IOR/L/PS/10/844

This volume comprises: correspondence; deciphered telegrams; India Office Political Department Minute and Draft papers containing draft letters, draft telegrams and internal notes; covering letters of the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India (with enclosures); and India Office Political Department registry forms with subject and notes.

The papers relate to the visit of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shāh Qājār, Shāh of Iran] to Europe, chiefly the arrangements for his journey from Tehran [also spelled Teheran in this volume], departing in August 1919 and his return there, arriving in June 1920, and the defrayment of the costs thereof. The papers notably cover:

• The role of Sir Percy Cox, HM Minister in Tehran, in promoting and facilitating the trip, and of various British diplomats in arranging hosts, visits and accommodation
• Political considerations incumbent upon and generated by the visit, particularly with regard to Anglo-Persian relations and the Anglo-Persian Agreement of August 1919
• The progress of the Shah and his party on their journey: from Tehran, via Baku and the Caucasus, to Batoum [Batumi]; by sea, on HMS Ceres, to Constantinople [Istanbul] and Taranto; and through Italy by railway to Switzerland, where the Shah planned to take a ‘rest of cure’ [rest cure] (f 246) before travelling to Paris and Biarritz
• Details of the persons making up the royal party (see ff 230 and 239)
• The movements in Europe of Nusret-ed-Dowleh [Prince Fīrūz Mīrzā Nuṣrat-al-Dawlah III], the Persian [Iranian] Foreign Minister, including: his meeting in Geneva with the Swiss Ambassador, Sir Horace Rumbold; a visit to London in mid-September; and his stay in Paris
• The practical and financial arrangements for the accompaniment of the Shah by a British officer on his outward and return journeys
• Domestic tensions and the perceived increasing Bolshevik influence in Persia [Iran], which contributed to the Shah's decision in April 1920 to hasten his return home
• Progress of the Shah and his party on their return journey including their: departure from Marseille on 1 May on the P & O ship SS Narkunda; reception in Port Said on 7 May by Field-Marshall Lord Allenby, High Commissioner for Egypt and Sudan; departure from Aden on 12 May
• Progress of the Shah and his party up the Persian Gulf to Basra on the Royal Indian Marine Service steamer Lawrence, including the Shah’s: visit to Bushire [Bushehr], 17-18 May (ff 62-65); meeting with the Civil Commissioner, Bagdad [also spelled Baghdad in this volume], at Basra; visit to Mohammerah [Khorramshahr] and meeting with the Sheik [Shaikh] and representatives of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, 20 May (ff 85, 71-72, 49-50)
• The cost and security considerations of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, regarding the Shah’s journey through Mesopotamia [Iraq], by railway, from Basra to Baghdad and visit to the holy sites of Kerbela [Karbala] and Nejef [Najaf], 23-24 May
• Report by Cox on the public reception of the Shah on his return to Tehran on 3 June
• A dispute between the India Office and the Foreign Office over liability for expenses incurred by the Lawrence in May 1920 for conveyance of the Shah from Aden to Basra, including summaries of costs submitted by the Government of India Marine Department (ff 41-42, 34, 15-16).

The primary correspondents are: the Foreign Office; the India Office; the Admiralty; the Treasury; HM Minister at Tehran; and the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad. There is also correspondence (chiefly of the Foreign Office) with commissioners, ambassadors, and other senior British Government overseas officials who were involved in the arrangements for portions of the Shah’s journey to and from Europe, notably: the Ambassador to France; the Assistant High Commissioner at Constantinople; the High Commissioner for Egypt and Sudan; the Ambassador to Berne; the Ambassador to Italy; and the Consul-General at Marseilles.

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 end of the correspondence (front of the volume).