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Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎171r] (342/540)

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The record is made up of 1 file (268 folios). It was created in 18 Apr 1931-18 May 1945. 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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165. Perhaps the most exotic of the more notable pilgrims in 1933 were the
Amir of Katsina and Lady Evelyn Cobbold. The former, a great lord m Nigeria,
brought a considerable posse of wives, children and other followers some ot whom
he took on to England. The latter was allowed to go to the holy cities on the
strength of having embraced Islam nearly sixty years before, although in the
interval she had had less practical experience of the faith than of the duties ot
an English wife and mother and the pleasures of a great lady. It was said by the
malicious that the King swallowed her Islam the more easily because she had a
son-in-law on the Board of the Bank of England.
166. It is worth recording that Sir G. Buchanan, who, as Medical Officer
of the Ministry of Health, is much concerned with international sanitary
questions, including those connected with the pilgrimage, visited Jedda privately
in January.
XI.— Slavery and the Slave Trade.
167. This section can also be curtailed, as the Legation is preparing a
special report which will bring the whole subject up to date. No major question
arose in 1933. The Legation continued to exercise the right of manumission
normally without encountering any undue opposition on the part of the Saudi
authorities. The number of slaves dealt with were as follows
On hand at the beginning of January : 2 males.
Took refuge during the year : 17 males, 3 females.
Manumitted and repatriated : 17 males, 2 females.
Locally manumitted : 1 female.
Left the Legation voluntarily after taking refuge : 1 male.
On hand at the end of December : 1 male.
168. The Legation investigated the alleged sale by an Abyssinian pilgrim
of a woman whom he had brought to the Hejaz, ostensibly as his wife The facts
could not be ascertained with sufficient certainty to justify representations to the
Saudi Government. Representations were made in another case in which a man
in Kamaran alleged that his two children had been re-enslaved, not far trom
Jedda after he and they had been manumitted by a former owner. Although he
produced a document purporting to be a certificate of manumission, the Saudi
Government claimed to have established by careful enquiry that he was a
runaway, whose son had been sold and whose daughter had been married and
manumitted. It was not found possible to pursue the case for lack of furthei
evidence.
169. One unusual case is worth mentioning as an illustration of the need for
care in manumission cases. Two girls who took refuge m the Legation
pretending to be slaves, were proved conclusively to be free members of a local
family, who had naughtily run away from home.
170. Reference is made in paragraph 72 to the possibility that the Saudi
Government may seek in 1934 to reopen the question of their position
His Majesty’s Government in regard to slavery. It is possible that they will
attempt to rid themselves of the Legation manumission system even it they do
not attempt to obtain the abrogation of article 7 of the Ireaty of Jedda.
XII.— Naval Matters.
171. His Majesty’s sloops in the Red Sea visited Jedda as follows in 1933 .
Hastings, January 13 to 15; Penzance, April 1 to 8; Hastings, July 6 to 9;
Penzance, November 18 to 23. The visit in April was that normally made at
pilgrimage time, and the usual Haj Regatta was held on the 6th April. BigM
Moslem ratings made the pilgrimage in accordance with what has become an
annual custom.
172. The only other naval visits during the year were those of the French
naval yacht Diana with Vice-Admiral Jubert on board from the 3!st January to
the 2nd February; the Italian cruiser Libia from the 6th to the 8th May, the
French despatch boat Ypres from the 28th to the 29th October.

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Content

This file contains copies of annual reports regarding the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia) during the years 1930-1938 and 1943-1944.

The reports were produced by the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard) and sent to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (and in the case of these copies, forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India), with the exception of the reports for 1943 and 1944, which appear to have been produced and sent by His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda, Stanley R Jordan.

The reports covering 1930-1938 discuss the following subjects: foreign relations; internal affairs; financial, economic and commercial affairs; military organisation; aviation; legislation; press; education; the pilgrimage; slavery and the slave trade; naval matters. The reports for 1943 and 1944 are rather less substantial. The 1943 report discusses Arab affairs, Saudi relations with foreign powers, finance, supplies, and the pilgrimage, whilst the 1944 report covers these subjects in addition to the following: the activities of the United States in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East Supply Centre, and the Saudi royal family.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (268 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 269; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at 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 present in parallel between ff 2-12 and ff 45-268; these numbers are also written in pencil but are not circled.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎171r] (342/540), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2085, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036362871.0x00008f> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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