IOR/L/PS/10/153

The volume contains correspondence and papers concerning the granting of a concession to British companies to mine red oxide on the Island of Sirri (also referred to as Siri and Sirra) in the Persian Gulf.

The main correspondents are HM Minister, Tehran (Sir George Head Barclay); the British Chargé d’Affaires, Tehran (Charles Murray Marling); senior officials of the Foreign Office, the Government of India, the India Office, and the Board of Trade; and representatives of the companies involved: Hadji Ali Akbar and Sons Limited (Manchester), Frank C. Strick and Company Limited (London), and Ellinger and Company (Manchester).

The papers cover: the initial application to mine red oxide on Sirri from Hadji Ali Akbar and Sons Limited, Manchester, April -June 1908 (folios 194-220); papers concerning the question of whether the company could provide a guarantee that it would act in British interests, April-August 1908 (folios 168-193); papers concerning the standing of the company, including correspondence from the Board of Trade, August-September 1908 (folios 153-167); the question of sovereignty over the island, and whether the British Government, by upholding the rights of the company, would be admitting Persian sovereignty against the claims of the Shaikh of Sharga [Sharjah], June-September 1908 (e.g. folios 193, 145-152); the right to mine red oxide disputed by Frank C. Strick and Company Limited, London, and Ellinger and Company, Manchester, who claimed that the concession granted to the Muin-ut-Tujjar [Haji Agha Muhammad, Mu‘in ul-Tujjār] on the island of Hormuz entitled them to mine on Sirri also, October-December 1908 (folios 108-144); investigations by the British Government showing that the Muin-ut-Tujjar had not established his claim to be the holder of a concession on Sirri, December 1908 - January 1909 (folios 73-107); further correspondence, August 1908 - February 1909 (folios 34-72); reports that deposits of red oxide on Sirri were actually very scanty, February 1909 (folios 28-33); and papers concerning further investigations into the presence of red oxide on Sirri and adjacent islands, February-May 1909 (folios 4-27).

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

The date range gives the covering dates of all the documents in the volume; the covering dates of the Secret Department minute papers, which enclose those documents, as given on folio 3, are 1908-09.