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File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS' [8r] (26/586)
The record is made up of 1 volume (289 folios). It was created in 15 Nov 1920-31 Oct 1921. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
Of th^S^dSC 1 : compfetely Zt^ol f'.T “ 1914 > «“
own Shaikhs, and lawless chaos reined thrn,™h t G “™™“>cnt and their
tamed by the late Turkish Government T te control main-
district may be gauged from a remark by Sir w’ Win^T 1 '' ° f iilis
iu Mesopotamia:” “between Sun al 11 W b ^^Icpcks m Irrigation
pay m as blackmail to tie Ju^iMr tX > ^ ^ats have to
through the lake there.” The Juwaibir tribe 6 t l f y are allowed to P ass
the Albu Khalifah tribe and the scene of the ® teire , ( 10 ai J 11 ei 8‘hhours of
the spot where the Juwaibir pirates lav in wal+% 0 ? era 1 tlons 18 close to
when the outlook of the marsh men of the o 13 for boats m the good old daj^s
was summarised in an official report as folk™— and L ° Wer Eu P llrates
would oih^ise be G EToLT, a Tn ate format' 11 Cr0p8 0r mol,e - T which
retain lands from which weW% eVe^klmTinhtfnTowSL -
fete “ e 4 e
arm which is always a popular form of c^tence 0m ' ° tt0ttg
ti ?r <c “ es ^
e -rtkCd id , of
ss t
of thrirarofflOahtnlTtheljh, autbori ^ “ d “ toio f “ in the hands
Government. * n ° W come Ullder tlie of a National
Y r V T tlle out break of the disturbances of 1920 the newer of the qw;i v
was broken. In the opinion of the
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
, Ifth hhe deduction‘of Britkh
fideorithmTf the Mb j" 8 ®! ‘• <> , ntil >«e lo set the clock back and the dii
il ^^klfilSfTt wilier 8 *“00™^.“" b<,en 81Ven “ im P etUS from
(4). Snq district is split into roug-hly, fi ve i arg . e confederations.
Mujarrah.
Bani Khaiqan.
llammar Lake,— (a) Hammar Gharbi.
(b) ,, Sharqi.
Albu Salih.
1.
2 .
3.
trihe h, 2 e0US1S ° f a uumoer of tribes with no paramount shaikh, each
The i 'ih ]tS OW11 -If ?8uised leader m some cases appointed by Government.
kvh .eeff 8 ai n ^.numerous sections, these again are divided into
sub-section all under their -own leaders.
I he Shaikh of the tiibe can be looked upon to-day as maintaining an
unenviable position; he relies mainly on Government support. In some
cases he is subsidised; in return for this, and for the position he holds, the
following services are expected of him: —
(a) Maintenance of law and order in the tribe.
(b) Arrest and surrender of offenders.
(c) Protection of travellers and Government property.
(d) Equitable conduct in settling disputes.
(e) General good service.
(/) Prompt payment of revenue.
(5) . Maihud al Saqr, the late shaikh of the Albu Khalifah, who was
appointed to this position by Government, was murdered at the end of
February of this year for no apparent reason except that he was endeavour
ing to carry out the duties required- of him and collecting revenue.
(6) I cannot too strongly emphasise the moral effect produced on the
district as a whole in that no time was lost in attacking the outlaws after
their aggressive action towards the friendly Tummar section of the same
tribe.
In the case of Zayir Nadir of the Albu Jasim tribe, again no time was
lost. Action against this section for harbouring the Alim Kimlifah outlaws
was proposed on the 8th, and the section was attacked on the morning of the
11th.
(7) . The action of the Albu Khalifah outlaws was seriously effecting
the tribal situation in the whole of that area and had the trouble not been
About this item
- Content
This volume contains the Intelligence Reports of Sir Percy Cox, High Commissioner for Mesopotamia [also written as Iraq in this volume], based in Baghdad, covering the period 15 November 1920 to 15 September 1921. They largely relate to: the political situation in Mesopotamia and the surrounding region; the formation and proceedings of the provisional government; the events leading up to the creation of Mandatory Iraq [also known as the Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration] and the election and appointment of Faisal [Fayṣal bin Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] as the first King of Iraq [Fayṣal I].
The Intelligence Reports are numbered and appear to have been issued at two-week intervals. This volume contains the reports numbered 1-3, 9-19 and 21. There is no explanation in the volume regarding the reason for the absent reports. The format of the reports is a mixture of printed and copy typescript. Each report is preceded by a covering circular issued by the office of the High Commissioner indicating the British Government departments and the officers and departments in the Middle East to which the report was copied.
Report Nos. 1-3 are preceded by an assessment of the political situation described in the Intelligence Report, written by Major R Marrs.
The reports generally comprise the following sections:
- A summary of the report (from report No. 14 onwards only)
- An account of the proceedings of the Council of Ministers
- Analysis of current public opinion and allegiances, (notably an analysis of public opinion on the Amir [Emir] Faisal and his arrival in Mesopotamia, including a reference to his 'personal magnetism', f 88), in report Nos 16-19
- Notes on provincial affairs
- Notes on the situation at the frontiers
- Extracts of 'Iraq Police Abstracts of Intelligence' (reports No. 9-14 only).
Other subjects notably covered in various reports include:
- Assyrian, Armenian and Urumiyan [Urmian] refugees (report Nos. 2 and 19)
- Perceived foreign influences in Iraq (report Nos. 2 and 3)
- The withdrawal of Saiyid [Sayyid] Talib Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. [Sayyid Ṭālib bin Rajab al-Naqīb] from the Government and Baghdad (report No. 12)
- Kurdistan (report Nos. 12-14)
- Turkish and Kurdish Frontiers (report No. 12)
- Dair al Zor [Deir ez-Zor] (report Nos. 1 and 12)
- Notes on 'Internal Affairs' (Nos. 18 and 19)
- Analysis of the referendum result which confirmed the election of Faisal as Iraq's first monarch (report No. 19)
- The formation of King Faisal's first cabinet (report No. 21).
Appendices are included with some reports, usually comprising copies of the High Commissioner's proclamations or communications 'to the people of Iraq' or documents relevant to the particular report (notably 'Provisional scheme for the re-organisation of the law courts' and 'Report of the committee constituted for studying the irrigation problem in Mesopotamia' in report No. 9).
Each report is concluded with a Supplement or Press Bureau Report, comprising extensive summaries and extracts of newspaper articles published in the local and 'foreign' (local region mainly) press. Notable publications cited are: Al 'Iraq , Al Fallah Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. , Al Dijlah , and (Syrian publication) Lissan al 'Arab.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (front of the volume).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (289 folios)
- Arrangement
The reports are arranged mostly in numerical/chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. Report No. 18 is followed by Report No. 21 and then Report No. 19 which is the last report in the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 284; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and two ending flyleaves. The sequence contains one foliation anomaly: f 267a.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS' [8r] (26/586), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/962, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100111165834.0x00001b> [accessed 4 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/962
- Title
- File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:ii-v, 1r:11r, 12v:13r, 20r:26v, 32v:34v, 35v:49v, 53v:57v, 59r:61r, 70v:74r, 75r:79r, 88r:94v, 99v:103v, 105r:112r, 113v:125v, 127v:128v, 129v:150v, 154v, 155v:171v, 178v:181v, 183v:190v, 192v:219v, 222v:246v, 249v:260r, 261r:264v, 265v, 267v, 267ar:267av, 268r:284v, iii-r:iv-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence