Mss Eur F111/356

The file contains miscellaneous papers, mostly printed publications, newspaper cuttings and photographs, relating to Persia and the Persian Gulf.

It includes a few items of correspondence, including letters to George Nathaniel Curzon relating to the Trans-Persian Railway, and Russian influence in Persia, and handwritten notes by Curzon on topics including arms traffic in the Persian Gulf, and the Trans-Persian Railway.

The file also includes copies of printed publications relating to Persia, including: three pamphlets on Lake Urmi [Urmia] in North West Persia, by Robert Theodore Günther (two of which include duplicate copies of a map of the Lake Urmi Basin, Mss Eur F111/356, f 132); a paper entitled ‘Paper to be read before the Indian Section of the Society of Arts, Thursday, May 8th. 1902. The Past and Present Connection of England with the Persian Gulf. By Thomas Jewell Bennett.’; and an article from the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Volume 5, Number 8, August 1909) entitled ‘Some Persian Folk-lore Stories concerning the Ruins of Persepolis.’ by Captain Charles Monk Gibbon, Royal Irish Fusiliers.

It includes in addition: two issues of a French pamphlet entitled Bulletin de l’Union des Associations des Anciens Élèves des Écoles Supérieures de Commerce (Reconnues par l’État) [Bulletin of the Union of Associations of Former Students of the Higher Schools of Commerce (Recognized by the State)], dated 20 January and 5 February 1904, which include articles by M E Peschier on the Baghdad Railway; and a German bookseller’s catalogue entitled Indica et Iranica Teilweise aus der Bibliothek von Viggo Fausböll Professor der indischen Sprachen an der Universität Kopenhagen I. Literaturen und Sprachen Indiens und Persiens [Indica et Iranica Partially from the Library of Viggo Fausboll Professor of Indian Languages at the University of Copenhagen. Literature and Languages of India and Persia].

Folios to 250 to 370 of the file mostly consist of cuttings relating to Persia and the Persian Gulf from various newspapers and other publications, including: The Times, The Morning Post, The Spectator, The Civil & Military Gazette, The Times of India, and The Standard. The cuttings concern topics including: British interests in Persia; the Russian influence in Persia, including the Persian Government signing a concession to a Russian company for the construction of a cart-road between Kazvin, Resht and Enzeli, and Anglo-Russian rivalry in trade with Persia; the cholera epidemic in Persia; and the events of the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11.

Folios 386 to 433 of the file consist of black and white photographs, including:

• Three photographs in an envelope entitled ‘Photos of Koweit [Kuwait]’, of Mabarak-bin-Subah [Shaikh Mubārak bin Ṣabāḥ Āl Ṣabāḥ], Shaikh of Kuwait, and his youngest son Naser (f 387), the foreshore of Koweit (f 388), and the residence of the Shaikh of Koweit (f 389)
• Two photographs in an envelope labelled ‘Photos by Parkin (assistant at Brit[ish] Resid[ency] Bushire / of Koweit Muscat. Bushire. Sent to me by Col[onel] Meade. April 1899.’ of Seyed Faisal bin Turki [Sayyid Fayṣal bin Turkī Āl Bū Sa‘īd], Sultan of Muscat (f 392), and Seyed Mohamed bin Turki, half-brother of the Sultan of Muscat (f 391)
• A set of photographs of the following: the South entrance of the Governor’s house, Bushire (f 395); the Political Agency and British Consulate, Muskat [Muscat] (f 396); the watch tower on Samana (f 397); Major and Mrs Leigh in Camp in Samana (f 398); Major and Mrs Leigh and Lieutenant Creagh [possibly George Washington Brazier-Creagh] at Mastar [Māster, Persia] (f 399); entrance of Muskat Harbour (f 400); town of Muskat from the harbour (f 401); Fort Jelali, Muskat (f 402); Fort Mahrani [Fort Al-Mirani], Muscat (f 403); and the British Vice Consulate at Mohamerah [Khorramshahr] (f 404)
• Printed images of the following: the British Agency, Manamah, Bahrain (f 407); Shaikh Khaz’ al of Muhammareh [Shaikh Khaz‘al bin Jābir bin Mirdāw al-Ka‘bī] (f 408); the view at Haz’-adh-Dhabi, Trucial Oman (f 409); salt rocks on Qishm Island near Namakdan (f 410); the Hindiyan River near Zaidan (f 411); a parade of British and Persian troops at Rishehr, 1905 (f 412); two views of Muhammerah Town (f 413); a creek near Basrah [Basra] from the Shatt-al-’Arab (f 414); a crowd at Ras-al-Khaimah (f 415); the Foreshore, Kuwait (f 416); the Hanaini well, Bahrain Island (f 417); ancient tumuli, Bahrain Island (f 418); Kumzar (f 419); Lingeh (f 420); the Tis Valley in Persian Makran (f 421); the West end of Masqat Town [Muscat Town] with the Sultan’s Palace and Fort Mirani (f 422); and the Eastern end of Masqat Town, with the British Consulate on the left, and the Sultan’s palace on the right (f 423).