The volume contains correspondence, memorandums, and newspaper cuttings relating to a proposed Baghdad to Basra railway, an extension of the German Berlin to Baghdad Railway. Much of the correspondence has been forwarded to the Residency by the Foreign Department of the Government of India and is between Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Francis Bertie, British Ambassador to France, Louis Mallet, Assistant Under-secretary of State for Near and Middle Eastern Affairs, Charles Marling, British Ambassador to Persia, Arthur Nicolson, Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Henry Babington Smith, President of the National Bank of Turkey, Gerard Lowther, British Ambassador to Constantinople, Rifaat Pasha, Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Edgar Speyer, railway financier, George Buchanan, British Ambassador to Russia, Edward Goschen, British Ambassador to Berlin, Henry Cumberbatch, British Consul General in Turkey, George Barclay, British Minister to Persia, the Board of Trade, and William Graham Greene, Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty. There is also correspondence between Percy Cox, Political Resident at Bushire, Rear-Admiral Edmond Slade, Stuart Knox, Political Agent at Bahrain, and William Shakespear, Political Agent at Kuwait.The volume covers the discussions prior to formal negotiations between Britain and the Ottoman Turks brought about by the Baghdad Railway and its proposed extension to the Persian Gulf. The issues and subjects involved are:the proposed route of the railway;control and ownership of the section between Baghdad and Basra;location of the terminus, and who will control it, including Slade's report (ff. 64-74) on the suitability of Basra;a proposed increase to customs duty in the region;irrigation of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers;the contract to transport rail materials by the rivers;the status of Kuwait, particularly regarding Turkish and British suzerainty and influence.Throughout the volume there are newspaper cuttings from English periodicals that relate to the Baghdad Railway and negotiations around it.Folio 47 is a rough sketch map of the peninsula Ras Tanurah. Folio 230 is a fold-out map of the proposed route of the railway and irrigation of the rivers.2 volumes (334 folios)The volume is arranged chronologically. At the beginning (folios 2-5) is a subject index. It is in no particular order and organised under a few broad headings. The numbers refer to folio numbers of the secondary, earlier sequence.Foliation: The file consists of two volumes (parts one and two) and the foliation runs through both. The main foliation sequence commences at the title page of part one and terminates at the fifth folio from the back of part two; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and can be predominantly found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A second foliation sequence runs between ff. 8-291A; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence. There are the following irregularities: 7 and 7A; 13 and 13A; 15 and 15A; 16, 16A and 16B; 17 and 17A; 18, 18A and 18B; 20, 20A and 20B; 21, 21A and 21B; 52, 52A, 52B, 52C; 53, 53A, 53B and 53C; 54, 54A, 54B and 54C; 55, 55A and 55B; 56, 56A and 56B; 57 and 57A; 290 and 290A.
The volume contains letters, telegrams, and memorandums pertaining to Anglo-Turkish negotiations brought on by the Baghdad Railway and particularly the extension to Basra. Correspondents include: Percy Cox, Political Resident at Bushire, William Shakespear, Political Agent at Kuwait, Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Louis Mallet, Assistant Under-secretary of State for Near and Middle Eastern Affairs, Charles Marling, British Ambassador to Persia, Gerard Lowther, British Ambassador to Constantinople, George Buchanan, British Ambassador to Russia, Admiral Edmond Slade, the Board of Trade, the Government of India, the India Office, and several private companies, including Trans-Atlantic Trust Company, Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Imperial Ottoman Bank, and Imperial Persian Bank.The form of the negotiations was a series of memorandums containing proposals and counter-proposals. The issues and subjects discussed are:ownership and control of the line;custom duty increases in the region;navigation of the Shatt al-Arab, including the establishment of a commission to oversee this;transport of railway materials by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers;delimitation of the Turkish-Persian border;status and territorial limit of Kuwait;other Gulf matters, including the statuses of Bahrain and Qatar, the suppression of arms traffic, piracy, and slavery, and the protection of pearl fisheries.Folios 261-262 are a map showing the proposed territorial limits of Kuwait.1 volume (268 folios)The volume is arranged chronologically. At the beginning (ff. 3-4) is a subject index, in no particular order but grouped under several broad headings. The numbers refer to folio numbers from the secondary, earlier sequence.Foliation: The volume is foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, using circled pencil numbers positioned in the top-right corner of each recto. There are two earlier foliation systems running through parts of the volume. The first uses uncircled pencil numbers in the top-right corner of recto pages, and the top-left corner of verso pages. This foliation system numbers pages if they have content on them, which is the case for all rectos and some versos. This foliation system appears intermittently through most of the volume. The other foliation system uses circled blue pencil numbers in the top-right corner of recto pages, and appears from folios 5 to 42. Numerous printed materials contained in the volume have their own internal pagination systems. The following foliation irregularities occur: 1a, 34a, 51B, 219B, 250B.
