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File 2182/1913 Pt 10 'N.W. Frontier: Proposed Russian zoological expedition' [‎465r] (522/664)

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The record is made up of 1 item (330 folios). It was created in 28 May 1919-13 Jan 1920. It was written in English and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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' : ■ '* 7
[This Dociiment is the Property of His Britannic Majesty s Government.]
Printed for the Foreign Office. June 1919.
SECRET.
(I.D.C.E., 22nd Minutes.)
rj' I;':
FOREIGN OFFICE.
INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CONFERENCE ON MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS.
Minutes of Meeting held at the Foreign Office on Tuesday, June 17, 1919,
at 7 p.m.
Present:
The Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.
(in the Chair).
The Right Hon. E. S. Montagu, M.P.,
Secretary of State for India.
Sir Arthur Hirtzel, K.C.B., India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
Mr. J. E. Shuokburgh, C.B., India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
Major-General Sir P. P. de B. Radcliffe,
K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O., Director of
Military Operations, War Office.
Captain H. E. F. Aylmer, Admiralty.
Mr. G. L. Barstow, C.B., Treasury.
Mr. G. J. Kidston, Foreign Office.
Mr. H. H. St. J. Philby, C.I.E., I.C.S.
Miss Gertrude Bell.
Major H. W. Young, D.S.O. (Secretary).
Position in the
Hejaz.
1. The Chairman said that since the last meeting Ibn Sand’s
reply to the message which had reached him through Abdulla had
been received. It was unexpectedly conciliatory in tone, and in it
he again expressed his readiness to submit to arbitration. Colonel
Wilson at Jeddah and General Allenhy had suggested that a meeting
should be arranged, at some point east of Taif, between Ibn Sand
and Abdulla, in the presence of British officers associated with the
views of either side, and the Government of India had expressed the
earnest hope that negotiations on these lines would be effected. The
points to be decided were : Firstly, whether the proposed meeting
should be approved ; secondly, behind what lines the combatants
should be directed to withdraw their forces during the meeting ; and
thirdly, if there was to be a meeting, who should attend it ?
Mr. Shuckburgh read a telegram which had just been received
from Colonel A. T. Wilson at Baghdad, in which he pointed out that
he was not personally acquainted with Ibn Saud, and suggested that
instead of his attending the proposed meeting himself, Mr. Philby
should be deputed to represent him.
Mr. Philby, replying to a question by the Chairman, said he
was doubtful whether the policy of the meeting was a right one, but
this question depended upon the action which it was considered
desirable that Ibn Saud should take. If he was merely to be induced
to withdraw from his present front line pending arbitration, he con
sidered that this end would be more easily achieved if he were
[987]—745

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Content

The title provided at the beginning of this item does not relate in any way to the item's contents. Part 10 is in fact concerned with the dispute between Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and King Hussein of Hejaz [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī, King of Hejaz], and British policy towards both.

The item begins with reports that Bin Saud's Akhwan [Ikhwan] forces have advanced to Tarabah (also spelled Turaba in the correspondence) [Turabah], in Hejaz, and includes details of His Majesty's Government's proposed response, which is to inform Bin Saud that if he does not withdraw his forces from Hejaz and Khurma then the rest of his subsidy will be discontinued and he will lose all advantages secured under the treaty of 1915. Included are the following:

  • copies of translations of correspondence between Bin Saud and King Hussein;
  • discussion as to whether the British should send aeroplanes to assist King Hussein;
  • minutes of inter-departmental meetings between representatives of the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , the War Office, the Foreign Office, and the Treasury, on the subject of Bin Saud, held at the Foreign Office and chaired by the Foreign Secretary, Earl Curzon of Kedleston [George Nathaniel Curzon];
  • discussion as to how the British should respond in the event of Bin Saud's Wahabi [Wahhabi] forces taking Mecca and advancing on Jeddah, which it is anticipated may result in the evacuation of a large number of Arabs and British Indians;
  • discussion regarding a proposed meeting between Harry St John Bridger Philby and Bin Saud on the Gulf coast;
  • a report by Captain Herbert Garland [Director of the Arab Bureau, Cairo], entitled 'Note on the Khurma Dispute Between King Hussein and Ibn Saud';
  • a document entitled 'Translation of a Memorandum on the Wahabite [sic] Crisis', addressed to the High Commissioner, Egypt, by Emir Feisal [Fayṣal bin Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī], in which Feisal implores the British to take military action against the Wahabi movement;
  • copies of translations of letters addressed to Bin Rashid [Saʿūd bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Rashīd], from Bin Saud and King Hussein respectively, which provide the perspectives of both on recent events at Khurma and Tarabah;
  • a memorandum from the Foreign Office's Political Intelligence Department, entitled 'Memorandum on British Commitments to Bin Saud'.

The item's principal correspondents are the following:

This item also contains translated copies of correspondence between Hussein and the then High Commissioner at Cairo, Sir Arthur Henry McMahon [commonly referred to as the McMahon-Hussein correspondence], dating from July 1915 to January 1916.

Extent and format
1 item (330 folios)
Written in
English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script
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File 2182/1913 Pt 10 'N.W. Frontier: Proposed Russian zoological expedition' [‎465r] (522/664), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/390/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036528098.0x000088> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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