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'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [‎15r] (29/536)

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The record is made up of 1 file (266 folios). It was created in Jul 1931-Dec 1934. 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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bolstering up the confidence of the local Government instead of seeming
to mob it. He nevertheless got into touch with the Senior Naval Officer,
Ked Sea Sloops, who was lying at Port Sudan and concerted provisional
arrangements in case a naval visit were to become advisable. Communica
tions were the chief concern, for the Jeddah-Port Sudan cable is a decrepit
link and the wireless station lies alongside the barracks. No trouble was
anticipated from the Hejazi townsfolk, at best- a cravan element, but the
Nejdi garrison had to be reckoned with. They were dissatished and under
fed. iwo days later, indeed, they began to help themselves to food in
the cookshops of the town and as soon as the Viceroy visited Jedda they
raided his kitchens.
9. In the.face of these events ’Abdullah Suleyman remained in Mecca,
hut it is to the credit of the Amir ley sal and luad Bey Hamza that they
came to Jedda. They arrived on the 17th September, spent the T8th
enquiring into the benzine affair, the air force position, and me complaints
of the Nejdi soldiery. A canteen was opened for the latter, to be supplied
with goods borrowed from the local tradesmen, since the Finance Depart
ment would issue no pay, and the Viceroy left with Fuad Bey on the 19th
September and returned to Taif. The visit served to lay the spectre of
’Abdullah Suleyman for the moment and to steady the nerves of local
officials. Better news began to come through from Asir. The people
relapsed into torpor again and ’Abdullah Suleyman resumed his acquisitive
role. No one seemed able to withstand him. What he could not exact in
cash he took in merchandise, which was at once knocked down for cash at
auction. No one knew where the money went, buit a great deal must have
gone to Riadh. A little went to the Hejaz-Nejd Minister in London, who
had been telegraphing actively for funds. None went to other Government
servants, whose pay had for ihe most part fallen eight months into arrear
by the end of October. The “Government” at Taif ceased, to all practi
cable intent or purpose, to exist. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs became
the receiving office for unanswered complaints agains't the Finance Depart
ment made by foreigners and delivered by donkeys. Th6 Under-Secretary
for Foreign Affairs retired into his projected “Handbook of the Hejaz
and Nejd and its Dependencies. <
10 . The credit for laying the first charge which eventually undermined
the dictatorship of ’Abdullah Suleyman must be ascribed to Mr. Philby.
He returned from Riadh at the end of September and was much struck by
the news of the appropriation of his benzine. It contravened his standing
arrangement with the Finance Department and placed him in an awkward
position vis-a-vis of the Standard Oil Company. On arrival at Jedda he
made further discoveries in regard to the ’Abdullah Suleyman regime.
They achieved his reconversion from Sa’udi idolatry to sane citizenship.
He wrote to ’Abdullah Suleyman such a letter (all of this is confidential,
as indeed is Ithis report) as numbered with its amenities the reminder that
the price of theft in this coun'try was the loss of the thieving hand, and the
opinion that ’Abdullah Suleyman’s body therefore deserved to be cut into
little pieces. He also wrote to Ibn Sa’ud. Then he went to Taif, where
he found the Viceroy, Fuad Bey Hamza, the Viceroy’s Rais ad-Diwan
Ibrahim al Fedhl, and his half-brother ’Abdullah Ibrahim al Fadhl, Vice-
President of the Legislative Assembly and ’Abdullah Suleyman’s erstwhile
jackal, putting their heads together in search of a way to break down
’Abdullah Suleyman’s ascendency. Under the stimulus of Mr. Philbv’s
presence they drew up a lengthy memorandum to the King. Mr. Philby
has described it as an ultimatum, involving wholesale resignation unless
’Abdullah Suleyman were removed, but Fuad Bey Hamza rather as a report,
describing the chaotic situation in detail and submitting recommendations
for its reform, to which ’Abdullah Suleyman was invited to subscribe. He
very naturally refused. So the document was entrusted to ’Abdullah
Ibrahim al Fadhl for presentation to His Majesty at Riadh. ’Abdullah
Suleyman accompanied him there on the 23rd October. At the end of the
month Ibn Sa’ud’s reaction was still anxiously awaited in the Hejaz.
Fuad Bey, when he came to Jedda on October 29th, was nervous and
LS07 (C;F&rD

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Content

The file contains intelligence reports on the Kingdom of Hejaz, Najd and its Dependencies (after September 1932, Saudi Arabia) written by the British Legation at Jeddah.

Between July 1931 and December 1932 the reports are issued every two months, with the exception of the January-March 1932 and April 1932 reports. From January 1933 the reports are sent on a monthly basis.

Between July 1931 and December 1932, each report is divided into sections, numbered with Roman numerals from I to IX, as follows: Internal Affairs; Frontier Questions; Relations with States outside Arabia; Air Matters; Military Matters; Naval Matters; Pilgrimage; Slavery; and Miscellaneous. Each section is then further divided into parts relating to a particular matter or place, under a sub-heading. Some reports contain an annex.

From January 1933, when the reports become monthly, they take a new format. Each is divided into sections, as follows: Internal Affairs; Frontier Questions and Foreign Relations in Arabia; Relations with Powers Outside Arabia; Miscellaneous (often containing information on slavery and the pilgrimage).

Most reports are preceded by the covering letters from the Government of India, who distributed them to Political Offices in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and elsewhere, and the original covering letter from the Jeddah Legation, who would send them to the Government of India and Government departments in London. From May 1933, most reports were sent directly 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. at Bahrain from Jeddah.

Up until January 1933, each report began with an index giving a breakdown of the sections with references to the corresponding paragraph number. From January 1933 onwards no index is included.

Extent and format
1 file (266 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged chronologically.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover and terminates at the back cover; 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 incomplete foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 6-11; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.

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English in Latin script
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'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [‎15r] (29/536), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/295, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100025543724.0x00001e> [accessed 19 March 2024]

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