Sources for Iran (formerly Persia)

Sources for Iran (formerly Persia)

<h3>General</h3> <p>There was a very substantial British presence in Iran in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular, some areas on the Persian Gulf were at times virtually a British protectorate; the central government in Tehran had limited control of some provinces. Persia was officially neutral in the First World War; which in practice simply meant that British, German, Russian and Turkish agents and troops were all able to <br /> operate on its territory. <br /> <br /> Denis Wright, <i>The English Amongst the Persians during the Qajar Period 1787-1921 </i>(Heinemann 1977), is very good on the background. <br /> <br /> Stella Colwell, <i>Dictionary of Genealogical Sources in the PRO (1992)</i> and <i>Tracing your Ancestors in the PRO (4th edition 1990)</i> both list a number of consular BMD records for various places in Iran among Foreign Office records in the National Archives (TNA):-</p> <ul> <li>FO 923/1-25 - B 1903-1950, M 1895-1950, D 1889-1950, at various places.</li> <li>FO 560/1-3 - B, C, M, D 1849-1895, B 1881-1947 and register of British subjects, 1917-1946, at Bushire.</li> <li>FO 799/34-38 - B 1892-1950, M 1893-1951, D 1892-1943, and lists of British subjects 1926-1927, at Isfahan.</li> <li>FO 451/1-9 - B 1851-1951 (with gaps), M 1850-1950, D 1882-1931, 1939-1944, and other documents, at Tabriz.</li> </ul> <p>In principle these registers ought to be duplicated in the Consular returns kept by the GRO and now indexed online (among the "marriage records 1796-2005" indexed at <a class="url" href="http://www.findmypast.co.uk/">Findmypast</a>, and presumably also on the other sites that have the GRO indexes). <br /> <br /> There are also other foreign returns in TNA in RG32-36, which may be worth checking; these, or at least some of them, are online with the nonconformist records at <a class="url" href="http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/">The Genealogist</a>.</p>