Abstract: This bundle consists of summaries, and partial transcripts, of secret letters received from both the Governor General of India (8 September 1856, Numbers 35-40) and the Government of Bombay (12 September 1856, Numbers 66-70). The amount of detail for each entry therefore varies.The despatches from the Governor General (folios 43-49r) are concerned with the release of Kashmiri prisoners held by Thibet [Tibet], and the motivations of Jung Bahadoor [Jung Bahadur Rana] in accepting the title of Maharaj of Kaski and Lamjung. They also discuss the proceedings of the Persian Army against Kelat [Kalat], the possibility of providing British assistance for the Khan of Kelat, and the size of the force required from India to occupy Karrack [Khārk] and Bushire.The section from Bombay (folios 43-52) includes reports of the situation at Bushire, and the successful conclusion of negotiations between the Imam of Muscat and the Government of Persia for the rent to be paid by the former for Bunder Abbass [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]. It also includes discussion of the particulars surrounding the supply of British weapons and ammunition to Dost Mahomed [Dost Mohammad Khan, Amir of Afghanistan], the position at Herat, and the size of the force proposed by the Commander-in-Chief for the proposed expedition against Persia.Physical description: 1 item (10 folios)
Abstract: The file concerns the recruitment of Arab prisoners of war held in India, formerly with the Ottoman Army, for service in the Arab Revolt under the Sherif [of Mecca] (later referred to as the King of Hejaz) [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī, Emir and Sherif of Mecca, later King of Hejaz]. A request for the release of prisoners was said to have come from Arab leaders in November 1916, and the proposals obtained the consent of the British military and political authorities.The papers cover: the release of ninety Arab officers and 2100 rank and file in November 1916, and their despatch under escort from Bombay to Egypt; only thirty-six of the released prisoners volunteer to fight, December 1916; papers concerning an Egyptian civilian, Abdul Majid Kamil, who had been interned in India, and who accompanied the prisoners of war to Egypt, who was suspected of being an Egyptian nationalist and member of the Young Turk Party, January - May 1917; further recruitment of Arab prisoners in Indian prisoner of war camps, 1917; a proposal to recall Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Evelyn Leachman to India to supervise the recruitment of prisoners, and the Army Council's decision to reject the proposal pending a decision on the formation of an Arab Legion, June 1917; and the recruitment of Arab prisoners of war and civilians interned in India to the Arab Legion, August 1917 - 1918.In addition to correspondence and memoranda from the India Office, the file includes correspondence from the Viceroy, and the Government of India.The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained 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 134; 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 volume contains correspondence, reports, telegrams and minutes regarding the protection of Shiah Holy Places and Persian subjects by the British Government after the occupation of Mesopotamia during the First World War. Related matters of discussion include the following: the situation in different cities in Mesopotamia; tours undertaken by visiting shaikhs around different towns in Mesopotamia, in order to observe the situation; relations between Russia and Great Britain, Russia and Persia, and Germany and Russia during the war; details relating to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907; bombardment and disturbances in Najaf during 1918 and their resulting consequences (the riots culminated in the death of Captain William Macandrew Marshall).The correspondence in the volume is internal correspondence between British officials and the Persian Government. The principal correspondents are: Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Cox; Secretary for State for India; Under-Secretary of State for India; Viceroy of India; Foreign Office; Privy Council Office; HM Consul-General to Persia; Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; Indian Expeditionary Force D, Chief Political Officer; Political Resident in Persian Gulf; Political Officer, Najaf; Persian Consul-General, Baghdad and India. Other items of note include a memorandum and report on Baghdad (ff 155-157), a draft of a letter from King George V of Great Britain to the Ulema of Iraq (f 165 and f 170), and reports by Gertrude Bell regarding the situation in the Najaf-Karbala district (ff 166-122).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 front 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 199; 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.
Abstract: Correspondence and papers relating to British prisoners of war in Baghdad, detained in the wake of the commencement of hostilities between Britain and Turkey in Mesopotamia [Iraq] in November 1914. The papers cover: the status of British subjects including British Indians in Baghdad; reports of Turkish troop movements in Mesopotamia; correspondence between the British and United States governments, the latter working as an intermediary between the British and Ottoman governments, to secure the good treatment and release of British prisoners in Baghdad; reports from the United States Consul at Baghdad (Charles Frederick Brissel) on conditions at Baghdad; a report on a journey made from Baghdad to Bombay [Mumbai] by British Indian employees of the Political Residency in Baghdad in November 1914 (ff 147-153); in June 1915, negotiations for the exchange of British subjects (including women and children) detained at Baghdad, with Turkish officials stranded at British-occupied Amara [Al ‘Amārah]. The file’s principal correspondents are: the Foreign Office, including the Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Algernon Law, Sir Ralph Spencer Paget; the Government of the USA, including the US Consul at Baghdad and the US Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul], Philip Hoffman.The volume contains two items in French; letters from the Ottoman Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, forwarded by the US Ambassador at Constantinople (ff 32-33, ff 49-50).The part includes a divider (f 1) which gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, subject heading, and 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 215; 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: Papers concerning the advance of financial relief to British Indians stranded in Baghdad and elsewhere in Ottoman territory, in the wake of Britain’s invasion of Mesopotamia [Iraq] in November 1914. The papers cover: proposals for funds to be forwarded to and distributed by the United States Consul at Baghdad; the advance of funds to Britain’s Vice-Consul at Kerbala [Karbala] (Mohamad Hassan Mohsin), now in Constantinople [Istanbul]; the payment of relief and pensions to British Indians and their dependents in Baghdad; payments for accommodation for British Indians in Baghdad, made by the United States Consul at Baghdad; expenditure incurred by the withdrawal of British consular staff from Baghdad and Kerbala. A large portion of the file concerns arrangements for the continuation of pension payments to the widow and heirs (now resident in Constantinople and Smyrna [İzmir]) of the late Said Yacoub Khan (various spellings throughout the file) who had been awarded a pension prior to his death for ‘high services’ rendered to Queen Victoria (f 80). The file’s principal correspondents are: the Foreign Office, including the Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Algernon Law; the British High Commissioner in Constantinople, Horace George Montagu Rumbold; the Political Department of the Government of Bombay.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 217; 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: Papers concerning British women and children detained by Turkish authorities in Baghdad as prisoners of war, and an agreement for their exchange (brokered by the United States Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul]) for Turkish officials and their families captured in Amara during the British invasion of Mesopotamia. The file is a direct chronological continuation of File 94/1915 Pt 1 ‘German War:- Turkey. Prisoners’ (IOR/L/PS/10/532). The file covers: reports of the release and deportation to Mosul of the remaining British women and children held at Baghdad; the decision to extradite these women and children to Beirut and the Mediterranean, rather than down the river Tigris to the Persian Gulf; requests from the Ottoman Government for information of a number of Turkish officials and their families detained at Amara; lists of British and Turkish prisoners of war to be exchanged by both sides; the General Officer Commanding at Basra’s objections to the repatriation of some Turkish officials from Basra.Several items in the volume (correspondence from the Ottoman Government and the Comité Internationale de la Croix-Rouge) are in French.The file 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 239; 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: Papers relating to Ottoman government officials who were detained as prisoners of war by the British occupying force (Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’) at Basra in late November 1914, and sent to India for the duration of the war. The majority of the papers concern two prisoners (Seyyid Talib Bey [Talib bin Rajab Al-Naqib], and Shaikh Salim Al Khayyum [Salim al-Khayyun]). These include notes and reports on the two individuals (outlining their family background, history, political sympathies, character, and potential use to British causes in the Arab world); and details of their detention in India (in Bombay [Mumbai] and Bellary [Ballari]). Papers dated 1918-1920 also detail Seyyid Talib’s return to Basra via Egypt. At the front of the correspondence are copies of letters exchanged between British officials in the Persian Gulf, and several of the rulers of the Arab coast of the Gulf, in response to the outbreak of hostilities in Europe, and the prospect of war between Britain and Turkey (ff 209-221). The file’s main correspondents are: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Zachariah Cox; the Deputy Secretary to the Government of Bombay, John Edwin Clapham Jukes; the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign and Political Department.The file 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 225; 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.