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File 2879/1919 Pt 3 ‘MESOPOTAMIA KURDISTAN The AQRAH Incident: Murder of Messrs Bill & Scott’ [76r] (39/170)
The record is made up of 1 item (86 folios). It was created in 14 Aug 1919-10 Apr 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
one 01 inem, prooaoi^ dabi-^r, comirrunicat ea vaiii Si'iaiidi
iinuea oi bars an mat same night* ihe ©haiKh sent over
his brother with some twenty am ea men that night ana
they aseisted by Babiicr ana their men, laid up
for the two oiiloers ©n their return irom Barman the
next morning and shot them down at ciose range* Bill
was xillea almost at once* dapt* ^cott to ex cover ot,
a small nidi close at hand and with his revolver ana a
gendarme* s rifle xept the Kurds at oay some minutes until
his ammunition was exhausted# An ii^rawi gendarme named jLtf
Abdulla bin Piro assisted Oapt* Scott ana was apparently
killed while building a ganger round him# I am proposing
a reward to his family as a marx of our esteem xor this
devotion*
Ihe two officers ha« been to Barzan uo mtoxvie?/
Aoaul Wahao Agha of xtaixhan# He naa aiways been supposed
to oe xnendiy uo uhe British Government* but the letters
attached to this report, which were found by me at Barzan
lean one to suppose that ne was particularly anti-British
It is probaoly oni? a coincidence, but a noteworthy une
that Willey and Maoaonald haa been to see him a v^ry
short time before they were assassinated*
mere is evidence to show that Me ao
concerned haa been in correspondence with the ^maaia
outlaws, 1 believe xnat itie murders were the result of
a fit of an^ar whio* is vary oimr a ot eristic of tne Kura.
3ut I am not at all sure tnau they were not in league
wxth me tribes of the boraer for a oonoerted rising agaxnst
^ne government ana that uheir outbreak was not premature,
b#xore the geneeal plans were completed, 1'his is the
opinion of ^adir Agha of Bhu^i#
with regard to i«aair dgha i believe that his
ioyalty to the Government ana his rexusai to iister, to the
voiae ox the tempter was tnu mam reason whxon oreven
About this item
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This item relates to a violent incident during which two individuals, J H Bill, Indian Civil Service, Political Officer, Mosul, and Captain K R Scott, 31st Punjabis, Indian Army, Assistant Political Officer, Aqrah [also spelled Akra and Aqra in this item], were killed ‘near Birza Kapra in Zab Valley north east of Aqrah’ (f 135), allegedly by members of the Zibar [Zebari] tribe. The papers notably cover and include:
- Drafting of the official communiqué regarding the incident, and the general coordination of communications regarding Kurdish affairs to the public in India
- Investigations into: the course of events and the political situation leading up to the deaths; possible Turkish nationalist influences; details of the murders; and locating of the bodies. Included are three reports, dated 4 November and 11 December 1919, to the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, by staff of the Office of the Political Officer, Mosul (ff 92-98 and 74-79), and a report of the funeral of Bill and Scott held on 20 December 1919 at Mosul (ff 70-71)
- The India Office’s correspondence with: Sir John Horner concerning the latter’s enquiries, on behalf of the relatives of J H Bill, into the circumstances of the deaths; and also with the father of J H Bill
- Details of the military operations and punitive measures undertaken by British forces in the Aqrah area in December 1919
- The connection of the incident with opposition to British negotiations and plans for repatriation of exiled Assyrian Christian refugees to the Amadia [Amadiya] Valley and the vicinity.
The primary correspondents are: 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 Secretary of State for India; Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; and Major C F Bill.
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- 1 item (86 folios)
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 2879/1919 Pt 3 ‘MESOPOTAMIA KURDISTAN The AQRAH Incident: Murder of Messrs Bill & Scott’ [76r] (39/170), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/833/3, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100126901398.0x0000a1> [accessed 25 July 2026]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/833/3
- Title
- File 2879/1919 Pt 3 ‘MESOPOTAMIA KURDISTAN The AQRAH Incident: Murder of Messrs Bill & Scott’
- Pages
- 57r:57v, 59r:59v, 60v:61v, 63r:79v, 80v:88v, 90r:105v, 107v:110v, 112r:137v, 138v:142v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence