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File 74/1915 Pt 4 'Mesopotamia: Imperial Ottoman Bank, Baghdad Branch' [‎263r] (239/422)

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The record is made up of 1 item (210 folios). It was created in 25 Mar 1917-3 Feb 1921. 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. .

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^ -sJ O’ I
coFf o? TL^am c
l _jp ■' o J
Dated 3rd iiarcia Hec^rTed
y ' ?c 7 -
z>/v/ r 3
vil coLzassioinm Baghdad k.
4th March
7
2116* LIy telegram of 16th February 1620, la3t sentence*
In vi^w of prolongation of war, exp^di^ncy of adjusting commercial
claims as far as possible ( and importance of doing whatever is
possible to improve financial position in Bagdad which is
increasingly difficult owing to large outlay of money by force
in return for labour and produce which is not counterbalanced
by corresponding imports of Irak, I think time has come to
recomsider decision communicated in your telegram of 21st
April that the Bagdad Branch should be closed till the end of
war.
Twelve months has now elapsed during which time Controller
of Hostile grading Concerns Bagdad has throughly investigated
all local enemy concerns and has ascertained precise position
' #
of Bank and its principal clients. Law courts have been opened
and the Turkish moratorium has come to an end*
If Baghdad Branch were now allowed to open. Basra and
London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. would presumably be ooliged to come its
assistance with funds and local merchants and others creditors,
would have some prospect of obtaining satisfaction.
At present trie action of government in closing Bagdad
Branch enables Bank to evade obligations which others are
compelled by law to meet.
If above proposal meets with approval I would ask that
London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. be informed and tuat I may be authorised to
notify that the Bank will be permitted to resume business as
from 1st April*

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This part contains correspondence and 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. Minute Papers relating to the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Mesopotamia [Iraq], mainly concerning the Baghdad branch.

It includes papers regarding:

  • The decision of the British Government, on the recommendation of local British political authorities, to close the Baghdad branch of the Imperial Ottoman Bank for the duration of the First World War, on the grounds that the Bank was identified with enemy interests, and it continued to do enemy business up to the date of the British occupation of Baghdad, and was recognised by the Turkish authorities as a Government bank.
  • The proposal of the London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of the Bank to send their representative Mr Critchley to Baghdad to enquire into the interests of the Bank’s shareholders and clients in Mesopotamia, and their later proposal to send Mr H R Saltmarsh and Mr E E Humphries instead of Critchley.
  • The proposal of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, that the Baghdad branch of the Bank should be allowed to re-open.
  • Permission being granted to the Imperial Ottoman Bank at Basra to correspond with its Constantinople [Istanbul] Office.
  • The visit of Lord Goschen, a director of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, to Mesopotamia.
  • A query by Drysdale and Company Limited about whether the Imperial Ottoman Bank at Baghdad was ‘a safe and sound’ institution, in response to a customer asking the company to accept payment at the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Baghdadthe proposal that the Baghdad and Mosul branches of Bank should be permitted to settle transactions dating back to the period before the British occupation.

The correspondence largely consists of correspondence between 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. and the following: the Foreign Office; Sir William Plender, appointed by the Treasury as Supervisor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank’s London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ; the Imperial Ottoman Bank, London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ; the Viceroy of India, Foreign Department; and the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad (telegrams addressed from ‘Political, Baghdad’). The file also includes copies of Foreign Office correspondence with the London Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, and Sir Reginald Wingate, High Commissioner, Egypt.

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1 item (210 folios)
Written in
English in Latin script
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File 74/1915 Pt 4 'Mesopotamia: Imperial Ottoman Bank, Baghdad Branch' [‎263r] (239/422), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/531/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048952595.0x000089> [accessed 12 May 2024]

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