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File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [93r] (190/566)
The record is made up of 1 volume (281 folios). It was created in 1910-1915. 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
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CONFIDENTIAL.
1
e
Sir Edward Grey to Sir G. Barclay (Tehran).
(No. 263.) Foreign Office, September 12, 1910, 3*25 p.m.
YOUR telegram No. 346 [of 1st September].
I share Lientenant-Colonel Cox’s opinion, and I agree that the sheikh has been
badly treated by the Turks. We are bound to use our good offices to secure an
adjustment and to guard against a repetition of offensive action. The ownership of so
much land on the Turkish side and the presence of many Arab subjects perhaps to
some extent justify Turkish suspicions in their present susceptible mood, and it seems to
me that some compromise must in the end be found if an adjustment is to be secured and
a repetition of the same sort of incident avoided. I would propose in the first place
to inform, the Porte that His Majesty’s Government are bound, under agreement with
the sheikh, to use their good offices on his behalf in a dispute with a foreign Power,
and say that His Majesty’s Government have most carefully gone into the whole
history of the recent dispute, and can see no justification whatever for the harsh
and aggressive action of the vali, especially in the attack on Zain, resulting in the
death of a wife of the sheikh, and for the new decree forbidding him to registei land in
the Bussorah vilayet, which seems to be contraiy to Ottoman law.
If we ask for an apology, for the removal of the vali, or for compensation, we must
maintain our demands should the Porte refuse compliance. We are not bound to do
more than use our good offices, but if this fails and we do not insist if necessary, by
threat of force—should we then not lose prestige with the sheikh, or would our
intervention reassure him, even if the result were not satisfactory at any rate, at once .
What, in your view, is the minimum for which we could ask, in view of the fact that j
we are now ready to give the new assurance, and are advising the King to confer the j
K.C.I.E. ? Assurances and honours had better be simultaneous.
(Repeated to Constantinople, No. 275.)
[592—436]
About this item
- Content
Correspondence including telegrams, hand written letters and printed enclosures, discusses an attack by a Turkish gun-boat on a village - Zain, belonging to the Shaikh of Mohammerah - which lay on the Turkish bank of the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The correspondence outlines the circumstances that led to the quarrel between the Turkish authorities and the Sheikh of Mohammerah, and suggestions that the Porte should be urged to replace the Wali of Basrah with a less aggressive official.
Correspondence discusses the proposal to give the Shaikh of Mohammerah assurances against naval attack, whatever the pretext for such action; letters and telegrams also discuss the award of a decoration (Knight Commander of the Indian Empire) to the Shaikh of Mohammerah.
A letter (dated 7 December 1913) 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. , outlines the Government of India's interests in Arabistan including: the oil fields and their future; irrigation; railway enterprises; telegraphs; Russian and German activity.
Correspondents include 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. ; Sir Gerard Lowther, Ambassador to Constantinople; Charles Murray Marling, Ambassador to Tehran; Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign affairs; Francis Edward Crow, H M Consul at Bussorah [Basra]; Arnold Talbot Wilson, H M Consul at Mohammerah; Shaikh Khazal bin Jabir, Shaikh of Mohammerah; Wali of Bussorah; Viceroy of India.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (281 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 345 (Mohammerah: situation) consists of two volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/132-133. The volumes are divided into two parts, with each part comprising one volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 278; 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 folio sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the one ending flyleaf.
An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel throughout; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.' [93r] (190/566), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/133, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100030525713.0x0000bf> [accessed 8 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/133
- Title
- File 345/1908 Pt 2 'Mohammerah: situation. Sheikh's dispute with the Vali of Basra. decoration for Sheikh. renewed assurances to Sheikh.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:280v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence