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File 74/1915 Pt 4 'Mesopotamia: Imperial Ottoman Bank, Baghdad Branch' [‎274r] (261/422)

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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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Telegram from Sir P. Cox
Dated 24th August 1917
Received 6 p.m. (25th).
X
\
Cvtbc/yJtjty^
5399. ^our telegram of the 17th August. Muttah.*
1. Permission to proceed to Baghdad cannot in any case be
granted unless the exact nature of his mission is known so tail
his presence eaen at Basra would only be embarrassing.
2.. In March last London Directorate authorised Reid, Basra
/yyvfVvv. C*-
7 to proceed to Baghdad to report on situation but
permission to ^ was refused by Military Authorities. It
was therefore obviously considered possible then for local man
present
to report and/jnnda statement to the contrary is consequently
not convincing.
3. Have ascertained that local Baghdad Manager submitted
detailed report on whole situation in April of which he has no$
yet received any acknowledgment. he seems quite competent
to answer any queries and give such further details as may be
necessary.
4. For above reasons regrst cannot alter view as to
inexpediency of his visit unless furnished with full details of
proposed scope of his mission ultimate object of which appears
to be to reopen business which cannot be allowed.
\
i

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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' [‎274r] (261/422), 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_100048952595.0x00009f> [accessed 5 August 2026]

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