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'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎40v] (85/386)

The record is made up of 1 volume (189 folios). It was created in 1907. 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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67
had been obliged to retire to Bahrein and thence to conduct their business
with Katif at a disadvantage. In 1900, and again in 1903 on the occasion of
the Viceroy’s visit to Bahrein, they petitioned that arrangements should he
made for British consular representation at Katif and they even olfered to con
tribute towards the expense of the measure. In 1903 the rebates of customs
duty at Katif to which they were entitled and which they could not obtain
amounted to Rs. 25,000. In 1904 Lord Curzon suggested that either the
British Assistant Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Bahrein should be appointed Vice-Consul
for El Hassa, a native Consular Agent being at the same time stationed at Katif,
or that a clear statement should be made to the Porte of the disabilities to
which the British Indian traders were being subjected at Katif in order that
measures might be taken for their mitigation or removal. The second of these
alternatives was preferred by His Majesty’s Government, and, representations
having been made to the Turkish Government, a promise of complete redress
and future good treatment was eventually obtained.
During Lord Curzon’s viceroyalty the Arab principality of Koweit,
hitherto obscure, was forced into a prominent place in Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. politics by
a conflict of British and Turkish interests. The ruler of Koweit at this time
K;oweit was Sheikh Mubarak, a man of remark
able astuteness and force of character,
who had attained his position in 1896 by the assassination of two elder brothers.
Prior to Mubarak’s accession the Turks, though they regarded Koweit as sub
ject to their authority, had shown little interest in the place; but soon after
wards, instigated perhaps by the sons of the murdered Sheikhs who had taken
refuge in the Wilayat of Basrah and owned property there, they began to occu
py themselves with Koweit affairs. In 1897 a Turkish quarantine official
arrived and took up his residence at Koweit.
Mubarak, alarmed by the intrigues of his fugitive nephews and the attitude
of the Turkish Government, made repeated endeavours to obtain British protec
tion, but the British Government were not at first inclined to undertake any
responsibilities on his account. In 1898, however, rumours of Bussian designs on
Koweit, the grant to Count Kapnist of a concession for a railway from the
Mediterranean having its terminus at Koweit, and signs that a Turkish expedi
tion against Koweit was impending obliged Her Majesty’s Government to re
consider the position ; and eventually the Viceroy of India was authorised to
prevent, by force if necessary, a Turkish attack upon Koweit and to conclude a
secret engagement with the Sheikh; this was the first of the political measures
affecting the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. which fell to Lord Curzon to carry out, and it was also
one of the most important. The desired agreement was signed on the 23rd of
January 1899 by the Sheikh on behalf of himself, his heirs and his successors.
On the part of the Sheikh it was agreed that no foreign representative should be
received at Koweit and that no portion of Koweit territory should be alienated
to foreigners, or to a foreign Power, without the consent of the British Govern
ment ; m return Mubarak was assured that the good offices of the British
Government would be extended to the ruler of Koweit so long as the new
agreement was respected by him. On the conclusion of the agreement a
British news- agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. in charge of a native official was established at Koweit;
Si mi 1 § un boat also remained for some time in the vicinity to afford the
Sheikh moral support, and Mubarak found himself in a position to decline to
receive a Turkish harbour master who was sent from Basrah to Koweit to
take charge of the port.
icon -I 16 a ^ uc ^ e the Turks, however, continued to be menacing, and in May
1899 it was reported that they were inciting Ibn Bashid, the ruler of Northern
. elltl,al Arabia to attack Kovveit,—a course to which he was naturally disposed
inasmuch as his rival Ibn Saud, the rightful chief of Southern Central Arabia
r ha ^ eXpe i le f Was then livin ^ in exile at Koweit UJ1( ter Mubarak’s
p iqaa 6 ^ h ? wevei ’ for the visit of a German railway commission
^ > ie circumstances of which have been already described, no
mportant developments took place at Koweit until August 1900 when Ibn
Tn« f j 10 ? ()U P ® nanc ® Mubarak, suddenly left Koweit to reconquer
his ancestral dominions from Ibn Bashid. About the same time Sadun

About this item

Content

Printed at the GC [Government Central] Press, Simla.

The volume is divided into three parts: Part I (folios 5-47) containing an introduction; Part II (folios 48-125) containing a detailed account; and Part III (folios 126-188) containing despatches and correspondence connected with Part I Chapter IV ('The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ', folios 28-47).

Part I gives an overview of policy and events in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region during Curzon's period as Viceroy [1899-1905], with sections on British policy in Persia; the maintenance and extension of British interests; Seistan [Sīstān]; and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Part II contains more detailed accounts of selected topics, including sections on British policy in Persia, customs and finance, quarantine, administration, communications, and British and Russian activity in Seistan. The despatches and correspondence in Part III include correspondence from the Government of India in the Foreign Department, the Secretary of State for India, and the Viceroy; addresses and speeches by Curzon; and notes of interviews between Curzon and local rulers.

Mss Eur F111/531-534 consist of four identical printed and bound volumes. However, the four volumes each show a small number of different manuscript annotations and corrections.

This volume contains manuscript additions on folios 3, 11, 13-15, 64-65, and 89.

Extent and format
1 volume (189 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a list of Parts I-III on folio 4; a table of contents of Part I on folio 6; a table of contents of Part II on folio 49; and a table of contents of Part III on folios 127-129, which gives a reference to the paragraph of Part I Chapter IV that the despatch or correspondence is intended to illustrate.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 191; 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. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎40v] (85/386), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/533, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100070115181.0x000056> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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