Correspondence relating to the mining of red oxide on Abu Musa island. Correspondence topics include:The Second British Memorandum, December 1911 (printed copy).The migration of the Sudanese community from Sirri to Abu Musa.The activities of the German company Wonckhaus which was not permited to ship oxide from the pit-head but permitted to remove all oxide already mined.Letters discuss the view of the Political Resident Persian Gulf that no further concessions be given to Wonckhaus.Correspondents include the Political Resident Persian Gulf; the Foreign Office, London; India Office, London; H. Listermann, German Consulate, Bushire; Shaikh Sagar bin Khalid, Chief of Sharjah; Residency Agent, Sharjah; H.M. Vice-Consul and Assistant Resident, Lingah.1 volume (188 folios)The papers are arranged chronologically from the front to the rear of the file.Foliation: the foliation system in use is the sequence of numbers appearing in a circle in the top right hand corner of each page.
The volume contains notes by India Office officials, as well as their correspondence with Foreign Office officials and others, about the formation in Paris in 1912 of La Société Internationale d’Etudes du Chemin de fer Transpersan, which is also referred to as the Société d’Etudes for the Trans-Persian railway project. The Société d’Etudes was a consortium of Russian, French and British financiers for the construction of a railway line across Persia from the Caspian Sea in the north (the Russian sphere) to the Gulf in the south (the British sphere), with the support and approval of their respective governments. The main correspondents who are members or officials of government include: the British and Russian Ministers for Foreign Affairs and their senior officials, the British Ambassador at St Petersburg, the French Ambassador at London, the British Minister at Tehran and the Viceroy of India. The main correspondents who are members of the British Group of the Société d’Etudes include: Cecil Baring (Director of Baring Brothers and Company Limited, London), Lord Revelstoke (John Baring) and Viscount Errington (Rowland Thomas Baring). The correspondents discuss the financial arrangements and the constitution of the Société d’Etudes, the proposed route of the Trans-Persian railway line and in particular, an Anglo-Russian understanding that neither the Russian Group nor the British Group of the Société d’Etudes would seek a railway concession from the Persian Government that would extend territorially beyond their respective spheres of influence in Persia.1 volume (326 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 42 (Trans-Persian Railway) consists of one volume.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 328; 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 contains of correspondence and memoranda relating to the effects of the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12 in the British-Indian Empire. The papers consist of letters, telegrams, handwritten drafts and notes, and printed collections of correspondence relating to a particular matter. The correspondence is mostly between the India Office, the Foreign Office, and the Government of India. Further correspondence is from various British political and military offices in India and Arabia, representatives of the Ottoman and Italian governments, and representatives of numerous Muslim groups in the region.The four parts of the volume each relate to a different subject, as follows:1. Britain's position of neutrality during the war;2. Alleged Turkish activities in Central Asia;3. Protestations by Muslim groups over Italian aggression;4. An Italian naval blockade of Hodeidah.The volume comprises parts 1-4 of 4. Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, 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.1 volume (208 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.The subject 4327 (Turco-Italian War) consists of one volume divided into four parts.Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 210; 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.
Part four consists of correspondence relating to an Italian blockade of parts of the Red Sea coast of present-day Saudi Arabia. Several matters are covered by the correspondence:the classification of Turkish grain ships as contraband of war by the Italians;the Italian blockade of Hodeidah [Ḥudaydah] and reported intention of extending it to Jeddah and Yenbo [Yanbuʻ al-Baḥr];the Italian threat to bombard Hodeidah;the appeal for British protection from the British Indian population of the town;impediments to the embarkation of European goods;the British demand for assurances from the Italians that the blockade will not be extended and British Indian subjects will be safe.The correspondence is mostly between the Turkish Government, Turkish Embassy in London, Political Resident at Aden, British Embassies at Constantinople and Rome, and the British Consulate at Jeddah.1 item (70 folios)
The volume concerns proposals for the construction of a British-owned railway between Mohammerah [Khorramshahr] and Khoremabad [Khorramabad] in Persia.The papers include: the response of the Shaikh of Mohammerah, the Government of Persia, and the Government of Russia to the proposals; an India Office 'Memorandum on Persian Railways' dated June 1911 (including a map entitled 'Persian Gulf and Adjacent Countries', dated June 1908, on folio 184, to illustrate the memorandum); a Government of India 'Report of the Committee on the Proposed Trans-Persian Railway', February 1911 (folios 126-128); 'Report to the Board of Trade by Mr. H. W. Maclean, Special Commissioner of the Commercial Intelligence Committee to Persia, on certain matters connected with Persian Trade' (folios 101-104), and letter giving the views of the Board of Trade on the proposed railway, 25 March 1912 (folios 96-99); correspondence from the Persian Railways Syndicate, which stated it was surprised at the 'lukewarm attitude' towards the project of the Government of India (folio 80); discussion of proposals to negotiate a lease of Khor Musa [Khowr-e Mūsá] from the Shaikh of Mohammerah (folios 26-54); and interest in Khor Musa from the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (folios 38-39).There is also significant correspondence in the file from the Foreign Office and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Zachariah Cox).The volume contains copies of earlier correspondence and agreements from 1903-1911.The French language content of the volume consists of approximately ten folios of diplomatic correspondence.1 volume (194 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of volume.The subject 930 (Mohammerah-Khoremabad Railway) consists of one volume only.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 194; 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. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-51; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.