IOR/L/PS/10/583

The file contains papers relating to a claim for compensation from the Persian [Iranian] Government being made by the British Government, on behalf of mostly British subjects who were arrested by the Persian gendarmerie at Shiraz on 10 November 1915, with most of the men being held prisoner by Tangistani Khans at Ahram.

The papers consist of correspondence and India Office minute papers and reference papers.

The compensation claim was for the following individuals: Major William Frederick Travers O’Connor, HM Consul at Shiraz; Mr Mcleod Menzies Ferguson, Manager, Mr Ayrton, Accountant, and Mr Lloyd Misso, Head Clerk, of the Imperial Bank of Persia at Shiraz; Mr J C Smith, Superintendent, Mr Pettigrew (who died whilst being held prisoner, the claim being made on behalf of his widow), Inspector, and Mr Christmas, of the Shiraz section of the Indo-European Telegraph Department; Dr Edgard Azzopardy, formerly Doctor to the Shiraz section of the Indo-European Telegraph Department; Mr L Livingstone and Mr Carapiet John Zeytoon, (also spelled Zeitun and Zeytun in the volume), of the British firm Livingstone, Zeytoon and Company; the Indian Officer and nine men of the Shiraz Consular Escort; Mr Ferguson’s wife and her two daughters; and the wives of Mr Smith and Mr Christmas.

The volume includes correspondence regarding: the amount of compensation which should be paid to the individuals concerned; and the immediate advance of compensation payments to the victims by the India Office, with a moiety to be recovered from the Foreign Office, subject to the ultimate recovery of compensation from the Persian Government.

It also includes correspondence concerning: the claim of O’Connor (and the other prisoners) for compensation from the Persian Government for loss of property at Shiraz; and the decision that the India Office should pay an advance of not more than £1000 of the loss of property compensation to O’Connor, with a moiety to be contributed by the Foreign Office.

The main correspondents include: the India Office; the Foreign Office; O’Connor, Azzopardy and other individuals seeking compensation; HM Minister Tehran (Sir Charles Murray Marling, Herman Norman, Sir Percy Loraine); and the Government of India Foreign and Political Department.

The volume 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.