IOR/L/PS/12/3798

The file concerns attempts by Commander Robert Corbett Bayldon, Royal Navy, (retired) to obtain a concession to mine red oxide on the island of Abu Musa (also referred to as Bu Musa) from the Shaikh of Shargah [Sharjah]. The result was an agreement in 1934 granting Bayldon the personal right to mine red oxide on the island. The file contains correspondence from Bayldon, correspondence from British Government officials, principally at the Foreign Office, India Office, Department of Overseas Trade, and the British Legation, Tehran, extracts from intelligence reports, and copies of agreements. The issue was complicated by the fact that the Government of Iran maintained a territorial claim to the island, and the papers record Iranian diplomatic protests from 1935 onwards.

The file also contains correspondence dated 1936 concerning an enquiry by the Shaikh of Ras al Khaimah as to whether the Golden Valley Ochre & Oxide Company would be interested in exploiting red oxide on Tamb and Little Tamb islands (folios 78-80), and correspondence dated 1939 concerning a complaint from a British mining engineer that he had not been allowed by British officials to take his wife to Abu Musa (folios 15-35).

The file also contains copies of correspondence dated 1884-1908, recording the earlier history of red oxide mining on Abu Musa (folios 456-463). There are no papers in the file dated 1940-46.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.