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File 301/1921 'MESOPOTAMIA: INTELLIGENCE REPORTS' [122r] (254/586)
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.
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the Baghshahi,
ShaiMi Juwi of the Bani Lam who is desirous of farming
lands "by lease from the lali. The arrangement 7 /ould not be satis
factory
An East India Company trading post.
siiice it is doubtful whether the Wali has a title to the ■*
whole Ox the extension lands which he claims and part of them fall
into the Ghuraibah muqata'ah famed by another Bani Lam 3hai3di.
20. LULA I If . Levies are relieving British forces at Hamadi Hit.
21. Xn consequence of the Alfhwan attack on the UbaniEnarj a number
of Grammar Uhaikhs fled to Bah ad Beg ibn Hadhdhal, Muslat ibn
Shuraim, Tais ibn Jibrin, Sa T id ibn ’Ali, 'Aqab ibn ^jil and Ibn
’Ayish are mentioned, about 5,000 tents in all, of the ’Abdah
section. They are anxious to cross the Euphrates into the Jazirah
where they will probably join Ibn Suqi, a Shaikh of the Shamroar of
Jazirah, 1 Abdah section, who has not gone north with the rest of
the tribe and is now near Tikrit. ’Aqab ibn ’Ajil has already
crossed. Fahad Beg would have liked to have prevented them from
crossing, but there being no practical possibility of doing so,
permission was given under conditions, one of which was the payment
of Kodah to the Kamadi Administration. This brought in a nice
little windfall.
22. Fahad Beg has received a letter from Ibn Gha’lan asking him
to let bye-gones be bye-gones, to which Fahad Beg has agreed.
23. KIRKUK . The tribal situation is not very satisfactory. - The
old troubles between the ’Ubaid and the Baiyat (in which a 1 ’Asi i\xi
Shaikh Husain al 'Mi of the 'tTbaid is the chief offender) crop up
anew, and the differences between the Baiyat and the 'Azzah are
still unsettled. The Dilo and Luhaib outlaws, offenders in last
year's disturbances, defy capture in the Jabal Hanrin.
24. aRBXL . The Surchi chiefs (see Ho. 12 ,para.43) were bombed
in the first week of May at Batas, Khurra, Kandil and ^arain. ihe
two insurgent shaikhs, -Ubaidullah and Raqib, fled across the Zab.
25. News was received that Nuri ibn Rawil Agha, a former Levy
officer, who had been at the bottom of the disturbances in Rowanduz
in 1920 and the early part of 1921, had returned there,
consequence of this information Rowanduz was bombed 6n May
26. COTTON . Excellent progress is reported in the 300 acres
of cotton which are being cultivated * the Dulaim on the Saqlawiyah
canal. Elsewhere the demand for seed is helow expectations. 2h*
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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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