Mss Eur F111/69B

This item comprises printed Foreign Office correspondence relating to Persia [Iran], covering geopolitical, political, economic, social and cultural matters. The despatches are dated 7 July 1897-22 September 1898.

The first page of each despatch includes the heading ‘ASIA. CONFIDENTIAL.’ on the top left, and the day and month of the despatch in square brackets on the top right e.g. ‘[July 7.]’. The letters in each despatch are numbered, e.g. No. 1, followed, where relevant, by numbered enclosures (spelled ‘inclosure’ in the volume), e.g. ‘Inclosure in No. 1.’ or ‘Inclosure 1 in No. 2.’. A few of the letters from Charles Hardinge, First Secretary, Tehran, to Persian Government ministers are in French.

The item notably covers and includes:

• The financial difficulties of the Persian Government including: negotiations for foreign loans to the Persian Government, notably a proposed loan of forty million francs by Messrs Solomon Oppenheim of Paris and Cologne on the security of the customs revenues of the southern ports of Persia, and proposed Russian loans (including a copy of a draft agreement, in French, presented to the Persian Government by the Russian Legation, ff 375-376); and loans negotiated with the Imperial Bank of Persia, notably a loan of fifty-thousand pounds secured by control of the customs revenue of Bushire [Bushehr] and Kermanshah
• Affairs relating to the Persian Mint and its relations with the Imperial Bank of Persia
• The murder of Mr Graves, a commissioned officer of the Indo-European Telegraph Department, at Karwan in southern Persia, the indemnity demanded from the Persian Government by the British Government, measures taken for the arrest and punishment of the murderers, and arrangements for the future protection of the telegraph line and company employees
• Factionalism, internecine strife, and changes in personnel within the Persian Government and Cabinet, including the dismissal of the Sadr-i-Azam [Ṣadr A‘ẓam, Prime Minister] in June 1898
• The assassination of Sheikh Mizal [Shaikh Miz’al Khān], Governor of Muhammerah [Khorramshahr, formerly Mohammerah], and recognition of Sheikh Khazal [Shaikh Khas’al bin Jābir bin Mirdāw al-Ka’bī, also spelled Khasal in this item] as the new Governor
• An attack on Koweit [Kuwait] by the Persian Sheikh Yussuf Ibrahim [Shaikh Yūsuf Ibrāhīm]
• The state of affairs in Azerbaijan and Tabriz
• The state of affairs in Persian Beluchistan [Balochistan]
• Rumours of a raid by members of the Shahsavend [Shahsavan] tribe into Russian territory allegedly killing twenty-five Cossacks
• Construction of the (Gulf of) Enzeli-Kazvin Road [Bandar-e Anzali-Qazvin], involving a concession by the Persian Government to the Russian Insurance and Transport Company
• Russo-Persian relations notably following the Russian doctors and Cossack escort forced upon the Persian Government against their will
• Military news and reports
• The persecution of Jews in Ispahan [Isfahan] and in Lar, including British official protests and concern to protect British Jews at those places
• Disturbances at Charbar [Chabahar] and Jask and the deputation of (British) Indian troops to those places
• The construction of a road from Ahwaz [Ahvaz] to Ispahan and from Shuster [Shushtar] to Ispahan, and agreement of Messrs Lynch Brothers with Ali Guli Khan [Alī -Qulī Khān Sirdār Asad Bakhtiyārī] and others (ff 310-311), guaranteed by the Persian Government
• A report by HM Consul in Ispahan on his journey to Kermanshah and Tehran, in connection with the question of the disputed properties of the British Agent at Kermanshah (ff 325-327)
• A report by Captain G S Elliot, HM Vice-Consul at Van, of a journey across the Persian frontier and reporting generally on state of affairs on both sides of the [Persian and Turkish] border (ff 362-368), notably covering the activities of Armenians in Van, and the Russian Mission to Nestorian Christians in Urumiah [Urmia or Orumiyeh]
• An insurrection in Yemen and the deployment of five to six thousand Ottoman troops to repress it
• A report of a journey across a part of Persian Baluchistan [Balochistan] by Captain Percy Molesworth Sykes (ff 400-401).

The primary correspondents are: the Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary; Charles Hardinge, First Secretary, Tehran; Sir Philip Currie, Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire; Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, Minister Plenipotentiary at Tehran; the Imperial Bank of Persia; the India Office; and the Foreign Office. Enclosures are chiefly: correspondence of British diplomatic officials in the Middle East, notably William Loch, Consul-General at Bagdad [Baghdad]; reports and monthly summaries from Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Philip Picot, Military Attaché at Tehran; and occasional letters from Persian Government ministers.