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Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎front] (1/290)

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The record is made up of 1 file (145 folios). It was created in 7 Jan 1919-7 Dec 1920. 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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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government.]
<D i
Printed for the Foreign Office. January 1919.
. SECRET.
I.D.C.E., 1st Minutes.
FOREIGN OFFICE.
INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CONFERENCE ON MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS.
(War Cabinet Meeting No. 515, Minute 2.)
Minutes of an Inter-Departmental Conference held at the Foreign Office on Tuesday,
January 7, 1919.
Present:
The Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.
(in the Chair).
The Right Hon. E. S. Montagu, M.P.,
Secretary of State for India.
Mr. J. E. Shuckburgh, C.B., 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. .
Lieutenant-General Sir H. V. Cox, K C.B.,
K.C.M.G., C.S.I., Military Secretary,
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. .
Major-General W. Tftwajtes,C.B., Director
of Military Intelligence.
Lieutenant-Colonel L. Storr, C.B.
Mr. d. M. Keynes, C.B., Treasury.
Mr. G. J. Kidston, Foreign Office (Acting Secretary).
General Malleson’s The Chairman reviewed briefly the position at Askabad, where
Position in a new mixed Russian and Tartar Government had just been set up,
Trans-Caspia. which depended entirely for its maintenance on what it might receive
from General Malleson. He reminded the meeting that the Eastern
Committee had recently decided on a policy of slow withdrawal from
Trans-Caspia, and that a telegram instructing General Malleson to
remove his force at once to Meshed had been drafted, and approved
by himself and 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. , but that the War Office had raised
objection to the despatch of these instructions. The meeting had
been called to discuss this situation.
Would the establishment of this new Government with General
Malleson’s support mean fresh commitments for His Majesty’s
Government ?
Mr. Montagu considered that it would, and that our commit
ments would continue and increase until General Malleson’s force was
withdrawn. General Malleson was asking for more money, which
could not be given —was it worth while? Who were the enemy
against whom this force was being maintained ? The only possible
enemy were the Bolsheviks, but what harm could they do us in those
regions ? How could there be any danger of Bolshevik penetration
in Persia and Afghanistan ?
The Chairman raised the question of whether a point of honour
was not involved. General Malleson had given a formal promise of
support to the previous Government. Was that promise still
[987]

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Content

This file is composed of papers produced by the Foreign Office's Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs. It consists entirely of printed minutes of meetings of the conference, most of which are chaired by George Curzon.

Those attending include senior representatives of the Foreign Office, 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. (most notably the Secretary of State for India), the War Office, the Admiralty, the Air Ministry, and the Treasury (including the Chancellor of the Exchequer). Other notable figures attending include Harry St John Bridger Philby and Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell.

The meetings concern British policy in the Middle East, and mainly cover the following geographical areas: Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Trans-Caspia, Trans-Caucasia, the Caspian Sea, Palestine, Persia, Hejaz, and Afghanistan. Some of the meetings also touch on matters beyond the Middle East (e.g. wireless telegraphy in Tibet, ff 79-80).

Recurring topics of discussion include railways (chiefly in relation to Mesopotamia), Bolshevik influence in the Middle East (particularly in Persia and Trans-Caspia), and relations between King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] and Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd].

Several sets of minutes also contain related memoranda as appendices.

Extent and format
1 file (145 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 145, 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.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎front] (1/290), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/275, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100070539234.0x000002> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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