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'File 61/11 V (D 95) Hejaz - Nejd, Miscellaneous' [177v] (371/530)
The record is made up of 1 volume (261 folios). It was created in 12 May 1932-28 Dec 1933. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
7. Sheikh Hafiz Wahba was informed, in reply to his enquiry as to the ^
attitude of His Majesty's Government that it did not appear possible for them ^itel
to give King Ibn Sand any material support which would be of use to him, with- Je,
out themselves becoming involved in hostilities with the Imam, which (as the
Minister himself recognised) was out of the question. Moreover, if King Ibn ^{19
Saud desired His Majesty's Government to exercise their influence with the
Italian Government to induce them to observe an attitude of neutrality, it was ' jtiii
clear that His Majesty's Government must themselves remain strictly neutral. f ^
8. Throughout the interview every opportunity was taken to urge counsels J; ^
of moderation upon the Minister. It was also suggested to him that an incursion ^
by the Idrisi into Asir, even supported by Yemeni troops, could well be treated m,;,,
by King Ibn Saud as a rebellion in his own territory and thus as an internal 'A
matter, and that actual hostilities with the Imam might by this means be avoided. 1
9. At the conclusion of the interview. Sheikh Hafiz Wahba was assured
that, while the situation seemed too hypothetical to make it possible for His -i,
Majesty's Government to make any definite pronouncement as to their attitude,
the whole question would be most carefully considered and instructions would be
sent to you as soon as possible regarding the reply which you should make to the 1
Emir Feisal's memorandum and to Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman's representations. P®
Subsequently, I addressed to His Majesty's Ambassador at Rome my telegram 11131
No. 181 of the 24th July, which was repeated to you under No. 93, and ^®' al
instructions as to your reply to the Saudi Government were embodied in my
telegram No. 94 of the 26th July.
10. On the 25th July, the Saudi Arabian Minister again called at this
Department. He said that he had reported to King Ibn Saud by telegram the s^P!
result of his previous interview, and had now received a reply from His Majesty,
disclaiming any intention of taking aggressive action against the Imam and kW
containing instructions to convey to me the following supplementary information, iwl
11. As His Majesty's Government were aware, an agreement had been iWii
reached between King Ibn Saud and the Imam in the winter of 1931-32 regarding ait,tat
their common frontier, under which His Majesty had abandoned to the Imam ifMai
the Jebel Arwa and all the territory to the south of it, retaining the area known i W
as Nejran and all the territory to the north of it in Saudi Arabia. Somewhat :ikM
later, a further Saudi mission had been sent to the Yemen to negotiate a general ifk
treaty settlement. The Imam, on an unconvincing plea of illness, had kept the
mission waiting for thirty-five days without receiving it. Meanwhile, the Asir
rebellion had broken out, and the Imam began a gradual occupation of Nejran. LWj]
This Saudi mission had achieved nothing; but, after the suppression of the Asir
rebellion. King Ibn Saud had agreed with the Imam to pardon the rebel leaders ^
and to allow the Idrisi to remain as a refugee in the northern Yemen on the
condition that the Imam undertook to prevent his intriguing against Saudi ,Lj a
Arabia. A third Saudi mission had then been sent to the Yemen to try to reach L[ flam
a general settlement. It was then that the Imam put forward a demand for j fI J To
" all the Idrisi's dominions." This claim was no doubt purposely vague, but
King Ibn Saud interpreted it as a demand for the whole of Asir.
12. There were now two danger points. The first was in the coastal area,
where the Idrisi was collecting supporters in Yemeni territory, whence he might . 1
at any moment make an incursion into Asir; Sheikh Hafiz Wahba did not, how
ever, seem to regard this danger as seriously as on the previous occasion. The
other danger-point was inland in Nejran; the greater part of Nejran was now
-occupied by the Imam's forces.
IB. King Ibn Saud regarded Nejran as having been definitely allotted to
Saudi Arabia by the frontier arrangement of 1931-32, even though this arrange
ment was not a formal treaty. He was now receiving appeals from the people of
Nejran, who were suffering from the Yemeni occupation and definitely objected to
.Zeidi rule. King Ibn Saud could not ignore these appeals, and, unless he took
;action, Yemeni aggression was likely to continue He therefore felt that he must
defend " Nejran and turn out the Yemeni troops. It was preparatory to taking
such action that he desired to know the views and attitude of His Majesty's
Government.
14. This latest information communicated by the Saudi Minister appears
to put the matter in a somewhat new light. The frontier arrangement of 1931 -32
was apparently a vague one, and it is not clear, either from the information
supplied by Sheikh Hafiz Wahba or from that given to Sir Andrew Ryan by Fuad
About this item
- Content
The volume consists of letters, telegrams, and memoranda relating to the Hejaz and Najd. Much of the correspondence is from the British Legation in Jeddah, with regular reports on the situation in that region sent to Sir John Simon, the Foreign Secretary in London. The rest of the correspondence is mostly between 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 Kuwait, Bahrain, and Muscat, the Colonial Office, and the Government of India.
The main subjects of the volume are:
- the change in name from 'The Kingdom of the Hejaz-Nejd and its Dependencies' to 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia';
- the announcement of Ibn Sa'ud's eldest son, Prince Sa'ud, as the heir apparent to the throne;
- the territorial dispute between Yemen and Saudi Arabia after the latter's absorption of the 'Asir region into its kingdom.
A copy of the 23 September 1932 issue of the newspaper Umm al-Qura is contained in the volume (folios 57-58). It features the Royal Order proclaiming the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Other miscellaneous subjects covered in the volume include:
- relations between Italy and Saudi Arabia;
- a dispute between Ibn Sa'ud and his agent in Bahrain, al-Quasaibi [‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Qusaibi], over a debt the former owes the latter;
- a revolt against Ibn Sa'ud by tribes loyal to ex-King Hussein coming from Sinai;
- a request for a loan made by Ibn Sa'ud to the British Government;
- relations between the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia;
- relations between the USA and Saudi Arabia, including the visit of a Mr Gallant looking for oil concessions;
- concessions for the building of the railway between Mecca and Jeddah;
- the prospect of Saudi Arabia joining the League of Nations;
- the case of two slave girls seeking refuge at the British Legation in Jeddah.
Other documents of note contained in the volume are:
- a copy of a new customs tariff for Saudi Arabia (folios 122-134)
- a 'Who's Who' of Saudi Arabia, produced by the British Legation in Jeddah and covering all those deemed important to know by the British (folios 183-200);
- an envelope containing the torn-out pages of an article in the International Affairs journal (Vol. 12, No. 4, Jul., 1933, pp 518-534) entitled 'Ibn Sa'ud and the Future of Arabia.'
At the back of the volume (folios 245-251) are internal office notes.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (261 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arrranged chronologically.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The sequence starts on the first folio and continues to the inside back cover. The numbers are 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. Note that following f 1 are folios 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. The sequence then continues as normal from folio 2. There are two other foliation systems present but both are inconsistent and neither are circled.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/568
- Title
- 'File 61/11 V (D 95) Hejaz - Nejd, Miscellaneous'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 1r:1v, 1ar:1ev, 8v:11v, 15r:43v, 45v:56v, 59r:64r, 69v:118v, 120v:127v, 128v:133v, 134v:149v, 151v:161v, 162v:164v, 166r:166v, 168r:171v, 172v:174v, 175v:179v, 181r:201r, 202v:212v, 222r:225r, 226r:243v, 244v:256v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence