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‘File 7/2 VI Landing grounds and seaplane anchorages’ [‎13r] (40/618)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (298 folios). It was created in 5 Aug 1937-30 Apr 1942. It was written in English and Arabic. 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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lb
Outbreak of fire at R.A.F. Petrol Store
outside Doha.
0O0
On 4th August 1937, about 5.30 p.m.^Jassim
Mohammad came to my house and informed me about the
accident. I prepared a draft telegram and at once
went- to Dr. Holmes who had gone to the Adviser's
to play tennis, to ask his advice whether I should
show the text of the telegram to the Air Liaison
Officer, Wing Commander Rickards, and ask him what
action he, the Air Liaison Officer, had proposed to
take.
2. Dr. Holmes agreed to it. T went with Jassim to
the Air Liaison Officers house and when he could not
be found there I went to Umm al Hassam in his search.
I met him on the way near Umm al Hassam and had a talk
with him. First he did not like the idea of my reporting
the matter to 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. and said:- "Oh No,
I should not worry him (Captain Hickinbotham). We don't
care at all for the loss. It was a collection of old tin
of petrol leaking and we did not mind that they were
burnt. n
But then he asked me to show the text to him. I
read it out and he after all agreed, requesting me to
add:
"Air Liaison Officer is informing Air Headquarters
and endeavouring to persuade Qatar subjects to
come to Bahrain for medical treatment".
3. The following day (5th August 1937) the Air
Liaison Officer called at the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . I received
him in P.A's Court room. He told me that he had
sent a telegram to Air Headquarters asking them to
send 2 'planes in order to bring the three injured
from Qatar and that, if the planes reached Bahrain,
he/-

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Content

The volume’s letters, telegrams and other papers relate to the installation, maintenance and extension of British air facilities along the Arab coast of the Gulf. The principle correspondents in the file are 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. , 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. at Bahrain, the Political Officer on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , and representatives of the Royal Air Force [RAF] and Imperial Airways (referred to after 1939 as the British Overseas Airways Corporation [BOAC]).

Correspondence in the first part of the volume (folios 1e-50) concerns a fire at the RAF petrol store at Doha in August 1937, resulting in serious burns to a number of men. Some of this correspondence also refers to an injury to Nasr bin Jassim [Nasr bin Jāsim Āl Thānī], brother of Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī, the ruler of Qatar, suffered while riding his horse during a parade prior to travelling to Zubarah 18th-century town located 105 km from Doha. to fight against the Bahraini forces. Agreement was reached between British Government officials and the Adviser to the Bahrain Government, Charles Belgrave, for Nasr bin Jāsim to travel to Bahrain for medical attention.

Most of the later correspondence in the volume is dated to the Second World War, and relates to the creation of new or improved RAF facilities in the Gulf in early 1942. These included extended facilities, capable of accommodating bomber squadrons, at Bahrain and Sharjah, and new facilities at Dubai (folio 131). Correspondence also records the arrangements made with the Bahrain hospital and American Missionary hospital in Bahrain, to accommodate RAF patients as required.

Extent and format
1 volume (298 folios)
Arrangement

The contents of the volume are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest items at the front of the volume to the latest at the rear. There is a set of office notes at the end of the volume (folios 266-97) which mirror the chronological arrangement.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: The volume is foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, using pencil numbers in the top-right corner of each recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. . This foliation system has been adapted from an earlier pagination system. The following foliation anomalies occur: ff. 1a-1e, 34a, 34b, 84a, 85b, 139a, 139b, 193a, 193b. The following folios are missing, as a result of the volume’s original pagination system: ff. 106, 212, 231. The following folios are fold-outs: ff. 47, 48, 65, 93, 104, 138, 173, 174, 179, 211, 230, 268, 277, 278, 280, 282, 287.

Written in
English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script
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‘File 7/2 VI Landing grounds and seaplane anchorages’ [‎13r] (40/618), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/268, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023626458.0x000029> [accessed 23 April 2024]

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