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File 6/1912 Part 1 'Persia: Shiraz affairs; attack on Mr Smart; Swedish gendarmerie' [358v] (210/472)
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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
On the 17th August Sir Gr. Barclay recom
mended that 22 additional men should be sent to
Shiraz to relieve the strain upon the existing
guard. The demand was complied with by
sending up men from Bushire, and a half-company
of the 7th Rajputs (56 rank and hie under a British
officer) were despatched from India to take their
place and to effect the relief, due at the end of
October, of the entire Shiraz escort.
It may be added that earlier in this year (1911)
a force of over 1,000 men had been landed from
India to operate on the Mekran and Shibkuh coasts
against the Afghans whose presence for the purposes
of the arms traffic the Persian Government had
been powerless to prevent. Disorders at Bunder
Abbas, too, had necessitated the temporary raising
of the Consular guard to 50 men.
13. In September the question of the roads was
again forcibly brought to the notice of His Majesty’s
Government. A report by the Consul at Kerman as
to the insecurity of the road from Bunder Abbas
caused enquiry to be addressed by the Foreign
Office to Sir G. Barclay as to the possibility of
subsidising the local tribesmen, with a view to the
roads, or one of them, being kept open pending the
establishment of a gendarmerie by the Persian
Government.
In his reply, dated the 14th September, Sir G.
Barclay expressed regret that he could suggest no
temporary measure that did not involve in some
form the employment of British troops. The best
hope, he considered, of early improvement short of
the occupation of the roads by our troops lay in a
scheme suggested by Colonel Cox for increasing
our mounted escorts by the numbers shown
below :—
Bushire
Shiraz - - -
Ispahan
Bunder Abbas
Kerman
Bam (with a new Vice-Consulate)
100
200
100
100
100
200
Total
800
Sir (x. Barclay’s Telegram No. 334,
17th August 1911.
Telegrams from Viceroy, 28th Septem
ber and 20th October 1911.
Pol. 1594 and 1715/11.
Viceroy’s Telegram 15th March 1911.
Pol. 460/11.
Viceroy’s Telegram, 9th September
1911.
Each escort was to be properly officered, and
they were to be used in parties up to 50 to escort
British caravans.
The Foreign Office addressed this Office in
support of the proposals, and the views of the
Government of India were requested by the
Secretary of State, who informed them at the same
time that the Russian Government had no objection
to the scheme.
Pol. 1482/11.
Proposal for increase of the Consular
Escorts at certain towns.
Sir E. Grey’s Telegram No. 253, 4th
September 1911.
SirG. Barclay's Telegram No. 401, 14th
September 1911.
Telegrams to Vicei’oy, 25th and 27th
September 1911.
Pol. 4272 and 4290/11
14. In their reply, dated the 30th September,
the Government of India informed the Secretary of
State that their military advisers would prefer to
send to Persia two regiments of Native Cavalry, to
Views of the Government of India
and the Secretary of State.
Viceroy’s Telegram, 30th September
1911.
Pol. 1598/11.
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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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