IOR/L/PS/10/1266/1

This part contains papers relating to the revision of a 1908 Foreign Office memorandum on British interests in the Persian Gulf by the India Office, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Air Ministry and the Board of Trade. The memorandum was being revised at the request of the Persian Gulf Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence, in order that it should be available to inform their deliberations.

The papers mostly consist of correspondence between the India Office and the above departments, as well as the following: Lieutenant-Colonel Hastings Lionel Ismay of the Committee of Imperial Defence; the Government of India Foreign and Political Department; and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lionel Berkeley Holt Haworth).

This part also includes a copy of the memorandum of 12 February 1908, reprinted in January 1914. The pages which include section (d.) ‘British Cables’ (relating to telegraph lines in the Persian Gulf) of Part III. ‘Commerce’, have been removed from, and placed after, the rest of the memorandum in this part of the volume, and include handwritten notes indicating revisions to be made to that section of the memorandum. The memorandum includes the following maps: ‘Persia and Afghanistan’ (IOR/L/PS/10/1266/1, f 213); ‘Sketch Map of the Persian Gulf & Arabian Coast’ (IOR/L/PS/10/1266/1, f 212); ‘Sketch Map of the Persian Gulf & Arabian Coast’ (IOR/L/PS/10/1266/1, f 201); ‘Sketch of Approaches to Kuweit Harbour and Shatt Al Arab’(IOR/L/PS/10/1266/1, f 198); and ‘Sketch to illustrate positions of Flagstaffs at Elphinstone Inlet and Sheep Island. (Musandim Peninsula.)’ (IOR/L/PS/10/1266/1, f 187).

In addition, this part includes a note drawn up by the Board of Trade on trade in the Persian Gulf, and a note by the Mercantile Marine Department of the Board of Trade on lighting and buoying in the Persian Gulf.