Iraq

The country of Iraq was previously part of the area known as Mesopotamia. It was also known as Turkish Arabia.

Iraq's modern borders were created in 1920 by a League of Nations mandate and Iraq was placed under British control, known as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932.

The capital is Baghdad.

Also see

• Mesopotamia Campaign 1914-1918
• Indian Divisions in Mesopotamia
• Post and Telegraphs Department for information about the Indo-European Telegraph

Records

• See General Register Office for births, marriages and deaths.
• London Metropolitan Archives has a catalogue reference DL/E/E/065/MS11221 Certificates and Copy Certificates of Marriages at St. Peter's Church, Basra. 1922-8
• The BACSA Archive at the British Library Mss F370 has item 825 Iraq
  • Baghdad, civil cemetery: 1886-1980
  • Abadan, St Christopher's
  • Habbaniya
  • Kut
• A search for Baghdad in the Society of Genealogists, London online Catalogue gives the following entry:
  • Baghdad (Civil cemetery) : MIs: Asia monumental inscriptions, vol. 1 by Andrew Peake (8 pages, typescript)

The FamilySearch Library catalogue has an entry for this typescript. However it appears to be only available at the Library in Salt Lake City.

A search for Persian Gulf includes the following entry:

• Persian Gulf (& surrounds) : MIs: An Indian miscellany, consisting of genealogical & biographical notes & lists of monumental inscriptions by H Bullock and H K Percy-Smith 1941-44

• Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery is under the control of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which has a searchable database.
• British Library India Office Records catalogue entry Factory Records: Persia and the Persian Gulf IOR/G/29 1620-1822
• British Library India Office Records catalogue entry Records of the British Residency and Agencies in the Persian Gulf IOR/R/15 1763-1951. Although there were Agencies at Basra ( Basrah) and Baghdad, there are no records in this series for these Agencies.
• Finding Aid: British Colonial Policy and Intelligence Files on Asia and the Middle East, c. 1880-1950 IDC Publishers. Original records held in the British Library India Office Records. Includes a section on Iraq.
• This India List post suggests searching the National Archives database.

External links

• Mesopotamia Wikipedia
• Iraq Wikipedia
• British Mandate of Mesopotamia 1920-1932 Wikipedia
• "The Raj Reconsidered: British India’s Informal Empire and Spheres of Influence in Asia and Africa" by James Onley Asian Affairs Volume XL, no. I, March 2009 html version, original pdf
• This link is a table which shows the Persian Gulf Division of the Bombay Postal Circle (Bombay GPO) and the Sindh Postal Circle (Karachi GPO), in Basrah and Baghdad
• "Scientific Instrument with a Story to Tell" by John Packer Bulletin of the Scientific Instruments Society No. 92 (2007), pages 17-18. html version,original pdf

Briefly mentions the Indo-European Telegraph Department connecting India with Baghdad, in the early 1860’s, the route being Karachi, Gwadur (Baluchistan), Fao (now Fawr, Iraq), Basra, Baghdad, (then part of greater Turkey), and from there to Europe.

• This link (Sothebys) gives details of the papers of Sir Harford Jones. At the age of 19, Jones was posted to Basra in the service of the East India Company, to be assistant factor. He remained in the post for a decade (1783-1794). He was Resident in Baghdad from 1798 to 1804.
• This link gives details of the book Memoirs of Baghdad, Kurdistan & Turkish Arabia 1857 by J. F Jones , Indian Navy, a 1998 facsimile re-publication ,one of the volumes in a series of Bombay Government Records. It includes "Memoir on the Province of Baghdad, 1855" which gives much information about Baghdad at that time. Available at the British Library
• Iraq Britishempire.co.uk
• The British in Mesopotamia stanford.edu
• Old Magazine Articles: Iraq 1920s oldmagazinearticles.com
• The British in Mesopotamia/Iraq casahistoria.net
• "Tea and travellers - Baghdad's lost British past Recalling the heyday of the British Embassy" The Times February 28, 2003
• "Echoes of the Past", a Baghdad graveyard Guardian.co.uk 22 June 2004
• Grandpa’s Journal Harry James Goulter Pearman was with the Army Audit Staff in Mesopotamia. Most of the entries are for 1921. (Note: It is difficult to navigate this site for some/all browsers. The dates of the entries of the diary are in the top LH corner of the Home webpage. The links for entries from the journal are in the format http://www.mespot.co.uk/journal/ab.cd.ef.shtml , where, for a particular entry, ab is the year, cd is the month, ef is the first mentioned day in the month (all two digits)). A sample page is Sunday 18 December 1921

Historical books online

• A Handbook of Mesopotamia by Admiralty War Staff Intelligence Division. 1916-1917. In four volumes, (plus a supplementary volume), the first contained matters of a general nature, the other volumes contain a description of the river and land routes. Maps were issued separately.
  • Hathi Trust Digital Library: Volume I: General August 1916. Volume III: Central Mesopotamia with Southern Kurdistan and the Syrian Desert January 1917. Volume IV: Northern Mesopotamia and Central Kurdistan April 1917
  • Qatar Digital Library: Volume I, 2nd edition November 1918. Volume II: Irak, the Lower Karun and Luristan (C.B. 294) May 1917. Volume III January 1917. Supplement. Corrections and additions to Volume III (C.B. 295A) June 1918. Volume IV April 1917. Maps are included.
  • Library of Congress/American Memory: Volume I 2nd edition November 1918. Volume II, Provisional Issue May 1917. Volume III January 1917. Volume IV April 1917
  • A "Gazetteer of Towns" is included in Volumes II, III, and IV.
    • Volume II: Irak, the Lower Karun and Luristan" "Gazetteer of Towns" page 371. Qatar Digital Library
    • Volume III: Central Mesopotamia with Southern Kurdistan and the Syrian Desert "Gazetteer of Towns", page 350. Hathi Trust Digital Library.
    • Volume IV: Northern Mesopotamia and Central Kurdistan "Gazetteer of Towns", page 418. Hathi Trust Digital Library.
  • Maps. National Library of Australia. Map of City of Baghdad

Outline Map showing Routes: Volume II, Outline Map showing Routes: Volume III, Outline Map showing Routes: Volume IV

• Railways in Western Asia by Lieutenant-Colonel H Picot Indian Army (Retired). Published by the Central Asian Society, London 1904 Archive.org.
• To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in disguise : with historical notices of the Kurdish tribes and the Chaldeans of Kurdistan by E B Soane c 1914 Archive.org.
• Twin Rivers A Brief History Of Iraq 1943 by Seton Lloyd (catalogue entry contains Hostory). Full title: Twin Rivers, a Brief History of Iraq from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. Pdf download, Digital Library of India. Also available in some download formats on Archive.org, including Djvu and Torrent.