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File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS' [59v] (129/586)
The record is made up of 1 volume (289 folios). It was created in 15 Nov 1920-31 Oct 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
wJiicii was little short ot nonsense after all the rigmarole about a consti-
tutional, representative, etc. government, the next line provided that it should
also be a government unfettered by any ties which, as these critics observed
was a tyranny. Both the Al ‘ Iraq and the Lisan al Arab contained scathing
articles on the subject m their issue of July 30. Eaisal treated the whole meh
ter as comparatively negligible. He remarked that once the oath of alWianet*
was taken the conditions which accompanied it were a dead letter, but he *ent
tor Muhammad Sadr in the evening and told him that he gave him three davs
to reconsider his attitude. If at the end of that time he continued his attemnt
to spoke the wheels of the State. Faisal would hold that though his retmTto
ike Iraq with himself had constituted something like a personal
on the part of the Amir, that guarantee would be abrogated and fhe lavid
would have to take the legal consequences of his action. He warned Ymrf
“ k ie ”' anne 1 ' - This and the Amir’s speech to the Christians m
-July 30 have temporarily ended the matter. E ns Jn
Wliet ^fr Faisal’s warning to Muhammad Sadr will ultimatelv
• f freshen* 0 fa*
that any member who disobeys the regulations Vthe’naT* ? ln “ !,e P rovl<I «
ejected from it and subsequently be snM.nlT, “ ■ r ],ar * y ? haH , at “tee be
is tactfully unstated. ' subject to punishment—by what ag.ency
V^ex^ses S
army who believe him to have po-ket^d 1^. m ° St ° f t ¥ officers of the Sharifian
adventure in the spring of 1920 and kilo^h - SU1 ? S ? f m °? ey durin ^ th,e Hair
pay of the French: ’ and kno ^ hlm to have been recently in the
threatens to swamp 1 iis ^vi th 1 01 .' tke strait ness of existence in Hail
iiadr al Eashid a membel of tit IT" The most recent arrival L
Appendix 1). Thi“e camels IX X • °* tlle Rasilid family tee
six horses and Bad/s brother ‘ 41 d J Bn Pl0priate lmmber of camei
Hillak; efforts are being made to reHn t^?? ^ at P re ^t stranded m
a leady contains -16 souls. Badr left Hail Sf iei ® as the official guest house
brings no letters from Ibn Bash id ami +l E ! 01 .' e th e city was besieged. He
Obscure, Iterbably simply to present
the fit de /| m V u h e uter “"the etfetlthmFai'' > y a Rotation from
o- d r ts °t tocal newspapers and informed 11 Sa A 011 , 118 arr ival summoned
kyria from Mesopotamia. The three m tjlat be hoped to reconquer
ouuLmI " r t ,"" 1 '' I / , publish.! .1.
b mself to^the^e Iren ^ G^nintentlias befn'ext^ ^ aisal in hls public
• hiBis £
SSSrSliSsSpSuS”
across from the Sv that mighty raider ‘ Audali ) ^ 1 } vlien the encamp
That‘Amaratsnef 1 ^^ 16 on of his cm W ^ Tdl > wh ° bad come
received a severe bulW J** be j tln8> otf Abu Tai but in fj ex P et btions.
camp at Mat, bent on a A few hours later Atffif ^ Shaikh 2durdH
of British officers retnvr aL ftal, not on a warlike en+ 1 V3si t° rs reached the
journey from ‘ Amman tnTt ^ ^ to ‘ Amman after }!! lpriSe ’ namei J a party
put to UiSeful purpose* i cl agiidad and opened a +t» q i made the pioneer
tieal Officer Irom B a flltllle ' bn the partv we t^st may be
their Chief, Fa ha “ A \? ows K British Poll
tmmd Shaikh Murdhi lv/n ? ad bdhal, down to all +1 f the * Amarat from
«end him aid. At the Z$ 8 *V m tent , dressed hi e se f tlon Baders. He .
