IOR/L/PS/12/3431

Correspondence concerning the flying of flags and the positioning of flag staffs at British consular buildings in Persia [Iran], including at Britain’s naval base on the island of Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām], and the British Consulate at Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]. The file begins in 1931 with an objection from the Persian Government of the flying of a British flag (the Red Ensign) at buildings in Persian territory, operated by the Imperial and International Communications Company. Subsequent correspondence discusses:

• The question of whether the Imperial and International Communications Company is entitled, as a private concern, to fly the national flag.
• The significance to the Persian authorities of flag staffs as claims of territorial sovereignty.
• Instructions issued to British consular properties in Persia in 1932 to remove flag staffs from their grounds, and to instead fly their flags from the roof of consular buildings.
• National holidays on which foreign missions and consulates might fly their flags in Persia, with a list of dates on folio 78.
• Reciprocal measures, imposed by the Government of India, limiting the flying of flags by Persian officials in India.

The file’s principal correspondents are: the British Legation at Tehran (Major Percy Charles Russell Dodd, Reginald Hervey Hoare; Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull Hugesson); the Foreign Office (George William Rendel, Lacy Baggallay); the India Office (Charles William Baxter); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Vincent Biscoe; Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard William Craven Fowle).

The file contains a small number of items written in French.