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File 6/1912 Part 1 'Persia: Shiraz affairs; attack on Mr Smart; Swedish gendarmerie' [270r] (33/472)
The record is made up of 1 item (236 folios). It was created in Jan 1912-Jun 1912. It was written in English and French. 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
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[This Document is the Property of! His Britannit; Majesty’s Government.!
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PERSIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[April 18.]
Section 1.
[16163]
No. 1.
Sir G. Barclay to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received April 18.)
(No. 65.)
Sir, Tehran, April 5, 1912.
WITH reference to your telegram No. 232 of the 2nd instant, I have the honour
to transmit copy of a note which I addressed yesterday to the Persian Government.
You will notice that this note contains no mention of the scheme for direct
negotiations with the tribal chiefs. No mention of this scheme had been made by me
officially to the Persian Government, and I therefore thought it better to inform the
Minister for Foreign Affairs merely privately in the sense of the ante-penultimate
paragraph of your telegram, and I wrote on the 3rd instant to the “ Chef de Cabinet,”
who, as I reported in my telegram No. 218 of the 28th ultimo, had written to me on
the subject, asking him to inform the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the scheme of
subsidising the local chiefs would not have been executed without the concurrence
and approval of the Persian Government, and that the prestige of the Central
Government would have been carefully safeguarded.
You will Notice also that in my note I merely, as regards the extremists, requested
the Persian Government to restrain those persons in Tehran and elsewhere in Persia
whose inflammatory telegrams had been largely responsible for the attacks on our
troops, and that I did not insist on these persons recanting their telegrams. It seemed
to me that to insist on the recantation of these inflammatory telegrams would have had
the effect of giving the extremists an exaggerated idea of their importance, and I have
said nothing about the removal of the Kawam from Fars. If later, on the arrival at
Shiraz of the new Governor-General, it is still thought desirable that Kawam should
leave Fars, the legation could endeavour to induce the Persian Government to give him
a good post elsewhere.
I did not understand from your instructions that I was to say anything about the
occupation of Bassidu.
I have, &c.
G. BARCLAY.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Sir G. Barclay to the Persian Government.
M. le Ministre, Tehran, April 4, 1912.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency’s note of the
10th ultimo, and to take act of the assurances that the sum of 4,744L will be paid out
of the next loan.
I am now instructed to make the following communication to the Persian
Government:—
His Majesty’s Government have carefully considered the whole situation in the
south of Persia, with special reference to the recent attacks on the Indian troops
dispatched from Shiraz and Bushire to escort Mr. Smart, His Majesty’s acting consul
at Shiraz, who was returning from leave to his post.
His Majesty’s Government consider it essential that the men who are well known
locally to have been guilty of these outrages should be handed over to the Persian
Government for punishment. If this is done, His Majesty’s Government will at once
withdraw the detachment recently sent to Bushire ; and if the tribal chiefs and head
men show a friendly feeling and peaceful attitude for at least two months, and no more
outrages occur during that period, the withdrawal of the Indian cavalry reinforcements
from Shiraz and Ispahan will follow.
I am, however, to make the Persian Government understand that the continuance
of this benevolent attitude on the part of His Majesty’s Government must depend on
the proper establishment of a gendarmerie under Swedish officers, and the Persian
[2440 s—1]
10 MAY 1912
N 2 $ ^
About this item
- Content
Part 1 consists of correspondence relating to insecurity in southern Persia, particularly around Shiraz and along the Shiraz-Bushire roads. The papers tell of the British response to the situation, covering the following matters:
- the decision of whether to arm Shiraz or to evacuate the city;
- concern over Russia filling the gap left by the British were they to evacuate;
- the situation on the ground, conveyed in several reports;
- the proposal to occupy Bushire with a battalion and to subsidize local chiefs to maintain the roads;
- the Persian Government plan to employ Swedish officers to command and train a gendarmerie along some of the roads;
- British claims for reparation from the Persian Government following an attack on the Shiraz Consul, Mr Smart, and his escort;
- the question of providing winter quarters for Indian troops in Shiraz should they have remain there for the season.
The discussion over such matters is mostly between the Foreign Office, 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. , War Office, Government of India, and Minister at Tehran. Further correspondence, included as enclosures, is from Percy Zachariah Cox, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
Included is memorandum on the situation in Southern Persia by J E F, Political Department, 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. , 16 February 1912.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (236 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front.
The subject 6 (Persia) consists of this one volume. The volume is divided into two parts.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 6/1912 Part 1 'Persia: Shiraz affairs; attack on Mr Smart; Swedish gendarmerie' [270r] (33/472), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/197/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100028474499.0x000091> [accessed 22 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/197/1
- Title
- File 6/1912 Part 1 'Persia: Shiraz affairs; attack on Mr Smart; Swedish gendarmerie'
- Pages
- 254r:289v, 290v:305v, 306v:446v, 447v:489v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence