Papers relating to the Mesopotamia Expedition [‎348r] (697/1022)

Content

The file consists of two physical files of papers (Mss Eur F112/163 and 164), relating to the Mesopotamia [Iraq] Expedition of the First World War.

The first physical file (Mss Eur F112/163, ff 1-270), consists of: letters to Lord Curzon; printed copies of letters and telegrams, including telegrams from General Sir John (Eccles) Nixon, commanding the Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia, to the Chief of the General Staff, and between the Secretary of State for India, Austen Chamberlain, and the Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge; Committee of Imperial Defence papers; 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. Military Department papers, including a ‘Précis of Correspondence regarding the Mesopotamian Expedition-Its Genesis and Development’; some handwritten notes by Curzon; and other reports.

The other reports include:

• ‘REPORT BY Major-General C.V.F. [Charles Vere Ferrers] Townshend, C.B. [Companion of the Bath], D.S.O. [Distinguished Service Order], on the operations of the Troops under his Command from 11th November to 3rd December 1915.’, forwarded by Lieutenant-General Sir Percy (Henry Noel) Lake, Commanding Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’, General Staff, India, 8-9 November 1915
• ‘Collection of Papers relating to the Operations in Mesopotamia up to 5th December 1915’, with an addendum
• ‘MESOPOTAMIAN OPERATIONS’, typed notes by Austen Chamberlain, 14 July 1916.

The letters to Curzon are from correspondents including: Hardinge; Townshend, commander of the 6th (Poona) Division; Chamberlain; Valentine Chirol; General Sir William Robertson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff; Lovat Fraser; Colonel Francis Richard Maunsell; and Percy Zachariah Cox, Chief Political Officer, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’.

The papers discuss matters including: the outbreak of the War to the occupation of Basra; the Battle of Ctesiphon; the occupation and siege of Kut-el-Amara [Al-Kut]; the advance on Bagdad [Baghdad]; the alleged underfunding of the Expedition and the breakdown of the transport, supply and medical departments; the views of Sir George Buchanan, adviser to the military authorities in Mesopotamia, on the need to improve the port of Busra [Basra] and lines of communication with the front; Lovat Fraser’s opinion that Lake should be replaced as commander-in-chief of the Mesopotamian Force by Sir James Willcocks; Maunsell’s views on a scheme for the division of Turkey-in-Asia [the Asian territories of the Ottoman Empire] after the War; and the War Committee approving in principle the transfer of responsibility for direction of operations in Mesopotamia from the Government of India to the War Office.

The second physical file (Mss Eur F112/164, ff 271-551), consists of reports, memoranda, and other papers, mostly of the Mesopotamia Commission, the War Cabinet, 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. , and letters to Curzon, relating to the report of the Mesopotamia Commission. It notably includes the following:

• A copy and proof copy of ‘MESOPOTAMIA COMMISSION. REPORT of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in MESOPOTAMIA, together with a Separate Report by Commander J. [Josiah Clement] Wedgwood, D.S.O., M.P., and Appendices.’, 1917 (ff 286-383, and ff 384-481)
• Memorandum by Curzon on the report of the Mesopotamia Commission, printed for the War Cabinet, 4 June 1917 (ff 484-489)
• Notes of a meeting held on 18 June 1917 at the Privy Council Office relating to disciplinary action in connection with the conclusions of the Report of the Mesopotamia Commission (ff 496-502)
• ‘Correspondence regarding the Deficiency of Troops in India.’, by General Edmund (George) Barrow, 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. , 4 August 1916 (ff 527-541).

The letters to Curzon are from correspondents including: George Hamilton, Chairman of the Mesopotamia Commission; Chamberlain; Edwin Samuel Montagu, Secretary of State for India from 17 July 1917; and Barrow.

Extent and format

2 files (551 folios)

Arrangement

The papers are roughly in chronological order from the front to the rear of each file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: this file consists of two physical files. The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio of the first physical file with 1 and terminates at the last folio of the second physical file with 551; 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. Two additional foliation sequences are also present in parallel between ff 1-270 and ff 271-551; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

Pagination: the file also contains multiple and intermittent original printed pagination sequences.

(A previous foliation sequence (in the bottom right corner of each folio) on Mss Eur F112/163, ff 1-270, begins at folio 3, which suggests that there may be two folios missing from this file.)

Written in

English in Latin script

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