IOR/L/PS/10/889

The volume comprises copies of ‘Civil Administration of Iraq, General Circulars’. These are weekly compilations of general circular letters and notifications produced by, or relative to, the Civil Administration of Iraq. The copies were sent by the Office of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, to the India Office and the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India, from 7 January (issue No. 1) to 1 November 1920 (issue No. 44). Issue Nos. 20, 22, and 23 are not present in the volume.

Generally, each publication is divided into three parts. The first part relates to personnel matters within the Administration, such as appointments, dismissals, leave, examinations, and honours and promotions. The second part concerns recent notifications, circulars, and General Routine Orders (GROs) which cover a wide range of subjects connected to the Administration of Iraq, including finance, health, politics, veterinary science, transport, local (often distinguished as Arab and Kurdish) levies and gendarmeries, utilities, rationing, and numerous other miscellaneous matters. The third part consists of annexures usually directly related to the first two parts and often including tabulated lists of maps.

Notable within the volume are the following documents:

• A copy of a letter from the India Office to the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, requesting a report on armed resistance to British occupation in Mesopotamia as mentioned in a recent General Circular (f 218)
• A genealogical table of the Shammar tribe of Central Arabia (f 161)
• A small booklet entitled ‘Note on Trees and Shrubs in Baghdad’ by the Director of Agriculture, Baghdad, dated 1920 (ff 96-102)
• A leaflet published by the British Museum (Natural History) entitled Directions for Preparing Small Mammal Skins, dated 1920 (f 85)
• Transcripts of debates on Mesopotamia held in the House of Commons and the House of Lords (ff 60-77)
• A leaflet entitled ‘Agricultural Leaflet No. 5: Flower Gardens in Mesopotamia’ (f 19).

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.