The volume contains the following two documents:
Convention between the United Kingdom and Turkey respecting the Persian Gulf and adjacent territories, (With Maps), Signed at London, July 29 1913and
Convention between the United Kingdom and Turkey respecting the Boundaries of Aden and of Ottoman Territory in Southern Arabia, (With Maps), Signed at London, March 9 1914, (Ratifications exchanged at London, June 3 1914).The articles of the conventions appear in both French and English in parallel columns.The Arabic content of the volume consists of bilingual English and Arabic place names and in the keys to references, and symbols and abbreviations in the maps on folios 37-40.1 volume (45 folios)There are tables of contents toward the front of both documents, on folio 2 and folio 25.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1A on the front cover and terminates at 47 on the back cover. These numbers are written in pencil, are enclosed in a circle, and appear in the top right hand corner of the recto page of each folio. The following foliation anomalies occur: ff. 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D. The following pagination ranges occur: ff. 5-6; ff. 35-36. The following folio number is not used: 44. The following folios need to be folded out to be read: ff. 7, 8, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41.
This file is a continuation from the previous file concerning the events of the 1913 uprising of the Ibāḍī imamate and the tribes of the interior of Oman under the leadership Sālim bin Rāshid al-Kharūṣī against the authority of the Sultans of Muscat and Oman, al-Sayyid Fayṣal bin Turkī Āl Bū Sa‘īd and Taymūr bin Fayṣal Āl Bū Sa‘īd, and the subsequent intervention and deployment of British Indian troops of the 2nd Rajput Regiment stationed at Bushire. The correspondence is between Major Percy Zachariah Cox, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire, and Major Stuart George Knox, Political Agent at Muscat, and later between Knox as officer on special duty as Resident in the Perisan Gulf, and Liutenant-Colonel Robert Aruthur Edward Benn, Political Agent at Muscat.Subjects included are: the illness of the Sultan (f 2); Muscat Arms Warehouse (ff 12-13, 18-22); the death of Sultan (f 11); succession following the death of the Sultan by his son (ff 16-17, 24, 43-44); funeral of the late Sultan (f 30) blockade of Muscat and the Batinah coast [al-Bāṭinah] (f 23); relations with the French Consul (f 45); Special Diary of the events connected with the Imam’s rising for the period 29 March to 5 April (ff 70-74); movements of the Sultan and the Imam; assistance from Shaikh Hamdan bin Zaid [Ḥamdān bin Zāyid Āl Nahyān] and other Trucial Coast chiefs (ff 120-121).There are also various extracts from Muscat News.1 file (122 folios)This file is arranged approximately in chronological order.Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the cover and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and can be found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A second foliation sequence is also present in the volume between ff. 2-122; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.
This part contains correspondence that relates to a concession that was granted to the shipping magnate, Lord Inchcape (James Lyle Mackay), by the Ottoman Empire for the formation of a company to facilitate the transportation of goods on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for the construction of the Baghdad Railway.Much of the correspondence relates to negotiations between Lord Inchcape and John Finnis Lynch of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company to ensure that their respective interests did not conflict with one another.On folios 15-38, a copy of the Articles of Association and Certificate of Incorporation of Mackay, Lynch and Company Limited (from 31 March 1914) is enclosed.The principal correspondents are Lord Inchcape; the Ottoman representative in negotiations regarding the concession, Ibrahim Hakki Pasha; the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey and the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Sir Louis du Pan Mallet. A limited amount of this correspondence is in French.1 file (95 folios)
This volume comprises two parts that contain correspondence that relates to the same topic, namely a concession that was granted to the shipping magnate, Lord Inchcape (James Lyle Mackay), by the Ottoman Empire for the formation of a company to facilitate the transportation of goods on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for the construction of the Baghdad Railway.The primary correspondents in the volume are Lord Inchcape; the Ottoman representative in negotiations, Ibrahim Hakki Pasha; the law firm Slaughter and May; the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey; British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Sir Louis du Pan Mallet. A limited amount of this correspondence is in French.The volume comprises part 1 (folios 100-237) and 2 (folios 3-98). Each part includes a divider 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.1 volume (237 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 4030 (Baghdad Railway) consists of two volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/414-415. This volume is divided into 2 parts, with parts 1 and 2 comprising one volume.Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover 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. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Correspondence and memoranda regarding the Société Internationale d'Études du Chemin de Fer Transpersan's proposed bid for an option to construct a railway in Persia.The volume contains communications received from the French and Russian Ambassadors to the UK, the British Ambassador to Russia, and the French, Russian and English representatives of the Société d'Études. It also contains internal communications between the Viceroy of India, the Foreign Office, the War Office, the India Office, and HM Legation in Teheran [Tehran].Topics discussed:whether to present the option request through the Société d'Études, or through the representatives to Teheran;whether France should play a formal role in negotiations;the establishment of an Anglo-Russian Commission to study the proposed alignment of track;granting concessions to third parties for port and terminal facilities in the south of Persia;potential alignment (routes) of the track: Ispahan -- Shiraz -- Bundar Abbas; Kerman -- Chahbar; Yezd -- Bundar Abbas [Eşfahān -- Shīrāz -- Bandar-e 'Abbās; Kermān -- Chābahār; Yazd -- Bandar-e 'Abbās];Anglo-Russian relations;the potential impact on the military defence of India, should Russia have rail access to any point to the east of Bundar Abbas;the application for a mining concession by the Persian Mining Syndicate.The file also contains a copy of the
Convention signed on August 31, 1907, between Great Britain and Russia, containing Arrangements on the subject of Persia, Afghanistan, and Thibet(ff 190-95).1 item (173 folios)Papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. Folio 79 is a collection header sheet, giving the subject heading and a list of correspondence references found within the volume part.
