'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil'

Content

Letters and papers on the frontier between Iraq (also written as Irak in the file) and Turkey, with particular reference to Mosul and questions concerning oil. The file consists mainly of correspondence between Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs George Curzon, and officials in the Foreign Office, Air Ministry, Colonial Office and Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. [Mustafa İsmet İnönü]. The contents of the file are as follows:

• Sir John Evelyn Shuckburgh to Curzon (15 November 1922). Letter enclosing paper setting out main arguments against evacuating Iraq
• Eric Graham Forbes Adam for Curzon (3 December 1922). Interview with Mukhtar Bey [Mukhtār Beg]; submission of draft telegrams to Foreign Office
• Sir William Tyrrell to Foreign Office (Memo, 3 December 1922, circulated to the Cabinet); interview with Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , 28 November 1922
• Air Staff for Cabinet (5 December 1922). Note: on Sir John Salmond’s proposal for a Forward Policy in the event of Turkish invasion of Iraq or a Resumption of Hostilities with Turkey, 4 December 1922
• Curzon to Foreign Office (6 December 1922). Telegram, 5 December 1922
• Middle East Department (7 December 1922). Note: Mosul – on above telegram
• Foreign Office to Curzon (8 December 1922). Telegram: Mosul
• Curzon to Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. (14 December 1922). Letter: enclosing Memo on Mosul Vilayet: reasons for refusing Turkish claim
• Curzon for Cabinet (26 December 1922). Curzon for Cabinet. Memo presented to Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. on Mosul, 14 December 1922
• Curzon to Cabinet (27 December 1922). Letter: Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. to Curzon enclosing reply to British memo, 23 December 1922
• Curzon for Cabinet (28 December 1922). Letter: Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. enclosing counter reply, 26 December 1922
• Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. (29 December 1922). Letter with annexed Memo
• Curzon for Cabinet (1 January 1923). Letter Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. to Curzon
• Sir Percy Cox to Colonial Office (30 December 1922)
• Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame to Sir Sydney Chapman (1 January 1923). Letter: possibility of settlement on basis of oil concessions to Turks and Italians
• Eric Graham Forbes Adam for Curzon (4 January 1923). Memo: conversation with Reader William Bullard and three Turkish experts
• Sir E Crowe to Curzon (3 January 1923). Telegram: from Colonial Office: oil
• Mr Lyndsay to Curzon (4 January 1923). Telegram: paraphrase of Colonial Office telegram to Bagdad [Baghdad], 2 January
• Curzon to Colonial Office (5 January 1923). Telegram: oil
• Sir Ronald William Graham to Curzon (8 January 1923). Letter: (printed for Cabinet) to Curzon: Italian press
• Reader William Bullard to Curzon (9 January 1923). Note: Mosul
• Sir Auckland Geddes (12 January 1923) Telegram: American attitude
• Notes by Curzon (16 January 1923). Handwritten: visit of Aga Petros to Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
• Shuckburgh to Forbes Adam (18 January 1923). Letter enclosing draft of telegram to Curzon
• Forbes Adam for Curzon (18 January 1923). Note attaching statement of the history and position with regard to the Mandates in Syria and Iraq and the question of frontiers
• British Case for Northern Frontier of Iraq with Map (19 January 1923). Folder containing notes ‘mostly taken from the memoranda which you (i.e. Curzon) exchanged with Ismet Pasha’ – December 1922
• Forbes Adam for Curzon (20 January 1923). Note: Plebiscite and Mosul
• Forbes Adam for Curzon: ‘Note attaching detailed minute as to the oil in Iraq and the history and present position of the claim of the Turkish Petroleum Company’
• Mr Childs's Statement for the American representatives (23 January 1923)
• Daily Telegraph cutting on League of Nations and Mosul Problem (27 January 1923)
• Curzon for Cabinet (26 January 1923). Speech: reply to Ismet Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. respecting Mosul, 23 January 1923
• Secretary of State for Colonies to Acting High Commissioner for Iraq (26 January 1923). Paraphrase: telegram: British proposal that question of Northern Frontier of Iraq should be referred to the League of Nations
• High Commissioner, Bagdad to Lord Crew (29 January 1923) Telegram: Enclosing telegram from Iraq Government to Lord Balfour for communication to League of Nations
• Lord Crewe to Curzon (31 January 1923). Telegram: Iraq frontier
• Telegram to Ankara signed by Ismet Hassan [‘Iṣmat Ḥasan] and Rozor Nur [Riḍa Nūr]
• Oil engineering and finance (17 February 1923). Article: The Mesopotamian Oilfields
• The Graphic (17 February 1923). Article: The Mystic City of Mosul
• Colonel Francis Richard Maunsell for Cabinet (24 September 1923). Notes on the Mosul frontier question
• Sir James Edward Masterton-Smith to Foreign Office (3 November 1923). Printed for the information of Curzon, copy of a despatch from the High Commissioner for Iraq, on the subject of the delimitation of the Turco-Irak frontier.

Following documents are undated:

• Lord Balfour to League of Nations. Speech: The frontier between Turkish territory and the territory of Iraq
• The President of the League of Nations. Reply: after Speech by Balfour
• Typewritten report: The question of Mosul
• Typewritten report: The Question of Mosul

The file also includes handwritten notes by Curzon on the Mosul vilayet and groups residing there.

Extent and format

251 folios (1 file)

It is grouped into

Northern Iraq

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F112/294, f 168

'4th Proposal'

2 images

Ref: Mss Eur F112/294, f 169

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 front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 251; 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 F112/294

History of this record

Date(s)

15 Nov 1922-3 Nov 1923 (CE, Gregorian)

Subjects

Military occupationOil

Places

IraqMosul

People & organisations

Secretary of State for Foreign AffairsForeign OfficeAir MinistryColonial Office

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'Mosul Question, Lausanne 1922-1923 and after - Papers, despatches, speeches - Hotel de la Mer at Lausanne - Correspondence about oil', British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/294, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/node/9636> [accessed 4 June 2026]

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