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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TTLLC.O. 885

15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

1

GENTLEMEN,

No. 233.

(GENERAL)

FOREIGN OFFICE to LAW OFFICERS.

[Status of Persons of British origin resident in. Turkey.]

Foreign Office, May 5, 1903.

I HAVE the honour to transmit to you, by direction of the Marquess of Lans- downe, a series of papers (in print), dealing with the status of persons of British origin who are permanently resident in the Ottoman Empire.

There have been foreign communities resident in the Turkish dominions ever since the fall of Constantinople, and several British communities of this description have been in existence for a prolonged period. Families which have always regarded themselves as British have been settled in Turkey in some cases for as many as ten generations past, and, though in the great majority of cases the members of these families have been born abroad, they have always in practice been treated as British subjects, and of recent years registered under the Ottoman Orders in Council accordingly.

Returns showing the numbers and names of persons registered as (1) British subjects, and (2) as British-protected persons in the Ottoman dominions, and the grounds upon which they were so registered, were prepared in 1887-89, and will be found in the inclosed volume of Confidential Print (5968). It will be seen that the number of persons thus registered with their families, by reason of their ultimate British descent, is very considerable, and probably amounts to some thousands.

Doubts have from time to time been expressed by His Lordship's predecessors as to the strict legality of this course, and the attention of His Majesty's Ambassador and of the various members of the Consular Service in the Levant, called to the provisions of 4 Geo. II., cap. 21, and 13 Geo. III., cap. 21, which limit British nationality to the children and grandchildren, in the paternal line, born abroad of natural-born British subjects, but partly, no doubt, owing to the peculiar conditions of life in the Turkish, dominions, it has not been found feasible to exclude from the registers of British subjects persons who are not, strictly speaking, within those two Acts.

The point has again been recently raised, and a considerable feeling of anxiety has been shown by the members of the British communities in Turkey lest Lord Lansdowne might decide that persons in the position indicated above were not entitled to be registered, and that their names (if already upon those registers) must be removed from the registers of British subjects, and no persons registered in future unless they were qualified under the Acts of 1730 and 1773.

An English barrister, Mr. Pears, who is the leader of the local bar at Constanti- nople, was deputed by two of the largest of these communities to urge the claim that all their members are, in law, and have always been, British subjects, irrespective of the number of generations for which they have been settled in Turkey; three memo- randa in support of this claim have been submitted by Mr. Pears, and will be found on pp. 26, 31, and 40 of the Confidential Print herewith.

Lord Lansdowne is advised that the arguments put forward by Mr. Pears do not establish the claim of these residents to British nationality, and in this view Sir Kenelm Digby, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (see letter No. 22 in the Confidential Print), and Professor Dicey, K.C. (see p. 48 of Print) agree. On the other hand, there seems to be good ground for holding that these residents of British origin could not be claimed as subjects of the Porte, and that, if they be not of British nationality, they are of no nationality at all.

After a consideration of all the circumstances Lord Lansdowne is disposed to think that, should you be of opinion that the descendants of British subjects born in Turkey beyond the third generation are not entitled, in law, to British nationality, it will be desirable to introduce legislation for the purpose of confirming the status of those already registered as British subjects, and to confer that status on their descendants in the male line. If such legislation is to be undertaken, various questions arise upon which Lord Lansdowne desires, for his guidance and assistance, to be furnished with your views.

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