IOR/L/PS/10/692/2

This item relates to the disbandment of the South Persia Rifles, including attempts (in the opinion of the India Office) of the Foreign Office and HM Minister in Tehran to prolong its existence, and the disposal of arms, ammunition, equipment and medical stores.

The principal correspondents are: Herman Norman, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia [Iran], Tehran (up to September 1921); the Foreign Office; the India Office; the Viceroy (Government of India), Foreign and Political Department; and Reginald Francis Orlando Bridgeman, diplomat, British Legation in Tehran (from October 1921).

The papers notably cover and include the following:

• Admiralty memorandum arguing that disbandment may lead to a breakdown in law and order in the southern provinces creating a threat to naval fuel supplies from south Persia oil fields (f 152)
• A suggestion by the High Commissioner of Mesopotamia [Iraq] that the Anglo-Persian Oil Company be approached to advance funds to the British Financial Advisor to the Persian Government, in order to maintain the unit and so prevent ‘disorder and riot’ ensuing in south Persia’ (f 154)
• Norman’s negotiations with the Persian Prime Minister regarding the latter’s possible takeover of the South Persia Rifles, including the refusal of the Medjliss [Majlis, Iranian Parliament] to accept six-month contracts with British officers; Norman’s and the Foreign Office’s outright rejection of a new proposal by the Persian Prime Minister which is considered ‘impudent’ (ff 168-169); and decision to accelerate the disbandment considering the lack of funds for the unit
• The Foreign Office’s rejection of a suggestion that the Governor-General of Isfahan [also spelled Ispahan in this item] (or Bakhtiyārī Khān) be allowed to acquire arms and ammunition of the South Persia Rifles (f 178)
• Copies of communications between Norman and the Persian Prime Minister, June-July 1921, in which the latter requests that the British Government: continue to finance the unit for another three to four months until other European (Swedish) officers can take over from British ones; and give Persia the stores and arms gratis (ff 113-115, 122-129)
• A revised offer of the Persian Government, conveyed by Norman September 1921, to take over the remaining South Persia Rifles, without British and Indian officers and officials, pay its expenses out of its own revenues and buy its arms and stores from the British Government on concessionary terms (ff 107-109), and Norman’s intimation that refusal could turn Persian public opinion against Britain and lead to disorder in southern Persia (the proposal is rejected by the British Government)
• Norman’s insistence that the order for the destruction of the Isfahan detachment’s arms is suspended and they are conveyed through ‘Bakhtiari country’ to Ahwaz [Ahvaz] for ‘future eventualities’, and the British Government’s refusal to sanction the ‘sale of arms or munitions to any tribesmen including Bakhtiaris’ (ff 86-87)
• A report from the Kerman Consular Officer, conveyed by Norman 24 September 1921, regarding disorders and robberies on a large scale in the province of Fars allegedly resulting from news of the impending disbandment of the unit (f 77)
• A proposal for the disposal of the medical stores of the South Persia Rifles at Kerman to the Medical Officer of the Church Missionary Society Mission, including the agreement of the Viceroy of India for their transfer as a gift or purchase at concessional rates and the Treasury’s view that the Mission should instead be charged a (higher) ‘fair price’ (ff 119, 67, 23)
• A South Persia Rifles proposal in October 1921, supported by Bridgeman, British Legation in Tehran, to sell 700 rifles and ammunition, equipment and animals for a small force in Fars to help avert disorder in the region and prevent ill-feeling against the departing British who may otherwise destroy the remaining arms and equipment, including support of the Government of India and India Office, and agreement of the Foreign Office for their use in Fars despite the ‘recent attitude of the Persian Government and Persian public opinion’ towards Britain (ff 58-64, 69-75)
• A request, October-November 1921, of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to purchase from the disbanding unit 300 rifles, and Bridgeman’s dismissal of a rumour that the company plans to recruit 300 more guards for its operations in Kashgai (ff 25-33)
• Report by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf on the arrival in Bushire [Bushehr] of the last convoy of South Persia Rifles from Shiraz, 9 November 1921, in which he details an attack on the garrison at Kazerun and expresses concerns for the future security of the Bushire-Shiraz and Bandar Abbas-Kerman roads, (ff 15-20)
• Foreign Office response to questions submitted by Sir Charles Yate MP regarding the terms on which the men of the South Persian Rifles have been disbanded, details of the disposal of equipment, guns and stores, the costs of the evacuation, and potential recompense to the Government of India for its expenditure on the force (ff 7-12).

The papers comprise a mixture of printed, typescript and manuscript documents and mostly consist of: copy telegrams, copy letters, covering letters of the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India, with related enclosures; India Office Political Department registry covering papers including the subject and notes by department officials; India Office minute papers with manuscript notes; India Office draft letters and draft telegrams; original and copy letters.