The volume comprises copies of correspondence, minutes, telegrams, and other papers relating to the financial advances made by His Majesty’s Government and the Government of India to the Persian Government. The only loan discussed was of the amount of £50,000 to be payable to the Persian Government through the Imperial Bank of Persia.The correspondence was mainly about whether it is in the British Government’s interest to support the Fars gendarmerie or not. This was in response to a number of incidents that took place in the Kazerun region, and the direct involvement of the Fars gendarmerie led by Swedish officers in the affairs. Criticism was raised against the Swedish officers for misleading the gendarmerie, and a suggestion of their withdrawal from service was made. The Swedish Government then contemplated withdrawal of its officers from service in Persia.The correspondence deals with arrangements for the payment of the loan, conditions attached to it, the agreement of terms between the British, the Persian and the Swedish Governments, and the date of commencement of repayments.In July 1914, a loan of £50,000, was made by the British Government to the Governor-General of Fars (half of which was to be payable by the Government of India), in order to assist Persia in order to avoid a breakdown of the gendarmerie organization. It was made clear that the British Government fully realized that to allow the gendarmerie scheme in Fars to collapse would be detrimental to British interests.The volume’s principal correspondents are: Sir Walter Beaupre Townley, British Minister at Tehran; Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; Major William Frederick Travers O’Connor, Acting Consul at Shiraz; and Sir Esme William Howard, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Sweden.The volume’s core correspondence covers the period February 1914 to October 1914. The earlier start date given for the volume is a result of correspondence included in a confidential enclosure on Persian Government loans (ff 94-97); itself dated April- May 1913, which is an historical précis of loans given to Persia by the British Government and Government of India in the year 1913.1 volume (238 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.The subject 747 (Loans to Persia) consists of 3 volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/353-355. The volumes are divided into three parts, with each part comprising one volume.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover 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.
The volume contains India Office correspondence with the Foreign Office, mainly about the latter’s proposal to seek ratification of the Aden boundary settlement of 1905, as part of British counter-concessions to be tabled at the Anglo-Turkish Commercial Convention negotiations in London, 1913-1914. Included in this correspondence are observations made by the Viceroy of India, representing the views of the Government of India on the Aden frontier question; and discussions with the War Office, London, and the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, about the reproduction of the Aden boundary protocols and maps in connection with the ratification process. The volume includes two, mainly French versions of the Aden Boundary Protocols of 1903, 1904 and 1905, jointly signed by Colonel R A Wahab and Colonel Moustapha Remzi Bey, the respective British and Ottoman boundary commissioners, together with two War Office maps dated 1906 and 1914, showing the Aden Protectorate boundary line and on the earlier map, tribal names and boundaries. There are also printed copies in French of a draft version (signed and dated 13 February 1914) and final version (signed and dated 9 March 1914) of the Anglo-Ottoman convention on the Aden frontier, in which both governments agreed to exchange instruments of ratification in London within three months.The volume also contains less extensive correspondence about the commercial proposal (in French) dated 31 July 1913, drafted by Ibrahim Hakki Pasha, the chief Ottoman negotiator in London. This correspondence includes detailed observations made by the British Chargé d’Affaires at Constantinople [Istanbul] and the Board of Trade in London, about the further trade concessions in Persian Gulf countries sought by the Imperial Ottoman Government.1 volume (130 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 3463 (Aden Frontier – proposed ratification of the 1905 boundary settlement) consists of one volume.Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 132; 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.
This part contains drafts and counter-drafts of the Anglo-German Convention regarding the Bagdad Railway [Baghdad] and cognate matters, and of the proposed Agreement between the Bagdad Railway Company and the Ottoman Government. These are written in English, German and French, and found at folios 149, 160, 167, 178-179, 201-203, 217-223, 225-230, 235-240, 247, 257-269, and 281-284.The file also contains correspondence between the Foreign Office, the India Office Political Department, the German Ambassador to London (Karl Max Fürst von Lichnowsky), the Councillor of the German Embassy (Richard von Kühlmann), and the Ottoman Finance Minister (Mehmed Cavid Bey). The correspondence concerns negotiations over the following points:the construction and naming of the line;options for British capital investment in the Bagdad Railway Company;options for British representation on the Railway Board;oversight of the project, the safeguarding of commercial interests, and arrangements for arbitration proceedings;shares in the River Navigation Company;navigation of the Shatt el Arab [Shatt al Arab];the formation of a Shatt el Arab Conservancy Commission;the potential impact on the Anatolian Railway, and the prospects of the Smyrna-Aidin Railway Company;and German wishes that no railway should be in direct competition with the Bagdad line from the western terminus at Konia [Konya] to the eastern terminus at Basra.1 item (142 folios)
The volume contains drafts and counter-drafts of the Anglo-German Convention on the Bagdad Railway, plus agreements involving the Bagdad Railway Company, the Ottoman Railway Company, the Anatolian Railway Company, and the Ottoman Government. There is also correspondence regarding the negotiations, conducted between the following: the India Office Political Department; the Foreign Office; the British Ambassador to Berlin (Sir William Edward Goschen); the Imperial German Ambassador to London (Karl Max Fürst von Lichnowsky); the Councillor at the German Embassy (Richard von Kühlmann); and the Ottoman Finance Minister (Mehmed Cavid Bey).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. These are placed at the end of the correspondence.1 volume (285 folios)The papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.The subject 4044 (Baghdad Railway Negotiations) consists of 1 volume, IOR/L/PS/10/415. The volume is divided into 2 parts.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 287; 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.