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Middle East Committee and Eastern Committee [8r] (15/42)
The record is made up of 1 file (21 folios). It was created in 18 Jan 1918-31 Dec 1918. 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.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
Printed for the War Cabinet. February 1918.
SECRET.
M.E.C. 4th Minutes.
WAR CABINET.
MIDDLE EAST COMMITTEE.
Minutes of a Meeting of the Middle East Committee held ai the Privy Council Office
on Monday, February 18, 1918, at 6 p.m.
Present :
The Right lion. Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.
(in the Chair).
The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, O.M., M.P.
The Right Hon. Lord Hardinge of Penshurst, K.G., G.C.B., G.C.S.I.,
G.C.M.G.
[Knight] Grand Cross of [the Order of] St Michael and St George (accolade).
, G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., I.S.O.
The Ricrht Hon. Lord Islington,
G.C.M.G.
[Knight] Grand Cross of [the Order of] St Michael and St George (accolade).
, D.S.O.
Colonel Sir Mark Sykes, Bart., M.P.
Major-General Sir G. M. W. Macdonogh, K.C.M.G., C.B.
Mr. J. E. Shuckburgh,
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.
.
Captain the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, M.P. (Secretary).
There were also present :
Sir William Clark, K.C.S.I.
Captain G. A. Lloyd, M.P. •
Mr. Alwyn Parker, C.B., C.M.G.
♦
Mesopotamia. T H E Committee had before them a note by 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.
, dated
6th February, 1918, on the subject of the Report of the Mesopotamia
Trade (Commissioners (M.E.C. 72); also correspondence that Lad
passed between Lord Hardinge and Lord Inchcape (M.E.C. 90).
Lord Curzon stated that he gathered that 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.
took
a favourable view of the proposal that Lord Inchcape should be given
a monopoly of navigation rights of the River 1 igris and facilities for
the immediate establishment of banking operations at Baghdad.
This proposal was put forward on two grounds —
Firstly, it was desirable that British commercial and financial
institutions should be established in Mesopotamia forthwith
so as to anticipate the creation of German and Japanese
interests.
Secondly, that if any concessions were now to be guaranteed,
Lord Inchcape’s firm had claims on the ground that such
concessions as were now asked for had been nearly
completed by negotiations with the Turkish Government
in the summer of 1914.
[195—4]
About this item
- Content
This file relates to two War Cabinet committees: the Middle East Committee (originally named the Mesopotamian Administration Committee), and the Eastern Committee, both chaired by George Curzon.
The first half of the file consists almost entirely of printed minutes of meetings of the Middle East Committee, dated 19 January, 26 January, 2 February, and 18 February 1918 respectively (ff 2-9). The main topics of discussion in these minutes are British policy in Palestine and future British policy in Mesopotamia.
The second half of the file contains correspondence received by Curzon regarding the workings of the Eastern Committee, which inherited the responsibilities of the Middle East Committee (ff 10-21). The correspondents are as follows: Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, War Cabinet; Edwin Samuel Montagu, Secretary of State for India; Robert Cecil, Foreign Office. The letters discuss the dissemination of the committee's minutes among military representatives, the frequency and attendees of committee meetings, and whether the committee should be severed from the War Cabinet and absorbed by the Foreign Office's recently created Middle East Department. One letter touches on Anglo-Persian relations.
Also included is a note by Curzon, dated 27 October 1918, regarding a memorandum from the advisory committee of the Foreign Office's Eastern Department (ff 17-18).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (21 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 final folio with 21; 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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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/273
- Title
- Middle East Committee and Eastern Committee
- Pages
- 1r:21v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence