lists of pensions brought on the Check register of the Bahrain Treasury, for months covering period August 1938 to May 1944. Most statements and lists are marked ‘nil’;monthly statements of casualties amongst members of OBI, IOM, VC and MC (Order of British India, Indian Order of Merit, Victoria Cross, Military Cross) on the Pension Establishment in the payment of the Bahrain Treasury. Statements are marked ‘nil’;circular memoranda from the CMPA and other Government administrations, concerning various aspects of pension payments, such as procedure, policy, overpayments, fraud, pay increases, cases of Indian military pensioners convicted in criminal courts;correspondence relating to checks on the identity of individuals claiming pensions, including depositions made by pensioners and supporting statements (recorded at the Agency) and certificates of verification, issued by the Political Agent;papers relating to the transfer of pension payments.The file also includes: fragments of a pension certificate (ff 131-134) and two complete pension certificates, dated 1933 (ff 283-285) and 1925 (ff 304-305) respectively, the former with an accompanying pension warrant and record of payments (f 286). The pension certificates include terms and conditions printed in English, as well as in a number of other languages used on the Indian subcontinent, including Punjabi, Hindi and Tamil.An invoice is included in the file, dated 19 May 1932 (f 339), which has no obvious relation to surrounding correspondence, and was presumably included in the file in error.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 368; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-346; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This file concerns arrangements for a military mission to Saudi Arabia, financed by the British Government. The file consists of correspondence between War Office, Foreign Office, India Office, and Government of India officials regarding the War Office's proposal for a proportion of Sunni Moslem [Muslim] officers to be recruited for the mission from the Indian Army, in accordance with the Saudi Government's reported preference for a Sunni Moslem presence among the mission's officers. Other notable correspondents include the Viceroy of India (Archibald Percival Wavell) and the Secretary of State for India (Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence).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 64; 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 chiefly comprises typescript and some manuscript copies of letters, memoranda, notes and minutes by General Herbert Vaughan Cox. There are three letters to Cox from external correspondents, some printed memoranda and one cutting from the
Morning Post.Folios 1-2 comprise a list of the file documents, numbered 1-55, including type of document, addressee, date, and normally an indication of the subject. The fifty-five documents are numbered in blue pencil in the top right hand corner of the first page. Note that the contents list is not exhaustive and there are sometimes related documents between those marked with blue pencil. (There is duplication of some memoranda in the file; duplicates contain very minor differences).The content comprises information, advice and opinions of General Cox to the War Cabinet, War Office and other government and military officers, mainly relating to British military strategy in Afghanistan, Persia [Iran], Trans-Caspia [Central Asia], the Caucasus, Mesopotamia [Iraq] and India, including:Securing British interests in Persia, Afghanistan, the Caspian Sea and British India, against Turco-German threats, prior to the November 1918 ArmisticeFall of Baku (in modern Azerbaijan) to Turkish forces in September 1918 and the role of commanding officer Major General Lionel Charles DunstervilleStrategic importance of the Siestan [Sistan] railway (part of the Trans-Baluchistan railway)British policy regarding interests in ‘the East’ at the Paris Peace Conference 1919, notably North West Persia, Mesopotamia, the new republics west of the Caspian Sea, new Armenia, Syria and PalestineThe Malleson Mission, led by Major General Sir Wilfrid Malleson, whose role after the Armistice was to protect North East Persia (or Trans-Caspia, modern Turkmenistan), from Bolshevik incursions and influenceBritish military and diplomatic relations with Afghanistan, notably frontiers after the Armistice and following the assassination of Habibullah Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, in February 1919Turbulent situation in Waziristan, October 1919 and impact on Indian ArmyIndian Army organization, command, military requirements, training and instruction, and compositionCommand structure of the British Imperial Army in the East, senior appointments, organization and military requirements.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 230; 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 also present in parallel between ff 79-229; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: Handwritten note (with envelope) addressed to Colonel [Wilfrid] Malleson (of the Intelligence Branch, Indian Army Headquarters), written by the Commander-in-Chief in India, Horatio Herbert Kitchener. The note refers to the ‘state of the army’, and a disagreement between Kitchener and an individual referred to as Baker. Kitchener requests that Malleson see Baker ‘to if possible remove his doubts.’ The note also makes reference to another individual named Duff, probably referring to Beauchamp Duff, Chief of the General Staff (India) from March 1906 to September 1909. The note presumably refers to Kitchener’s reorganisation of the Indian Army, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief during the period 1902 to 1909.Physical description: 1 item (3 folios)