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'Memorandum on British Commitments to King Husein' [109v] (16/20)
The record is made up of 10 folios. It was created in 1918. 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.
16
" As for bin Saud, he is a Sheikh of Arabs and the Sherif does not interfere
with his work or his land. Let every one rule hm part, it does not make any
difference. ^ I(lrisi> he is a man who is not recognised by anyone to be
anything. He has mads himself Sheikli and landed in some places which were not
'"'^"Asfortaam Yahya, let him govern his part of the land, but he will not
deny the fact that the Amir of Mecca should be the ruler o( Hejaz and King of
"As for the Arab tribes, none of them would oppose the bheiil s declaiing
himself King of the Arabs. i a i i
"The historv of the Amir of Mecca goes back to the Abbasides.
"It is not important whether these people would agree or not.
Tn his telephonic conversation later on the si me day he added the following
somewhat more satisfactory but still equivocal assurances .
"Bin Saud, Idrisi, &c., are rulers in their places, and we would not interfere
with them. They are respected, and if anyone were to attack them we have to
" Our boundaries were settled before the rising, and therefore \\e have no othei
ambition, as terms were concluded before that Kingdom ol the bhenf will be up
to Iraq. . r
* 4 Our respect to this treaty concluded between us and (ireat Ijritain 101 bids
us to oppose them, and such is well known to you.
This attitude was confirmed by Sherif Husein himself in a letter to Colonel Wilson
dated the 4th November, 1916, and he defended it by enclosing copies of the letters to him
from bin Saud and the chief of the Hashid and Bekil Confederation, referred to above.
These letters had, of course, no bearing on the assumption of the title " King of the
Arabs," since they were written several months before, on the occasion of his revolt
against the Turks.
On the 6th November, 1916, His Majesty's Government took note of Abdullah s
assurances, such as they were, in their instructions to Sir R. W ingate for the official
reply to Abdullah's circular telegram announcing the assumption of the royal title. -
Meanwhile, bin Saud had apparently answered the Sherifs second letter to him
by expressing readiness to co-operate, but asking for assurances that the Sherif would
no lorger encroach on what bin Saud regarded as his own tribal sphere.
The Sherif returned this letter unanswered with a " most discourteous and
arrogant" covering note. 53 And he sent equally unsatisfactory replies to congratulatory
letters from the Sheikhs of Mohammerah and Koweit. 54
Upon receiving a report of this from 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 Foreign Office tele
graphed the fullowing message to the
Sirdar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
on the 25rh November, 1916 (No. 24),
for transmission to the Sherif:—
" His Majesty's Government learnt with great regret that the three great
Arab Chiefs, the Sheikhs of Mohammerah and Koweit and bin Saud, have reason
to feel aggrieved at the reception of their advances by the Sherif. His Majesty's
Government are convinced that such an incident is entirely contrary to the wishes
and intentions of the Sherif himself, and that it is no d^ubt due to an oversight
on the part of his subordinates; but they must observe that, in view of the very
satisfactory attitude of the three Sheikhs in question, the Sherif's own interests, no
less than courtesy towards His Majesty s Government, require him to meet the
advances of the King's Allies with civility and even with cordiality. His
Majesty s Government are using all their influence to secure the cordial co-opera
tion of all Arabs with the Sherif, but their efforts will be of no avail if the Sherif
himself repels those whom His Majesty s Government have attracted to his
support."
In response to this message, the Sherif sent two telegrams to the three Sheikhs,
the one congratulating them in turn on their conference with Sir P. Cox at Koweit in
62 221869/16.
54 pG* 84 / 16 Telegram of the 2l8t November, 1917. fr-om Sir P. Cox.
^ ^ ^ 1 oes nu ^ u Pl ,ear whether the congratulations were for the Sherif's coronation or for some previous
55 236884/16.
About this item
- Content
This is a printed memorandum outlining British commitments made to King Husein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] compiled by the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office. The memorandum is split into seven sections as follows: 'General Guarantees against the Restoration of the status quo'; 'Guarantees regarding the Moslem [Muslim] Holy Places'; 'Boundaries of Arab Independence'; 'Foreign Administration of Irak [Iraq], Syria and Palestine'; 'Relation of Sherif Husein to Great Britain'; 'Sheif Husein's Title'; and 'The Caliphate'. References to various sources, including Foreign Office correspondence, the Meccan El Qibla [al-Qiblah] newspaper and La Verité sur la question syrienne (Fourth Turkish Army Command: Stamboul, 1916), are made in the text and in footnotes.
- Extent and format
- 10 folios
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation for this description commences at folio 102 and terminates at folio 111, as it is part of a larger physical volume; 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. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between folios 11-158; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/B292
- Title
- 'Memorandum on British Commitments to King Husein'
- Pages
- 102r:111v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence