IOR/L/PS/10/567

Correspondence and papers concerning the export of wool from Baghdad in Mesopotamia [Iraq] during Britain’s military occupation of the country in the First World War. Subjects covered include: enquiries from commercial firms seeking to export wool from Mesopotamia; shipping arrangements for the export of wool from Baghdad to various destinations, including Britain and Marseilles in France; arrangements for the shipment of consignments of wool to the United States of America, and the War Office’s opposition to such plans, insisting that all available wool should be reserved for Britain’s military requirements. The file’s principal correspondents are: the India Office; the Foreign Office; the Director of Raw Materials, War Office; the Indian Munitions Board, Government of India; Selim Homsy & Company; Gulbenkian Brothers.

The file includes a single item in French: a copy of a memorandum received by the Foreign Office from the French Ambassador to London (f 230).

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