'Records and papers of the 5 Committees on the Near and Middle East'

Content

This file mainly consists of notes and minutes relating to meetings of the Persia Committee between October 1917 and March 1918, covering British policy regarding that country. The file begins with a note by George Curzon, on Foreign Office headed paper, dated 1920 or later, which reads as follows: 'Records and papers of the 5 Committees on the Near and Middle East on which I presided during and after the War, until the creation of a Middle Eastern Department under the Colonial Office.' The note goes on to list the five committees as follows: the Persia Committee, the Mesopotamia Committee (formally known as the Mesopotamian Administration Committee), the Middle East Committee, the Eastern Committee, and the Interdepartmental Conference on the Middle East (Interdepartmental Conference on Middle East Affairs). In fact, as stated above, the enclosed papers relate almost entirely to the Persia Committee.

Also included among the papers are the following: notes by the 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. 's Political Department, on the situation in Persia, dated 19 October 1917 (ff 5-9); minutes of an interdepartmental conference held at the Privy Council (over which Curzon presided), dated 31 July 1917 (ff 10-11). In addition, the file contains two items of correspondence: a letter to Curzon from the Secretary of State for India (Joseph Austen Chamberlain), dated 8 June 1917; a copy of a telegram from the Foreign Office to Sir Charles Murray Marling, British Minister at Teheran [Tehran], dated 21 February 1918.

Extent and format

1 file (55 folios)

Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 55; 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.

Written in

English in Latin script

Type

Archival file

Access & Reference

Original held at

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.

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Mss Eur F112/271

History of this record

Date(s)

1917-1920? (CE, Gregorian)

People & organisations

War Cabinet, Persia CommitteeForeign OfficeSecretary of State for India, United Kingdom

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'Records and papers of the 5 Committees on the Near and Middle East', British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/271, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x0002a5> [accessed 20 August 2026]

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