The file contains correspondence and notes regarding the employment of British nationals by the Government of Afghanistan. It predominantly documents the employment of civil aviation instructors from Hawker Aircraft Limited and Rolls Royce Limited to provide training to the Afghan Air Force. This includes the process of recruiting the instructors, negotiating their terms and conditions, drafting their contracts, renewing their contracts, replacement of staff, and issues arising during the course of their employment. A number of draft contracts can be found within – in some cases both English and Persian language versions of the contract are included.The instructors are employed in connection with the purchase of eight Hawker Hind aircraft in 1937, and correspondence relating to this purchase can also be found within the file. There is also some discussion surrounding the question of policy regarding the employment of British nationals in Afghanistan.The majority of the correspondence is between officials of the Foreign Office (Laurence Collier), the India Office (predominantly Horace Algernon Fraser Rumbold and George Edmond Crombie), HM Minister at Kabul (William Kerr Fraser-Tytler), and the British companies concerned. However, contributions from officials of the Air Ministry, the Afghan Legation in London, and officials of the Government of India have also been filed within.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.1 file (596 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 596; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The file has one foliation anomaly, f 464A.
The file contains correspondence, contracts (with both English and Persian translation), and notes related to the employment of British nationals from Hawker Aircraft Limited and Rolls Royce Limited with the Afghan Air Force. The file primarily documents the process of recruiting Harry Pearson to replace Derick Wilfred Russell Robinson in 1943. Harry Pearson returned to the United Kingdom (UK) in December 1945, though his expense claims for his return trip are not wrapped up until December 1947 when the file was closed. Letters from Mrs Pearson regarding difficulties in obtaining passage for herself and her child to join her husband in Kabul have also been filed.A small minority of the correspondence documents the employment of Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel with the Afghan Air Force, initially as temporary replacements for, and later in preference to, British civilians.Also included in the file is correspondence related to a case of insubordination by Harold Bradley (b 1901) of Hawkers against Squadron Leader B P King of the RAF on 8 March 1945, which led to the dismissal of Mr Bradley from employment with the Afghan Government. Statements from each individual conveying their version of events can be found on folios 82-83.The main correspondents in the file are as follows: HM Minister in Kabul (Giles Frederick Squire), officials of the India Office, and representatives of the aforementioned British firms. Occasional reference is made to the Government of India.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.1 file (342 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 343; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
The file contains correspondence related to the secondment of Royal Air Force personnel as instructors to the Afghan Air Force. It covers matters such as terms and conditions of employment, travel expenses (including accompanying family members), the recruitment of replacement personnel, and requests from the Afghan Government for the loan of additional personnel. The file also includes copies of the contracts for a number of pilot-instructors employed by the Afghan Air Force: B Wigginton (folios 226-231), B P King (folios 122-126, 136-141, and 152-158), and G F Reid (folios 11-13). The file includes both English and Persian versions of all the aforementioned contracts with the exception of G F Reid, which is only available in English. Folios 92 and 104 outline the qualities that are considered desirable in pilot-instructors sent to Kabul.The main correspondents are as follows: HM Minister at Kabul (William Kerr Fraser-Tytler, Francis Verner Wylie, and Giles Frederick Squire), officials of the Air Ministry, officials of the Foreign Office, officials of the India Office (from August 1947, the Commonwealth Relations Office), and representatives of the External Affairs Department of the Government of India.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.1 file (346 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 347; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Correspondence, reports and other papers concerning the ill-treatment of British subjects in Persia [Iran] by the Persian authorities. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/60(1) ‘Persia. Treatment of Foreigners; Position of British subjects, and British Consular Representatives, etc.’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3466). The file covers: the treatment and deportation of British subjects (Berberis, or Hazara Khawari) from the Khorasan province of Persia into neighbouring British India (Pakistan); an incident occurring in 1938 in which a bus carrying British consular officials was commandeered by an officer of the Persian military; claims of discrimination against British subjects in Meshed [Mashhad]; a boycott imposed upon the British Consulate at Meshed by the Persian Government; correspondence describing the general attitude of the Persian authorities towards British persons in Persia; a ‘Report on the Attitude towards the British in Persia in March 1938’, written by Lieutenant Ian Hallam Lyall-Grant of the Royal Engineers (ff 134-142).The file’s principal correspondents are: Nevile Montagu Butler of the British Legation in Tehran; HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Horace James Seymour; HM’s Consul at Meshed, Giles Frederick Squire; Charles William Baxter and Herbert Lacy Baggallay of the Foreign Office; the Government of India.The file contains a single item in Persian, a typewritten letter (accompanied by English translation) from the British Embassy in Tehran to the Iranian Minister for Foreign Affairs, dated 23 April 1947 (f 5).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.1 file (302 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 304; 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 file consists mainly of notes by George Nathaniel Curzon on matters relating to Persia. Most of the notes are written on various kinds of headed paper, with the most abundant being those of the India Office, the Foreign Office, the House of Commons and the Carlton Club, Whitehall. Some of the notes are marked secret or confidential, while others make reference to received correspondence.In addition to these notes, the file includes a small amount of received correspondence, including letters from Henry George Gerald Cadogan and E C Ringler Thomson, British Consul General at Meshed.Also included in the file are the following: a photograph of Sultan Massoud Mirza Qajar Zelle Soltan [Mass'oud Mirza Zell-e Soltan], a Persian prince of the Qajar Dynasty and Governor of Esfahan [Isfahan]; brief historical notes in Persian on the relation between Uzbek leader Muhammad Shaybani Khan and Shah Ismail I of Persia; a map of the north-eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.Much of the material is undated, but those items that are dated suggest an approximate date range of 1892-1898.1 file (84 folios)The papers proceed in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 95, and terminates at f 179, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, 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 95-176; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
The volume contains enclosures to despatches, and abstracts of contents of despatches, from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the East India Company Secret Committee.The volume is divided into eight items:Removal of the Embargo Placed on the Vessels of the Shaikh of Kishm [Shaikh of Qishm] Visiting India (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 2-46)The Assistant to the Resident in the Persian Gulf Volunteering to Serve with the British and Turkish Troops in Syria during his Unexpired Sick Leave, and the Transmission of Mail to London via Bagdad and Constantinople [Istanbul] (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 47-57)The Pay and Allowances of Mr Powell during the Period he Acted as Clerk and Purser to the Euphrates Expedition (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 58-64)Abstract of Contents of a Despatch Relating to the Steam Flotilla on River Indus (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 65-72)Aden, Mocha, and Tajoura Affairs (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 73-161)Persian Gulf Affairs (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 162-381)Affairs in India and Elsewhere (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 382-731)Mission to the King of Shoa [Shewa] (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 732-735).There is a note on folio 59 stating that enclosures to Bombay Secret Letter No. 3, dated 29 January 1841, are not included in the collection [volume].1 volume (737 folios)The enclosures to each despatch within the volume are divided by blue dividers (however there is no blue divider between IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 58-64 and IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 65-72). The sets of enclosures to despatches are arranged in chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume. The enclosures within each despatch are preceded by an abstract of contents, in which the despatch itself (not included) is numbered 1, the abstract of contents 2, and the enclosures 3, 4, etc. The numbers listed in the abstract of contents are recorded for reference on the last verso of each enclosure, along with the original reference, and a description of each enclosure.Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 739; 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 exchanged between the German Consulate at Buschär [Bushire] (Helmuth Listemann) and others: the Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh] representative of the German firm Robert Wönckhaus and Company (Herr H Rosenfeld; Herr Krumpeter); the British Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Zachariah Cox); German Government officials at the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office) in Berlin, the German Chargé d’Affaires in Tehran (Hartmann Oswald Heinrich Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen).The correspondence refers to a dispute over a concession for the mining and shipment of red oxide at Abū Mūsá, originally awarded to Arab merchants by Shaikh Sālim bin Sulṭān Āl Qāsimī of Sharjah in 1898, and part of which was subsequently acquired by Wönckhaus and Company in 1906. The dispute was sparked by the Ruler of Sharjah, Shaikh Ṣaqr bin Khālid Āl Qāsimī’s cancellation of the concession in 1907, and subsequent claims by Wönckhaus and Company and the German Government, over financial losses arising from the cancellation of the concession.Amongst the papers are copies of correspondence, agreements and other papers dating between 1892 and 1907, relating to the original contract to mine red oxide at Abū Mūsá. Many of these agreements are in Arabic, with most accompanied by English translations.The majority of the file’s correspondence is in German. Official letters exchanged between the German Consul at Bushire and the British Political Resident are in French.1 file (263 folios)The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end.The subject 4949 (Abu Musa oxide) consists of six volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/318-323. The volumes are divided into six parts, with each part comprising one volume. Part 6 (IOR/L/PS/10/323) is missing.Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 263; these numbers are printed, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
The volume consists mainly of six bound compilations of treaties and undertakings, together with related correspondence and other supplementary material, made between the British Government and the British Protectorates of the Persian Gulf, 1820-1919. These treaty compilations were published by the Government of India in 1919 and comprise: the Trucial Treaties to January 1906, Treaties with Rulers of Kuwait from 1841 to 1913, Treaties with the Sultan of Oman and Muscat from 1845 to 1914, Undertakings with the Trucial Chiefs of Oman from 1911 to 1912, Treaties with the Shaikh of Mohammerah from 1899 to 1919 and Treaties with the Rulers of Bahrain from 1820 to 1914. In addition, there is a separate Foreign Office ‘Memorandum on British Commitments (During the War) to the Gulf Chiefs’ made in 1916, which contains at Appendix A, the English text of the treaty made with the Ruler of Qatar in 1916. The treaty compilations are published in English and Arabic, except for the treaties with the Shaikh of Mohammerah, which are published in English and Persian.1 volume (222 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 2902 (Treaties and Engagements between the British Government and the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast of the Persian Gulf) consists of one volume.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 216; these numbers are written in pencil, 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. A previous foliation sequence has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
The file contains case correspondence, including several witness statements and a few Kuwait Political Agency court proceedings, relating to the investigation and prosecution of several criminal offences. These are mainly cases of assault and theft committed in Kuwait against Indian and Persian foreign residents and reported by the victims to the Political Agent. Both the perpetrators and victims of these crimes include Government of India staff employed at the Kuwait Political Agency and the Kuwait Post Office. The main correspondents are Major James Carmichale More, Political Agent, Kuwait and Shaikh Salim ab-Subah [Āl Ṣabāḥ, Shaikh Sālim bin Mubārak], Emir of Kuwait, whose letter exchanges are in Arabic, together with English translations. Some of the petitions and letters of complaint submitted by the victims to the Political Agent, are written in Arabic and in a very few cases, in Persian.1 file (209 folios)Files papers are arranged more or less chronologically.Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 211; 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 1-210; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
The file contains case correspondence, including several witness statements and a record of hearing proceedings held at the British Political Agency in Kuwait. These case papers relate to the investigation and resolution of 27 individual claims that were submitted to the Political Agent, Kuwait by resident British Indian subjects, merchants in India and others. The majority of claims concern either the non-payment of debts, goods or services, or land and property rights. The correspondence is mainly between the Political Agent at Kuwait and the individual claimants and defendants in each case. There are several letters, statements and notes in Arabic, two statements of account in Persian relating to goods purchased on credit, one letter of claim in French and one short note in Tamil.1 file (299 folios)At the front of the file is a table of contents entitled ‘Index’. It lists each civil case according to the name of the claimant and the nature of their claim, together with the folio reference (described as the ‘page’ reference) on which the case papers begin. The folio reference given in the table of contents belongs to a superseded foliation sequence, which is written in pencil, but not circled. Each set of case papers appear in the file in chronological order, based on the commencement date of the claim. Within each individual case record, the claim papers are also arranged in approximate chronological order.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 301; 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 irregular foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 8-300; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are at times crossed out. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Letter containing a bundle of letters in Persian for Lewis Pelly's information. The letters are primarily between Persian and Afghani officials and include a forwarding letter from William Lockyer Merewether who initially received them. Many of the letters in Persian are written in an illegible hand.Letter from William Lockyer Merewether, Jacobabad to Lewis Pelly, 26 December 1860 informing him that a packet had been received from Kandahar for Pelly with an accompanying note in Persian (folio 1).Note in Persian, possibly written by Nawab Murat Khan enclosing a bundle of fourteen letters and notes written by officials of the Governor of Persia, including Farukh Khan, and individuals in Afghanistan including Sultan Ahmed Khan, Governor of Herat.Note in Persian, possibly addressed to Lewis PellyPetition in Persian, possibly the Petition of Maulay MūsāPetition in Persian, containing the seals of Ghulām Rasūl and Ghulām Rizā 'Abduh who may be the petitionees. There is a partial date of 10 Rabi' II, but no year is given.1 file (12 folios)This file has no discernable arrangement.Foliation: The file has been foliated using a pencil number, enclosed in a circle, located in the top right hand corner of the recto of each folio.