IOR/R/15/2/84

The file concerns Persian claims to Bahrain (also spelled Bahrein).

The correspondence is mainly between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the Political Agent, Bahrain. Other correspondents include the British Consular Agent, Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh], and the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (Charles Dalrymple Belgrave). Enclosures to correspondence from the Political Resident include copies of correspondence from senior officials in the Foreign Office, the Government of India, the Colonial Office and the India Office, and other British officials in the region, including HBM's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia, Tehran (Sir Percy Lyham Loraine), the High Commissioner, Baghdad (Major-General Sir Percy Zachariah Cox), and the Consul at Shiraz (Herbert George Chick).

The main topics covered in the papers are:

• reports by the Political Agent and Political Resident;
• discussion of the issue by the British Government and Government of India;
• the nature of the claims made by the Persian Government and the question of the British response to those claims;
• the issuing by the Persian authorities of passports and passes (Ilm-o-Khabar) for Bahrain as though it were an inland port of Persia;
• use of British certificates of identity;
• anti-British agitation in Bahrain and support for a return to Persian rule;
• the need for the British Passport Office to make it clear to persons wishing to travel to Bahrain that they did not need a visa from the Persian Legation, London (folios 24-26);
• support for the Persian claim to Bahrain in the Persian press;
• proposal to give Bahrain the right to return a member to the Persian Madjliss [majlis] (folio 52);
• the question of British jurisdiction in Bahrain over foreigners;
• the history of Persian claims to sovereignty over Bahrain, including analysis of records held by the Government of India;
• attitude of the Bahrain ruling family;
• the treatment of Bahraini subjects in Persia, and the question of the protection of their interests by the British.

The Arabic and Persian language content of the file consists of approximately ten letters, newspaper cuttings and associated items.