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File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [52r] (103/484)
The record is made up of 1 item (242 folios). It was created in 1 Nov 1919-20 May 1924. 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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
1
Wr " ,- * 1
the discussion of any of its consequences.
This might be read as suggesting that the fact
that the United States did not take part in the
discussions of the Turkish peace settlement was
due to some action on the part of the other
Allied and Associated Powers. I arn anxious that
it should be generally understood that this is
not so$o Ihe absence of United States representa
tives from the discussions which resulted in the
Turkish oeace settlement was due .to the decision
of the United States Government, and you will
remember that when the representatives of the
Powers concerned met in London at the beginning
of last year to draw up the terms of peace to be
presented to Turkey, I had the pleasure of ex
tending to Your Excellency a special invitation to
represent the United States Government in their
deliberations, but your instructions did not permit
you to accept this invitation. I need hardly say
that His Majesty*s Government and I am sure I can
say the same of all the Powers concerned, deeply
regretted that they had to face the very difficult
problems presented by the Turkish peace settlement
without the counsel and assistance of the United
States Government. But the responsibility tor this
state of things is not theirs, and it is impossible
for them to admit suggestion/ which I gather to
be-made-ln Mrthat the United States
Government has been debarred^by the action oi the
Powers concerned^ from participation in the dis
cussion of the consequences of the late conflict.
6. The terms of the mandates in particular
have, in accordance with the Covenant, now
been submitted to the Council of
the/
About this item
- Content
The item comprises correspondence and other papers concerning oil exploration in territories that were part of the Ottoman Empire prior to the First World War. The item includes: reports on exploratory drilling being undertaken by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) at Naft Khana [Nafţ Khānah], in territory transferred from Persia [Iran] to Mesopotamia [Iraq] in 1914 in response to recommendations made by the Turco-Persian Boundary Commission; the question of whether APOC drilling activity at Naft Khana should be paid for out of military funds, given Britain’s military occupation and administration of Mesopotamia during and after the First World War; oil concessions in Mesopotamia in relation to the San Remo Oil Agreement (1920), signed between the British and French Governments; a 1920 survey report by the APOC geologist, William Robert Smellie, entitled ‘Oil in relation to Fars anticlines’ (ff 132-139), and a response by the Officiating Director of the Geological Survey of India, Edwin Hall Pascoe, that disagrees with Smellie’s findings (ff 100-101); British Government policy on mining and oil prospecting in Palestine; and correspondence exchanged between representatives of the Government of the United States and the Foreign Office, relating to the refusal to permit American companies to conduct oil surveys in Mesopotamia.
The item’s principal correspondence are: the Foreign Office; HM Petroleum Executive, the Civil Commissioner in Baghdad, Arnold Talbot Wilson; and representatives of the Government of the United States.
The item includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (242 folios)
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [52r] (103/484), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/557/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100076914801.0x000073> [accessed 4 August 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/557/2
- Title
- File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’
- Pages
- 1r:6v, 8r:15v, 19r:28r, 30r:47v, 49r:56v, 59r:60v, 62r:63r, 65r:65v, 68r:74v, 77r:105v, 107r:131v, 140r:146v, 149r:163v, 174r:187v, 190r:190v, 193r:198v, 200r:201v, 203r:212v, 214r:229v, 231r:242v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence