Iraq Archive relating to surveying work conducted by A. L. Holt for the Cairo-Baghdad air route, 1. [Report on two Cairo-Baghdad air route reconnaissance missions], 1921. Typescript with manuscript annotations, 34 pp. (rectos and versos), describing 'The expedition to Ma' Dak Han' (oasis near Ramadi) and the 'First Ford expedition' ('The ostensible purpose was a political mission to Nuri ibn Shalan of the Rowallah tribe', p. 11), incidents include an encounter with Arab chieftain 'Faad ul Duchaim' ('He seemed to think that he ... should receive the same consideration and subsidy as his cousin Fahad Beg ibn Hadhal whose son had taken an active part against the Turks during the war', p. 30), 2 leaves of related manuscript notes attached; 2. '2nd Ford Reconnaissance on the Baghdad-Cairo Air Route, June 6th-16th', c.1921. Manuscript, 79 ff., begins 'Purposes of the Expedition. 1. To establish by ground and air No 4 landing ground at 200 miles from Ramadi, 2. To meet the Cairo reconnaissance party at L.G. 4 and pilot them to Baghdad', describes numerous encounters with locals, e.g. 'Met a crowd of Arabs on the move. These proved to be the people of Jiza ibn Bahr. Consulted Jiza ibn Bahr himself about a guide and he produced one Zumaitan ibn Matar who proved himself excellently acquainted with the country' (f. 23), 'Met a raiding party of Arabs about 100 strong under Mutlaq ibn Thamir going to raid the Beni Sabbar people' (f. 32), 'Arrived Al Mat. Found camped there one Sheikh Mishrif al Awagi (Suwailmat) with about fifty tents but no camels. The camels had been sent away to better grazing while he remained there to retain the right to the water' (f. 35), and the airlifting of wounded sheikh Murthi al Rifadi ('an excellent piece of propaganda', f. 61); 3. 'Short Diary of Instructions & Action Taken in Connection with the Aerial Route to be Constructed between Amman and Ramadi. From 13.3.21 to [30.6.21]', 7 September 1921. Typescript, 16 ff., marked 'confidential' on title; 4. 'Report on Desert Journey to Establish L[anding] G[round] 4', from the Assistant Divisional Adviser, Ramadi, to Major Holt, 22 June 1921. Carbon typescript, 4 ff., typescript covering note attached; 5. 'Names of Places'. Carbon typescript, 3 ff., containing names and description of topographical landmarks apparently in Iraq, e.g. 'Telel Ash Shaur - Two conspicuous hills. Name said to be derived from a big meeting of all the important desert Shaikhs held some time ago', manuscript corrections in pencil; 6. Holt, A. L. Baghdad-Amman Air Route. Report on Proposed Trans-Desert Highway for Mechanical Transport. Baghdad: printed by the superintendent, Railway Press, 1922. 3 copies, folio, each in original wrappers, 9 pp., 'Confidential. Report No. 1' printed on front covers. Together with similar items relating to Holt's work on other projects: 7. 'Iraq Railways. Proposed Baghdad Haifa Railway. Notes on Estimates Drawn up from Reconnaisance [sic] Surveys with Map of Proposed Route. District Engineer, Construction and Surveys, Baghdad' [cover-title], 24th April 1930. Carbon typescript, 8 [1] ff., folding cyanotype map printed on linen (33 x 120cm, manuscript captions in red, white and blue inks, discolouration around one fold), loose in captioned folder addressed to 'District Engineer, Construction and Surveys, Baghdad'; 8. 'Hit - Baiji - Kirkuk. Railway Reconnaisance [sic]', June 1931. Carbon typescript, 21 [2] ff., 2 folding cyanotype maps, secured with grommets, wrappers and one map detached, together with various typescript mileage tables in folder with similar title to preceding item addressed to 'A. L. Holt, District Engineer, Construction and Surveys, Baghdad'; 9. 'Bahra Agreement' [concerning the Iraq-Nejd border, parties comprising Sultan 'Abd al-'Aziz of Nejd and Sir Gilbert Clayton], c.1925. 3 ff., typescript, with 6 ff. related memoranda attached; 10. Folding lithographic map of proposed oil pipelines from Naft Khaneh, Iraq, to Tripoli and Haifa (34.5 x 63.5cm, coloured, untitled); 11. 'Port d'Alexandrette. Projet', folding lithographic map of Iskenderun, modern Turkey (65 x 75cm, coloured); 12. Typescript letter to the superintending engineer, Turkish Petroleum Co. Ltd, 1928, attaching manuscript petition in Arabic from overseer 'Hamadan' and response in English from surveyor Balbhadra Singh; all typescripts and manuscripts on rectos only of foolscap sheets unless otherwise stated, most secured with old paperclips or pins with consequent rust-marks (except items 2, 3 and 7: in loose sheets) (1 folder)

Note: An engrossing collection of original documents shedding light on British efforts to establish control over the post-Ottoman Middle East in the aftermath of the Great War and the 1920 Iraqi Revolt. Plans for an air route between Cairo and Baghdad were originally drawn up in 1919 by Winston Churchill as secretary of state for air, in collaboration with Hugh Trenchard, marshal of the Royal Air Force. At the Cairo conference in March 1921, Churchill, now secretary of state for the colonies, reiterated the need for an imperial air network. ‘Preparations for the selection and marking of landing grounds across the Syrian Desert between Amman and Ramadi (on the Euphrates) had been made in March 1921, and in May, after aerial reconnaissance had ascertained the nature of the country, a Ford car convoy, supplied by air, was sent out to begin work. The progress made by June had firmly established the Cairo to Baghdad route for military purposes, and the regular air mail service, begun in August, was opened to the public by October … The chief strategic function of the air route was to move reinforcements between various theatres and hence to avoid expensive duplication. From the outset Trenchard imagined a single imperial air force, distributed like the navy in a number of fleets according to an overall plan, and linked by reliable air communications’ (Omissi, Air Power and Colonial Control: The Royal Air Force, 1919-1939, pp. 135-6). Major A. L. Holt (1896-1971) was a decorated former Royal Engineers officer who during the 1920s was employed by Iraq Railways and the Turkish Petroleum Company, and pioneered mechanised exploration in the region. In 1922 he was joined on an expedition to Wadi Sirhan by Harry St John Bridger Philby. His published works include ‘Some Journeys in the Syrian Desert’ (JRCAS, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1923), and ‘The Future of the North Arabian Desert’ (RGJ, Vol. 62, No. 4, October 1923). Nuri ibn Sha'lan, powerful chieftain of the Ruwallah tribe (see item 1), was the last major Arab leader to join the Arab Revolt. He was courted assiduously by T. E. Lawrence and the British military establishment, but his people's dependence on the markets of Damascus made him reluctant to declare firmly for either the Ottomans or the British, and after an encounter as late as June 1917 Lawrence concluded that practical support from the Ruwallah remained unlikely. In March 1918 Faisal instructed Nuri to open hostilities against the Ottomans and sent him payment of £25,000. Nuri's relations with the Ottomans disintegrated soon after. He declared war by August, and the next month led his forces in the Anglo-Arab advance on Damascus. (See Tauber, The Arab Movements in World War I, pp. 148-9.) Provenance: Apparently sometime in the personal collection of A. L. Holt (the lot including a large-format envelope addressed 'Major A. L. Holt, M.B.E, M.C., Iraq Railways, Baghdad, Iraq' and other indications of his ownership).