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'Memorandum on British Commitments to Bin Saud' [‎122r] (1/16)

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The record is made up of 8 folios. It was created in 1918. 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. .

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[This Docmnent is the Property .of His Britannic Majesty's Gwui i Liiiuiij
SECRET
liq5
Political Intelligence Department,
Foreign Office,
Special
MEMORANDUM
on
BRITISH COMMITMENTS TO BIN SAUD.
BIN SAUD is the hereditary ruler of the Wahabi State of Nejd (capital Er-Riadh).
ai ly in the nineteenth century his ancestors, under the impetus of the Puritanical reli
gious movement of which they were the champions, spread their power widely over the
simomidin^' tribes and oases, and ruled for a moment from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to the
Red Sea. Later in the century they suffered adversity. Their power was broken by
Mehemet Ali. 1 he hegemony of Central Arabia passed to the rival Bin Rashid house
of Jebel Shammai (capital Hail), and in 1871 the Turks planted garrisons in the
al-llasa province, along the Gulf Coast between Koweit and al-Katar. The Bin Saud
powei was confined to the interior, and during this period there was practically no
contact between it and His Majesty's Government.
1 he situation was radically altered, however, by two events in 1913. In May that
year Abd-ul-Aziz Bin feaud, the reigning prince of that house, expelled the Turkish
garrisons from Hasa and reoccupied the coast. And on the 29th July His Majesty's
Government signed a Convention with I urkey, in which they recognised as belonging
to the " < )t toman 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. Sanjak of Nejd the coastline and interior west of a line drawn north
and south from a point on the mainland opposite Zakhnuniyah Island (Gulf of Bahrein)
to latitude 20° in the Ruba-al-Khali desert (Article 11).
1 Ins conjunction of events placed His Majesty's Government in a difficult position,
k-unce Bin baud had become not merely the ruler of a section of the Gulf Coast, but the
most powerful of all the local rulers, it was inevitable that His Majesty's Government
should have direct relations with him over the arms traffic, British trade, and his
dealings with neighbouring Arab States (Koweit, Katar, Trucial Chiefs, &c.) already in
treaty relations with His Majesty's Government. On the other hand, Bin Sand's
de facto independence in Hasa was not recognised by Turkey, and we had agreed with
the 1 urkish Government to regard his coast and country as Turkish territory, and
himself, by implication, as a Turkish subject.
On the instructions of Sir P. Cox, at that time British Resident in the Persian
Gulf, the British Residents at Koweit (Captain Shakespear) and Bahrein met Bin Saud
on the 15th and 16th December, 1913. At this meeting Bin Saud invited His Majesty's
Goyernment to keep the peace on his coast, showed the British representatives the draft
agreement which the Turks were trying to make him accept, and practically asked for
British mediation (6117/1990/14).
The Turkish conditions communicated to us by Bin Saud were as follows ;—
1. The readmission of the Turkish garrisons to the province and coast of Hasa, as
formerly.
2. The appointment of Kazis and other judicial officers by direct " farmans ' issued
by the Sultan.
3. The payment by Bin Saud of annual revenue of £T. 3,000.
4. The reference of all communications from foreign Powers or their representatives
to the Turkish authorities for disposal.
5. The exclusion of all foreign merchants and agents from the province.
6. An undertaking from Bin Saud not to give concessions to any foreign companies
for railways or motor-car services.
On the 9th March, 1914, the Foreign Office presented a memorandum to Hakki
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who was at that time conducting negotiations in London on behalf of the Turkish
Government, in which the difficulty of His Majesty's Government's position in regard
to Bin Saud was explained, the Turkish conditions cited (without the source of our
information being stated), and a protest made against the last three of them (10569/14).
In this memorandum British desiderata in regard to Bin Saud, subject, of course,
to the Anglo-Turkish Convention of the 29th July, 1913, were defined as follows :—
1. That he should not meddle in the territory or politics of Arab principalities in
the Gulf, including Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and Katar.
[939] ' B -

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This is a printed memorandum by the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office concerning British commitments to Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd (Ibn Saud)] in the context of the First World War. The memorandum gives an overview of British and Turkish relations, including various treaties with Ibn Saud between 1913 and 1916, as well as 'Relation of Commitments to Bin Saud to British Disiderata', including 'Demarcation of Territories', 'Keeping of the Peace' and 'Dynastic Guarantee'. There is an appendix (folio 129) which includes the text of the treaty of 26 December 1915 signed by Ibn Saud and Sir Percy Zachariah Cox.

Extent and format
8 folios
Physical characteristics

Foliation: The foliation for this description commences at folio 122 and terminates at folio 129, 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.

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English in Latin script
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'Memorandum on British Commitments to Bin Saud' [‎122r] (1/16), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/B295, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023666293.0x000002> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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