aeroplanes which had left C • le „ lle xt stage the part A P r °mised to
Murdhi^s plight and K C ? 3I 1 ° for Baghdad thA ^ f Brit ish cars met ike
3 Accor*ugfy n tt , * e be carrieTT’, 8 ” 6 tile of
Picked up the wounded sSn ’" '^i SWept <,ow “ on m 'm hos P it al in Bagh-
“ amVal and br °^ ht «*» "H^fnrrrtW^dto aZmS
About this item
- Content
This volume contains the Intelligence Reports of Sir Percy Cox, High Commissioner for Mesopotamia [also written as Iraq in this volume], based in Baghdad, covering the period 15 November 1920 to 15 September 1921. They largely relate to: the political situation in Mesopotamia and the surrounding region; the formation and proceedings of the provisional government; the events leading up to the creation of Mandatory Iraq [also known as the Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration] and the election and appointment of Faisal [Fayṣal bin Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] as the first King of Iraq [Fayṣal I].
The Intelligence Reports are numbered and appear to have been issued at two-week intervals. This volume contains the reports numbered 1-3, 9-19 and 21. There is no explanation in the volume regarding the reason for the absent reports. The format of the reports is a mixture of printed and copy typescript. Each report is preceded by a covering circular issued by the office of the High Commissioner indicating the British Government departments and the officers and departments in the Middle East to which the report was copied.
Report Nos. 1-3 are preceded by an assessment of the political situation described in the Intelligence Report, written by Major R Marrs.
The reports generally comprise the following sections:
- A summary of the report (from report No. 14 onwards only)
- An account of the proceedings of the Council of Ministers
- Analysis of current public opinion and allegiances, (notably an analysis of public opinion on the Amir [Emir] Faisal and his arrival in Mesopotamia, including a reference to his 'personal magnetism', f 88), in report Nos 16-19
- Notes on provincial affairs
- Notes on the situation at the frontiers
- Extracts of 'Iraq Police Abstracts of Intelligence' (reports No. 9-14 only).
Other subjects notably covered in various reports include:
- Assyrian, Armenian and Urumiyan [Urmian] refugees (report Nos. 2 and 19)
- Perceived foreign influences in Iraq (report Nos. 2 and 3)
- The withdrawal of Saiyid [Sayyid] Talib Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. [Sayyid Ṭālib bin Rajab al-Naqīb] from the Government and Baghdad (report No. 12)
- Kurdistan (report Nos. 12-14)
- Turkish and Kurdish Frontiers (report No. 12)
- Dair al Zor [Deir ez-Zor] (report Nos. 1 and 12)
- Notes on 'Internal Affairs' (Nos. 18 and 19)
- Analysis of the referendum result which confirmed the election of Faisal as Iraq's first monarch (report No. 19)
- The formation of King Faisal's first cabinet (report No. 21).
Appendices are included with some reports, usually comprising copies of the High Commissioner's proclamations or communications 'to the people of Iraq' or documents relevant to the particular report (notably 'Provisional scheme for the re-organisation of the law courts' and 'Report of the committee constituted for studying the irrigation problem in Mesopotamia' in report No. 9).
Each report is concluded with a Supplement or Press Bureau Report, comprising extensive summaries and extracts of newspaper articles published in the local and 'foreign' (local region mainly) press. Notable publications cited are: Al 'Iraq , Al Fallah Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. , Al Dijlah , and (Syrian publication) Lissan al 'Arab.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (front of the volume).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (289 folios)
- Arrangement
The reports are arranged mostly in numerical/chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. Report No. 18 is followed by Report No. 21 and then Report No. 19 which is the last report in the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 284; 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. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and two ending flyleaves. The sequence contains one foliation anomaly: f 267a.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS' [59v] (129/586), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/962, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100111165834.0x000082> [accessed 10 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/962
- Title
- File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:ii-v, 1r:11r, 12v:13r, 20r:26v, 32v:34v, 35v:49v, 53v:57v, 59r:61r, 70v:74r, 75r:79r, 88r:94v, 99v:103v, 105r:112r, 113v:125v, 127v:128v, 129v:150v, 154v, 155v:171v, 178v:181v, 183v:190v, 192v:219v, 222v:246v, 249v:260r, 261r:264v, 265v, 267v, 267ar:267av, 268r:284v, iii-r:iv-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence