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Constructors in a foreign land: Messrs. Lynch & Co. on the Bakhtiari road 1897–1913

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 54; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00076791.2011.631122

1743-7938

David McLean,

Historical Economic and Social Studies

Abstract With railways prohibited in Persia before 1914, roads were the only means to improve the country's transport infrastructure and to allow the inland movement of merchandise. The experience of Lynch & Co. when constructing and operating the Bakhtiari road provides a detailed insight into the difficulties which could face British-owned firms abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries asits commercial activities became entangled with those of rival enterprises, localpolitics and diplomatic anxieties, and as investment decisions and merger negotiations had to be undertaken amid an increasingly uncertain business climate. Keywords: British foreign investmentfree-standing companiesroad buildingshippingPersiaHenry Lynch Notes 1. National Archives (hereafter NA), London, Grey Papers, FO 800/70, memorandum by Lynch, 23 February 1906, enclosed in Lynch to Grey, 2 March 1906. 2. NA, Hardinge Papers, Preece to Hardinge, 27 March 1897. 3. North Yorkshire Record Office, Northallerton, Gordon Papers, ZCM, Report, 9 January 1891. 4. Gordon Papers, ZCM, Rabino to Mackenzie, 3 May 1893. 5. Hongkong Bank Group, London, Imperial Bank of Persia Records (hereafter IBP), 10, Griffin to Rabino, 19 November 1890. 6. IBP, 10, Newell to Rabino, 9 February 1893; Special Letter, Newell to Rabino, 14 September 1893; and, 10, note by Road Committee, enclosed in Newell to Rabino, 16 November 1893. 7. India Office Library (hereafter IOL), London, Hamilton Papers, mss.eur. C125/1, Hamilton to Elgin, 6 December 1895 and 14 February 1896. 8. IOL, Curzon Papers, mss.eur. F111/159, Curzon to Hamilton, 11 April 1900. 9. NA, Hardinge Papers, vol. 2, Durand to Hardinge, 11 July 1897. 10. NA, Foreign Office Records, FO 60/631, Lynch to Maxwell, 28 December 1897. 11. Hardinge Papers, vol. 2, Hardinge to Sanderson, 1 February 1898. 12. IBP, 2, Griffin memorandum, 8 December 1898. 13. Foreign Office Confidential Print (hereafter CP), 7394, Picot report, 17 March 1900, and E&TSNCo. to Foreign Office, 2 March 1900. 14. Curzon Papers, mss.eur. F111/149, Lansdowne to Curzon, 5 May 1901. 15. Gordon papers, ZCM, Gordon memorandum, 28 September 1901. 16. London Metropolitan Archives (hereafter LMA), Gray, Mackenzie & Co. Records, ms.27734 and ms.27734A, mss. histories of steam navigation on the Tigris and of Gray, Mackenzie & Co. 17. IBP, X1/8, Griffin to Gordon, 8 January 1902. 18. Gordon Papers, ZCM, Reports, 9 January 1891, 7 July 1892, and 13 January 1893. 19. IBP, X1/8, Newell to Dawes, 24 January 1902, and Gordon Papers, ZCM, Mills to Imperial Bank, 3 February 1902. 20. FO 60/661, Griffin to Hardinge, 5 June 1902. 21. IBP, X1/9, Griffin to Hardinge, 7 June 1902. 22. FO 60/678, Lynch to Lansdowne, 11 February 1903; and Sanderson memorandum, 12 February 1903. 23. FO 60/678, Sanderson to Davidson, 14 April 1903; and minutes by Sanderson and Lansdowne on Mackenzie to Sanderson, 16 April 1903. 24. LMA, Gray, Dawes & Co. Records, ms.27718, Dawes to Mackenzie, 22 June 1903. 25. Gray, Dawes & Co. Records, ms.27717. 26. IBP, 4, Mackenzie to Hardinge, 3 December 1903. 27. IBP, 5, Mackenzie to Barnes, 21 January 1907. 28. IBP, X1/11, Griffin to Gordon, 6 January 1904. 29. IBP, 4, Newell to Griffin, 29 January 1904. 30. Parliamentary Accounts and Papers (hereafter PP), (1904) XCV, Report by H.W. Maclean, June 1904. 31. PP (1907) XCI, Consular report on the trade of Arabistan for 1906–07, 21 March 1907; and FO 371/104, minute on Grant-Duff to Grey, 18 January 1906. 32. Grey Papers, FO 800/70, Lynch to Grey, 23 February and 2 March 1906. 33. FO 371/104, minutes by Hardinge on Persian Transport Co. to Foreign Office, 29 May 1906, and on Lynch to Foreign Office, 30 May 1906. 34. FO 371/305, minute by Hardinge on E&TSNCo. to Foreign Office, 7 May 1907. Details of the subsidies paid to the company are from FO 371/114, minute by Hardinge on E&TSNCo. to Foreign Office, 14 November 1906; FO 371/305, Spring-Rice to Grey, with minutes, 16 July 1907; and FO 371/305, minutes on E&TSNCo. to Foreign Office, 1February 1907. 35. FO 371/104, minute by Hardinge on Grant-Duff to Grey, 20 May 1906; and FO 371/303, minute by Hardinge on Persian Transport Co. to Foreign Office, 30 January 1907. 36. Cambridge University Library, Browne papers, Persia: letters from Moore, Lynch and Williams, Lynch to Browne, 16 July 1909. 37. IBP, X7/10, Rabino to Newell, 20 December 1905. 38. Gordon Papers, ZCM, Maclean to Gordon, 3 June 1910. 39. FO 371/304, minute by Hardinge on Gordon to Hardinge, 5 May 1907. 40. FO 371/310, minute by Maxwell on Spring-Rice to Grey, 14 June 1907. 41. FO 371/960, minutes on E&TSNCo. to Foreign Office, 5 May 1910; and FO 371/1433, Foreign Office to Greenway, 19 April 1912. 42. FO 371/1186, Greenway to Foreign Office, 10 August 1911. 43. FO 371/1725, Oliphant memorandum, 10 June 1913; and FO 371/2061, Oliphant memorandum, 19 March 1914. 44. CP, 8730, Hardinge to Grey, 23 December 1905. 45. FO 371/714, minute by Hardinge on Barclay to Grey, 18 February 1909. 46. Browne Papers, correspondence with Captain C.B. Stokes, Stokes to Browne, 24 September 1912. 47. Browne Papers, correspondence Lynch/Lord Weardale, Lynch to Weardale, 22 January 1912. 48. NA, Lansdowne Papers, FO 800/137, Hardinge to Lansdowne, 6 January 1902. 49. Curzon Papers, mss.eur. F111/160, Curzon to Lansdowne, 15 June 1901. 50. FO 60/656, Dawes to Foreign Office, 19 March 1902.