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'File 61/11 X (D 170) Nejd-Hejaz Miscellaneous' [248v] (515/554)
The record is made up of 1 volume (270 folios). It was created in 20 Jan 1942-26 Jun 1945. It was written in English. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
7. His Majesty had asked me whether it would be incorrect to speak of
official matters to Lord Wavell during his visit, and I had assured him to the
contrary. What he, in fact, asked was that India should help to relieve the great
shortage of consumer goods in this country, and that various purchases made by
two of his sons in a raid on India in 1943 should be licensed for export. Neither
request is likely to commend itself to the Government of India, but Lord Wavell
was good enough to say that he would see whether anything could be done.
8. The Viceroy then persuaded Ibn Saud to tell the story of his capture of
Riyadh from the garrison of Ibn Rashid forty-odd years ago. His comments
reminded the King that he had a field-marshal for an audience. " Soldiers
always understand each other," His Majesty said; and he instructed the Emir
Nasser, Governor of Riyadh, to show us, on our way home, the famous spear-point
in the citadel door, and blood-stains, still startling on the wall, which remain
from the night when young Abdel Aziz ibn Saud won the first of many desert
victories.
9. The King's gifts were sent to the Viceroy and his party, including the
Royal Air Force officers of his aeroplane, after they had .returned to the Badia
Palace. Lord Wavell's presents to Ibn Saud, which I took to him next day,
included a beautifully illuminated manuscript of the Koran. "He could not
have given me a gift more precious," the King remarked.
10. The Viceroy made an early start on the 4th June, as he had to join the
Sunderland flying-boat at Bahrain at 9 a.m. I remained in Riyadh at the King's
request. The Emir Khaled and Nasser accompanied Lord Wavell to Buwaib, to
wish him Godspeed on their father's behalf.
11. The Viceroy's visit was, I think, a complete success. I fear that the
circumstances of Arabian hospitality in June were occasionally arduous, but
Lord Wavell took all discomforts in his stride and, if I may say so, matched the
King's simplicity and natural dignity with his own. The establishment of imme
diately friendly relations was, perhaps, natural; but it was none the less pleasant
to observe.
12. Some credit for removing the barriers of race and language must
certainly go to Shaikh Izzedin Shawa, Director of Mines, Public Works and
Transport in Jedda, who, at my suggestion, accompanied the party as interpreter
when Mr. Mon, on doctor's orders, was unable to travel. Shaikh Izzedin Shawa. a
Palestinian political exile and Cambridge graduate, reserves his anti-British
mood for the Zionist problem. His interpreting was supple and impeccable.
13. I am reporting in a separate despatch such developments as occurred
after the Viceroy's departure from Riyadh.
14. A copy of this despatch is being sent to the Secretary to the Government
of India in the External Affairs Department and to the Minister Resident in the
Middle East.
I have, &c.
L. B. GRAFFTEY-SMITH.
About this item
- Content
The volume consists of telegrams, letters, and reports relating to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Most of the correspondence is between the British Legation in Jeddah, the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in Bushire, the Political Agencies in Bahrain and Kuwait, 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. and the Foreign Office in London, and the Government of India.
Much of the volume covers Saudi-US relations, including:
- US financial assistance to Saudi Arabia;
- the report (ff 146-147) of a medical tour of the country made by the American Mission to Bahrain;
- a trip to Kuwait made by Colonel Hoskins, President Roosevelt's Personal Envoy to Ibn Sa'ud in August 1943;
- the opening of a US Consulate in Dhahran;
- a secret report (ff 223-224) on 'America and Arabia' from the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in Bushire.
Other subjects covered are:
- the report (ff 79-99) of a trip to Riyadh made by Tom Hickinbotham, the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Kuwait;
- the wartime supply situation in the region;
- the financial situation in Saudi Arabia;
- Ibn Sa'ud's relationship with Sa'ud bin 'Abdullah bin Jiluwi, the Amir of Hasa;
- telegraphic communications in the country;
- meteorology, including a report (f 181) on the British Meterological Party's tour of Saudi Arabia;
- Ibn Sa'ud's request for British military and financial assistance.
Also notable within the volume are:
- Gerald De Gaury's interview with Ibn Sa'ud (ff 19-22);
- annual summary reports on Saudi Arabia produced by the British Legation in Jeddah for the years 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944;
- a letter (152-154C) from Bertram Thomas to the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in Bushire following his trip across Arabia, detailing anything he thought might be useful for the British Government to know;
- a report (f 175) on the Saudi Arabian royal family by the British Legation in Jeddah.
At the end of the volume (ff 249-264) are internal office notes.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (270 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged chronologically. There is an alphabetical subject index to the contents, at the front of the volume (folio 2).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the sequence starts on the first folio and continues through to the inside back cover. The numbering is written in pencil, circled and 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. There are the following irregularities: 1A, 1B, and 1C; 28A and 28B; 154A, 154B, and 154C; 216A and 216B.
Condition: the broken spine cover is detached from the volume and enclosed in a plastic sleeve numbered folio 265, at the back of the volume. The plastic sleeve may cause some loss of sharpness to the digital image of the spine cover.
There is a second sequence that is inconsistent. It is also written in pencil but is not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'File 61/11 X (D 170) Nejd-Hejaz Miscellaneous' [248v] (515/554), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/573, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023505693.0x000072> [accessed 20 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/573
- Title
- 'File 61/11 X (D 170) Nejd-Hejaz Miscellaneous'
- Pages
- front, back, spine-a:spine-c, edge, head, tail, front-i, 1ar:1cv, 2r:153v, 154ar:154cv, 155r:185r, 186r:215v, 216ar:216bv, 217r:229v, 231r:232v, 238r:267v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence