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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎356v] (723/792)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (388 folios). It was created in 27 Dec 1924-28 Oct 1929. It was written in English and French. 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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84
transfer to some place where his blameless character would not be exposed to such
baseless attacks. He, however, made an enthusiastic though not very important
recruit in a certain Ahmad Lari, a young Persian who, in the absence of his father,
a merchant, is in charge of Persian affairs. This young man he has provided
with all the cant phrases about the rescue of Persia by the devoted Soviet Union
from the claws of British imperialism, and so on.
5. Mr. Khakimoff told Shaikh Pravira, the Javanese who holds the post of
Netherlands Vice-Consul in Jeddah, that it was one of the aims of the Soviet Govern
ment to set the Javanese free from their Dutch oppressors. This did not prevent
his trying to flatter the Netherlands Consul, Mr. Van der Plas, by praising the
fatherly care the Dutch have for their Javanese subjects.
6. Recently, as I have stated elsewhere, Mr. Khakimoff obtained permission
from both the belligerents to visit Mecca " to perform the minor pilgrimage ”.
He took Ahmad Lari with him. A day or two later Shaikh Pravira, the Nether
lands Vice-Consul, went to Mecca to assist Netherlands pilgrims, of whom there
were many hundreds. The three returned together.
7. The following items of information from Shaikh Pravira reached me through
Mr. Van der Plas.
Bin Saud took Mr. Khakimoff and Ahmad Lari at their word and treated*
them as private persons, referring to them always as Shaikh Kerim and Shaikh
Ahmad. He had them surrounded by his people in Mecca and they were not
allowed to go anywhere unaccompanied, though Shaikh Pravira was left free to go
wherever he liked. On one occasion Mr. Khakimoff and Ahmad Lari evaded their
attendants and paid a secret visit to the Senoussi, to the indignation of the Wahabi
authorities in Mecca.
8. The following remarks reported by Shaikh Pravira on his return gave some
indication of Bin Saud’s attitude :
(1) One of his chief officials said to Shaikh Pravira loudly, so that Mr.
Khakimoff, who was present, could not fail to hear : “ I wonder how
you can bear to travel with this miner who pretends to be a consul-
general.”
(2) At a dinner at which the three representatives were all present Bin
Saud went out of his way to say very firmly that he himself had no
quarrel whatever with European Governments but on the contrary
thought there was much to be learned from them.
(3) Bin Saud thanked Shaikh Pravira for " not coming under silly false
pretences ”.
9. Mr. Van der Plas told me, and I reported to you, that he had information
showing that Mr. Khakimoff had indulged in violent propaganda to some extent
against the Netherlands Government but mainly against His Majesty’s Govern
ment. He could not give me the details as the information had been obtained
confidentially. I now suppose the information to be that which I have since ob
tained from a more direct source.
10. When I sent the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. employee, Munshi A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf. Ihsanullah, to Mecca to look
after the interests of British subjects I forbade him to speak about anything
affecting the interests of the Hejaz Government but told him to pick up any infor
mation he could get about Mr. Khakimoff’s activities. He stayed a night at Bin
Saud’s camp both on his way to Mecca and on his way back. On each occasion
Bin Saud talked to him for several hours, and each time he spontaneously spoke
about Mr. Khakimoff.
It is not necessary to go into great detail. According to Bin Saud Mr.
Khakimoff tried to enlist him in the Soviet Union’s scheme for a great revolt of the
East against the “ imperialistic ” and " colonising ” powers, especially England.
Bin Saud claims to have resisted all Mr. Khakimoff’s blandishments, putting
forward many arguments as e.g., the remoteness of Russia and the nearness of
India, Bahrain, etc., the primitive condition of his people and their unsuitability for
republican institutions, and so on.
Bin Saud said that Mr. Khakimoff finally had reCourse to vague threats,
saying that if Bin Saud would not join the movement Ali would receive help.

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Content

This volume mainly relates to British policy in Arabia, and specifically concerns British relations with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd, also referred to in the correspondence as Bin Saud]. The papers cover the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25 and political affairs in Ibn Saud's Kingdom of Hejaz and Sultanate of Nejd [Najd] (or the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, as it became in 1927).

The volume mainly consists of compiled sections of printed correspondence, with each section closing with a report from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah. The most prominently featured correspondents are as follows: the British Agent and Consul, Jeddah; the Secretary of State for India; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Aden; the High Commissioner, Egypt; the High Commissioner, Iraq; the High Commissioner, Palestine; officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, 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 Government of India's Foreign and Political Department. Also featured as correspondents are Ibn Saud, King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī], and British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.

Matters covered in the correspondence include the following:

  • Diplomatic relations between Ibn Saud and Britain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Persia [Iran]
  • Information on developments in the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25, mainly in the form of telegrams and letters from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah, and British policy regarding the conflict
  • British policy in relation to the fate of the ex-King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī]
  • Reports of Wahabi forces having damaged or destroyed holy sites in Mecca and Medina
  • The efforts of King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] to raise money in Jeddah
  • Details of the Hadda Agreement and the Bahra Agreement, concluded between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud in late 1925
  • Details of King Ali's surrender and abdication on 19 December 1925, and arrangements for his passage out of Jeddah
  • Britain's recognition of Ibn Saud as King of the Hejaz in February 1926
  • British concerns regarding the spread of anti-British opinion in the Hejaz
  • Public outrage in the wider Muslim world regarding the desecration of holy sites by the Wahabis, and the British Government's refusal to become involved, owing to its stated policy of non-intervention in Muslim religious affairs
  • British efforts to ensure the Government of Hejaz's participation in the International Sanitary Convention of 1926
  • Arrangements for a private visit to London by Ibn Saud's son Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] in September 1926
  • British concerns regarding Ibn Saud's diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR]
  • A change to Ibn Saud's title in 1927, from 'King of Hejaz and Sultan of Nejd' to 'King of Hejaz and Nejd'
  • The conclusion of the Treaty of Jeddah in June 1927
  • Relations between Ibn Saud and the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn], and the former's suspicions that the Italian Government has been supplying the Imam with arms
  • Profiles of prominent figures in the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
  • The number of pilgrims arriving each year for Hajj
  • Tense relations between Ibn Saud and the Iraqi Government, particularly concerning the Uqair Protocol.

Also included with the correspondence are the following: minutes of an interdepartmental conference held at the Colonial Office on 20 May 1926, to discuss matters arising out of Clayton's Mission to Ibn Saud (ff 178-179); a Colonial Office memorandum entitled 'British Interests in Arabia', dated 8 December 1926 (ff 111-113).

The volume includes a small amount of correspondence written in French.

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (f 1).

Extent and format
1 volume (388 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 388; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence between ff 118-388, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.

Pagination: each of the various sections of printed correspondence has its own printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎356v] (723/792), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/1155, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100145454965.0x00007c> [accessed 29 August 2026]

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