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.
• 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
• The Agatha Christie mysteries Murder in Mesopotamia, first published 1936 “dedicated to my many archaeological friends in Iraq and Syria” and They Came to Baghdad, first published 1951 and dedicated to “All my friends in Baghdad” give background information about the lives of expatriates in Iraq, the author being married to an archaeologist working in the area. Available to buy through the FIBIS Amazon Shop Murder in Mesopotamia, They Came to Baghdad