'File 53/32 III (D 53) Kowait - Miscellaneous' [‎125r] (254/486)

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RtOfiROS.
An account of the Kuwait Mission's exp«ri«nc<r8 will no
do ibt be interesting to you. To be^in with I nust explain how it
caiae about that I was given chitrje of it.
My leav® expired,as you know,on October 1st but,pre
sumably due to the Railway Strike in England about that tine,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. did not arran^ a passaje for my until November rith.
On October ^?nd I received a telegram from Philby saying:"When are
you coming London? Kuwait people hope to see you." I left home
next day and arrived in London on the ?4th. That niJit I dined at
the Savoy vith Philby and the Kuwait and ^ajd Missions. I had not
rauph time with Shaikh Ahmad that nijit but called at his house
next day where I remained with him several hours. He was very
depressed and had a lon^ list of complaints for me. He had been
about a fortnight in London at this tim^. He evidently disliked-
both Bowman and Philby. The former,he informed me,wanted to have
his boxes searched at Bombay to look for two towels which the
cabin-boy of the Lawrence'' said were misain^ from his cabin when
he was le vin^ the ship, finally on his refusing to subrait to suai
an insult,Bowman appe .rs to hi.ve told him he would pay the
"Lawrence" the cost of the towels and debit the amount to expenses
There were some other incidents too in regard to lo*man which he
did not like. Then on arrival In -^njland ^hilby was put in charge
with Bowman to help him. His complaints ajainst Philby were first
that the latter did lot wire to me until the ^?nd though he (the
Shaikh) had been askinj him to do so every da^, since s arrival
in England,and secondly that the TTajd Mission was bein^ treated
with partiality. As regards the.latter complaint I think Philby
had been doin^ 'lis best to be impartial and that the real cause
of discontent was that he lid not wish to be with the Najd people.
Anyhow I wont to 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 put the whole case before
the Political Secretar^ who arranged that neither Philby nor
Bowman was to have any more to do with th« Kuwait Mission and thai
I was to take charge of it as from October c 7th inclusive.
It vopearc that through s )me mista/te 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.
was not informed of the arrival in England of the Missions until
a day or so before they actually arrived. The hotels w.re all full
up and the only accommodation found for them the first ni^ht -yas
in a small hotel out in Norwood. They were hours -^o n^ arouna in
cars before they ^o . there and of course this upset them. ^Text.
day they were given accommodation in a privat- house in Pimlico
(49*, St. Georges Road), and here they had to remain until October
! ~'7th when ;cc mmodation became available in the Carlton.From this
onward they had excellent accommodation everywhere they went.Whilii
in the ,private house in Pimlico they had their meals at the Savoy
but of course it was a bit of a nuisance having to ^o out for
their meals and very -oftnn the Kuwait Mission had to do without
food as they lid not feel inclined to jo out for them.
Both Missions /ere in the ~a 'Iton from October ^th
to November 3rd when the ?fajd Mission went on to Cambridge k XX m .
while we went on to Gdas^ov where we were to embark five days
lat^r. At the Carlton we dinet apart and saw very little of the
pia^d party. Oar last ii London was spent mainly in shoppin^
buying such things as cloth,saddl ry,ru^s,watches,dressing _owns^
sportln3 -^uns and ammunition,trunks,binoculars,etc,to the value of
upwards of £700. Before I assumed charge they had } e^n Greenwich
Observatory,the Houses of Pariia.ient,Westminster Cathedral,under
ground London. I ook them to .Hampton Court,the Zoological Gar em
etc. There was a very ^ood exhibition at the Theatre of I^st. ri s*
■^hich I took them to one nighw. They were delighted and in fact
astounded at what they Sxw there. They did not much care for
ordinary theatres so we usually filled up our-nights by ^oing to
Cinemas vhich they did appreciate^
On October 30th I took them to Buckingham Palace.A
detailed account Of this is attached. The Jajd party were pre
sented before us. The^ had 8 minutes audience with the Kin 0 while
we had 17. The Kuwait party.actually timed it and consider they
made a ^reat scort; over the others.
On Octoht.r 31st, I-took my party to see the Secretary
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