This is an interim version of our Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue while we continue to recover from a cyber-attack.
This catalogue is currently browse-only. The collection item request form is not available at the moment but will be reopened from Monday 15 December. Find out more about our current collection access suspension.
Coll 17/30(1) ‘Iraq. Proposed additional outlet to the sea, in or near Koweit territory. Development of port at Um Qasr.’
Scope & Content:
The file contains papers relating to the proposed construction of a port in Kuwait (Koweit) Bay, and the construction of a port in Um Qasr Creek. The papers mostly concern the following: The attitude of HM Government towards the proposal of the Government of Iraq for the extension of the Iraqi ...
Coll 29/2(2) 'Transfer of Bushire Residency to Bahrain: selection of site and construction of buildings'
Scope & Content:
The file concerns the transfer of the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf from Bushire to Bahrain. The file is composed solely of internal correspondence between British officials including Central Public Works Department (A Croad), India Office officials (John Charles Walton, R Peel, E P D...
‘Précis of correspondence relating to Zanzibar affairs from 1856 to 1872. Prepared by Captain P D Henderson, attached to the Foreign Department’
Scope & Content:
The file is a précis of correspondence related to affairs at Zanzibar between the years 1856 and 1872, prepared by Captain Philip Durham Henderson of the Foreign Department in the Government of India. The contents of the précis, which includes reports from Christopher Palmer Rigby, the British C...
Coll 6/93(2) 'SYRIA: Situation in – after capitulation of France, 1940. Incl. Proclamation of Independence.'
Scope & Content:
Following on from an earlier file (IOR/L/PS/12/2166), this file concerns British policy relating to Syria, following the success of the British-Free French military campaign in Syria [Operation Exporter]. (The abbreviation 'Incl.' in the title stands for 'Including'). The date range of this fil...
Coll 6/67(4) 'Boundaries of South Eastern Arabia and Qatar.'
Scope & Content:
This file primarily concerns British policy regarding the eastern and south-eastern boundaries of Saudi Arabia, specifically those bordering Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat (i.e. the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman). Much of the correspondence relates to British concerns that the boundaries should be...
This volume compiles printed copies of letters, telegrams, memoranda and newspaper extracts relating to Britain's involvement across the Arabian Peninsula during the period 1929-1938. Whilst the correspondence encompasses all matters concerning British interests in the region, much of it relates...
Coll 6/15 'Syria: Administration. Question of offer of throne to King Feisal of Iraq.'
Scope & Content:
This file relates to the administration of Syria and the possibility of the French Government installing a King of Syria. The file mostly contains copies of Colonial Office and Foreign Office correspondence, much of which consists of copies of the minutes, memoranda and correspondence of the Co...
Coll 6/16 'Future of: Royal Family. Probable happenings on the death of Ibn Saud.'
Scope & Content:
This file relates to Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and the future of Arabia in the event of his death. The file largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence, which have been forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Und...
The Seven Independent Arabian States [Yemen, ‘Asir, Hijaz, Najd, Kuwait, Jabal Shammar and al-Jawf]
Scope & Content:
This confidential memorandum, printed by the Foreign Office in May 1935 is a report by William John Childs concerning the seven independent Arabian states or autonomous areas. The report contains an introduction that states that the 'purpose of the paper is to give a brief outline each of the se...
Coll 5/33(2) ‘AIR ROUTE TO INDIA: MUSCAT CIVIL AIR AGREEMENT (NEGOTIATIONS FOR NEW AGREEMENT)’
Scope & Content:
The file contains correspondence and notes related to negotiations between the British Government and the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, Sa‘īd ibn Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd, for a new Civil Air Agreement; Britain's aviation rights in Oman during the Second World War (1939-1945) had depended on a War Subsid...