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'File 8/16 Bahrain Intelligence Reports' [121r] (241/432)
The record is made up of 1 file (214 folios). It was created in 20 Jan 1941-31 Dec 1942. 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.
-5-
76. Local Affairs .
(i) News that three of Rashid All’s colleagues in treason
had been executed caused a stir in Bahrain. It was taken for
granted that British influence was responsible both for the
promulgation of the death sentence and for the carrying out
of that sentence; and local Arabs were surprised that action
so drastic should have been taken by the British. After dis
cussion of the matter from every angle for several days, at
every street corner and in every coffee-shop in Bahrain, the
feeling that remained dominant was still one of surprise
that the British could have done something so different from
what popular estimate of their character expected of them.
(ii) The Qadis have protested to His Highness the Shaikh
against the increase of immorality in Bahrain, which they
attribute largely to the presence here of so many foreigners
from the West. They mentioned particularly the blatant
behaviour of the prostitutes who parade along the Manama-
Awali road, and the growth of liquour drinking among the
Moslem community. Steps are being taken by the Bahrain
Government which will, it is hoped, result in confining
immoral practices to certain specified quarters which the
Qadis will not, or certainly should not, visit.
77 o S muggling of gold .
On May 11th a Basrah goldsmith named Ibrahim Isaac
Shebbath, who had been on a visit to Bahrain where his
partner Said Na’aman lives, returned to Basrah by air.
On arrival at Basrah he was searched and was found to be
carrying a number of gold coins and a gold belt. He was
arrested by the Iraq police. Shebbath is an Iraqi Jew.
The question of deporting his Bahrain partner is under
consideration. Inquiries arc also being made into the
circumstances in which Shebbath war able successfully to
take the gold on to the Flying Boat by which he travelled
from Bahrain to Basrah.
78. The Oil Companies .
(i) Reference para 64 (i) of Intelligence Summary No.8
of 1942.
Mr. Ohliger, formerly Resident Manager, California
Arabian Standard Oil Company, left for the United States on
May 15th.
(ii) Industrial conscription for employees of the Bahrain
Petroleum Company and of Petroleum Concessions Limited who
are British subjects or British Protected Persons was
announced on May 8th and made effective from May 9th.
European and Canadian British subjects appear to have
accepted the measure quietly and regard it as one which is
both fair and necessary. Indians are not so happy about
it, and discontent in some quarters is growing.
79. Meteorological .
Maximum temperature 105°on 10th and 11th May.
Minimum temperature 71°on 2nd and 3rd May.
Humidity exceeded 70% on 2 days the maximum
being 89% on the 8th May.
May 10th and 11th were close, hot, airless days and
nights which made the relaxation of sleep almost unattainable.
On May 12th a strong North wind got up which cleared the at
mosphere, brought relief to man and beast, and was still blow
ing at the end of the fortnight under report.
Sd. ~S.B. Wakefield.
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.
, Bahrain.
About this item
- Content
The file contains fortnightly intelligence summaries produced by the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. at Bahrain for the years 1941-42. The reports, marked as secret, were sent to the Government of India, 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 numerous diplomatic, political, and military offices in the Middle East. Most of the reports cover a two week period, though due to holidays, tours, and work pressures some cover an entire month.
The reports are divided into short sections that relate to a particular subject, often closely connected to the Second World War. Contained within the file is intelligence on the following:
- international shipping and the activities of the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and commercial transport companies such as Imperial Airways Limited;
- the movements of British and Foreign subjects, and Arab notables;
- local affairs of Bahrain, as well as news from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Persia [Iran], and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ;
- economic matters and food supplies;
- foreign radio broadcasts and press, with a focus on anti-British sentiment;
- the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Fighter Fund;
- defence matters;
- smuggling of gold and arms and the traffic of slaves;
- meteorological data;
- medical matters.
Folios 57-61 are correspondence relating to the alleged sinking of an Iranian dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. by a British man-of-war in March 1941.
Folios 85-88 is a list of prominent individuals in Bahrain, compiled by 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, Reginald Alban, and submitted to the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. at Bushire.
Folio 122 is the statement of thirteen Qatari sailors who were aboard a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. sunk by a Japanese submarine on 12 April 1942.
Folio 176 is a telegram from the Government of India in New Delhi requesting that intelligence summaries differentiate between truly confidential content and that which can be distributed more widely.
Folio 190 is a letter, dated 15 October 1942, from Charles Geoffrey Prior, 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , to Edward Birkbeck Wakefield, 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, regarding the risk of including information about the revival of the slave trade in the Gulf in his diaries due to their wide readership.
Included in the file is correspondence between 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 the Naval Officer in Charge at Basrah regarding prominent people of the region and events of the war.
On the inside of the front cover is the distribution list for the summaries.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (214 folios)
- Arrangement
The file is arranged chronologically.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 216; 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.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'File 8/16 Bahrain Intelligence Reports' [121r] (241/432), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/314, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100025549536.0x00002a> [accessed 19 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/314
- Title
- 'File 8/16 Bahrain Intelligence Reports'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:215v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence