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'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [18v] (36/536)
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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
.
28
military transport, recounted in paragraph 4, reinforcements were sent by
sea to the Amir of Jizan, and the Asiri situation was got in hand again.
As a result probably of this show of resolution on the part of Ibn Sa’ud,
reinforced by his telegraphic invocations of Allah A the Imam stayed his
hand. He may also have felt Italian pressure at his end. Tbn Sa’ud, on
his side, received urgent counsels of moderation from His Majesty’s Gov
ernment.
44. On the 1st September, the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs had
informed His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires that the situation was regarded
as serious. On the 4th the Hejazi Minister in London informed His
Majesty’s Government that the Imam had occupied a number of places on
the Hejazi side of the de facto frontier and was adopting so aggressive an
attitude that if it were maintained there was a serious danger ,of open
hostilities developing. The desirability was very strongly urged upon
Sheykh Hafiz Wahba of Ibn Sa’ud adopting counsels of moderation and ex
ercising the greatest possible patience in his dealings with the Imam. His
Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires was at the same time instructed to act similar
ly at Jedda, emphasizing the disastrous results which might follow to the
Hejaz from any outbreak of hostilities. The Italian Government undertook
to urge similar counsels upon the Imam. Ibn Saud in reply expressed his
gratitude to His Majesty’s Government for their advice and assured them
that he was doing his best to follow it. As evidence, the Hejazi Ministry
of Foreign Affairs communicated to His Majesty’s Chargd d’Affaires copies
of all the messages exchanged between Ibn Sa’ud and the Imam. The for
mer’s were pious and ponderous, the latter’s short and flippant.
45. During the first days of September the redoubtable Khalid bin
Luwey, captor of Taif from the Hashimites, was sent southwards with a
force of several thousand tribesmen on camels, with orders to collect more
en route and enter Asir. He encountered apathy and even resistance on his
way and took a month to reach his objective. On the 7th September the
Hejazi authorities chartered deck-space on the Mogul Line’s Steam Ship
“Jehangir”, then leaving for Aden, to transport to Jizan two hundred
and fifty Nejdi “regulars”, a mixed bodv containing many slaves of African
origins; also fifty aeroplane bombs. Because of the reefs she had to ap
proach from the South and on arrival on September 11th lay hooting for half
a dav off an apparently deserted town. Thinking it had already fallen, the
captain prepared to leave, when a solitary dugout canoe ventured near. It
held the port officer, disguised in a loin cloth; he was much relieved, to find
the ship held Nejdi reinforcements. Her arrival from the direction of the
Yemen had persuaded the local defence that she was full of enemy Yemenis.
On the 17th September Aden reported that the Imam was conniving at
agression on the Asir frontier in the regions of Jabal Fifa and Jabal
Bazih, in the hope that Ibn Sa’ud’s inactivity would give him the chance of
occupying Sabya, Abu ’Arish and Jizan and eventually the Farsan Islands.
\ contributory cause of the Imam’s activity was said to be his anxiety at
the grave decline of his port of Midi owing to the rivalry of Jizan. But
further Sa’udi reinforcements, including some armed cars, reached Jizan
overland as soon as benzine was available in the Hejaz, and the situation
began to stabilize.
46. On the 20th September, the Hejazi Government received from the
Imam Yahya by post the “very beautiful” reply which had been promised
in a, brief telegram received in August. It proved to be cjmte unintelligible,
written in the cryptic style which the late Sherif Husain used to baffle
treaty negotiators.' On the 24th, however, he clearly accepted Ibn Sa-ud’s
proposal to appoint delegates to meet near Arwa, agree and delimit a
frostier, and set up a modus vivendi. They began to meet about the middle
of October.
47 . An illuminating sidelight was later thrown by Mr. Philby on Ibn
Sa’ud’s attitude of early September. When the news of the advance of
the Imam’s troops in the mountains reached Riadh, the King and he and
Yusuf Yasin pored over large-scale maps to determine the extent of the
jurtri^ggiou, but nobody knew where the frontiei lay. Ibn Sa ud was
About this item
- 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.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [18v] (36/536), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/295, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100025543724.0x000025> [accessed 18 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/295
- Title
- 'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:35r, 36r:47r, 50r:267v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence