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Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [105r] (209/290)
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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
* A'<‘ & . r, \ MS. JSul. Ft
This Documerit is the Property of His Britannic Majestys Government" ^
— — ( (
Printed for the Foreign Office. January 1920.
SECRET.
[I.D.C.E., 34th Minutes.]
FOREIGN OFFICE.
INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CONFERENCE ON MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS.
Minutes of a Meeting held at the Foreign Office on Monday, January 12, 1920,
at 4 p.m.
Present:
The Right Hon. Aubten Chamberlain, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer
(in the Chair).
The Right Hon. Lord Hardinge of
Penshurst, K.G., G.C.B., G.C.S.L,
G.C.M.G.
[Knight] Grand Cross of [the Order of] St Michael and St George (accolade).
. &c.. Permanent Under-
Secretary of State, Foreign Office.
Sir Arthur Hirtzel, K.C.B., Assistant
Under-Secretary of State,
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.
.
General Sir Alexander Cobbe, V.C.,
E.C.B., 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.
.
Mr. L. Oliphant, C.B., Foreign Office.
Mr. E. Phipps, C.M.G., Foreign Office.
Mr. R. H. Hoare, Foreign Office.
Major R. McDonell, C.B.E., Foreio-n
Office.
Situation in the
Black Sea,
Caucasus, and
North Persia.
The Right Hon. Winston Churchill,
M.P., Secretary of State for War.
Field-Marshal Sir H. H. Wilson, Bart.,
G.C.B., D.S.O., Chief of Imperial
General Staff, War Office.
Major-General Sir Wm. Thwaites,
K.C.M.G., C.B., Director of Military
Intelligence, War Office.
Rear-Admiral Sir Osmond de B. Brock,
K.C.B., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., Deputy
Chief of Naval Staff, Admiralty.
Captain Barry Domvile, C.M.G.,
Admiralty.
Air-Commodore J. M. Steel, C.M.G.,
C.B.F., Director, Operations and
Intelligence, Air Ministry.
Major H. W. Young, D.S.O. (Secretary).
THE Conference had before them telegram No. 19 of the
10th January, 1920, from Lord Derby to the Foreign Office, with
the telegrams therein referred to, and the most recent telegrams on
the subject under discussion.
Mr. Austen Chamberlain took the chair at Lord Hardinge’s
request, and said that as tne Conference had been summoned by the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs he would ask Lord Hardinge
to open the proceedings by making a brief statement.
Lord Hardinge said that the Conference had met for the purpose
of finding an answer to the question of what measures should be
undertaken by His Majesty’s Government or the Allies to stop the
Bolshevik onslaught on the Caucasian Republics, Persia, and India.
He informed the Conference that the Foreign Office had, on the
same morning, communicated to the Republics of Georgia and
Azerbaijan a de facto recognition which had been unanimously
r2021] B
About this item
- 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 View the complete information for this record
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Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [105r] (209/290), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/275, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100070539236.0x00000a> [accessed 7 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/275
- Title
- Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:144v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence