IOR/L/PS/12/3552

The file concerns the business case to transfer the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf from Bushire to Bahrain.

The file is composed of internal correspondence between British officials including the Foreign Office (C W Baxter), the British Legation at Tehran (Robert Henry Clive, Reginald Hervey Hoare), India Office officials (John Gilbert Laithwaite, John Charles Walton), the Political Residents in the Persian Gulf (Hugh Vincent Biscoe, Trenchard Craven William Fowle), the Political Agent at Bahrain (Charles Geoffrey Prior), the Foreign Department and the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, the British Consul at Basrah, HM Treasury, the Ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa al Khalifah (Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah).

The correspondence relates specifically to the following:

• liaising with the Shaikh of Bahrain
• liaising with the Persian Foreign Minister
• rumours that the Residency was to be moved to Darin Island [Tārūt Island, Saudi Arabia]
• preliminary arrangements
• views of the Government of India and the Foreign Office, that the transfer should happen immediately
• Biscoe's estimate of cost of transfer, discussion with the Treasury
• estimated annual savings for telecommunications.

There is correspondence in French, with the Persian Foreign Minister and a newspaper cutting from Near East.