IOR/L/PS/10/762

The volume consists of correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and notes relating to the question of responsibility for the administration of Mesopotamia [Iraq] and other former Ottoman territories under some form of British control following the First World War.

The papers concern a number of matters, including:

• A proposal for a new government department to oversee British administration in the Middle East
• The need to retain civil service staff employed in the region and inform them of their futures at the earliest possible date
• Administrative and military expenditure in Mesopotamia
• The question of troop numbers in Mesopotamia, Palestine, Egypt, and Persia [Iran].

The correspondence is between officials at the India Office, Foreign Office, and War Office, and the High Commissioner in Bagdad [Baghdad], Sir Percy Cox.

At the back of the volume (folios 26-37) is a copy, in French, of the organic and electoral laws of Egypt, as promulgated on 21 July 1918, with a memorandum by Viscount Kitchener [Herbert Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener], Consul-General at Cairo.

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.