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returned, some of them with Bahraini papers issued to such of them as were
considered entitled to recognition as Bahraini nationals. Cases then arose of
maltreatment and forcible seizure by the Nejdi authorities of the papers issued
m Bahrain. In one case a man was stated to have been falsely imprisoned and
beaten. 1 his man’s release was secured by local action, but His Majesty’s
Blinister in Jedda was instructed in May to take up with the Hejazi Government
the general question of securing for Bahraini nationals immunity from ill-treat
ment and lespect for their papers. Various causes prevented Sir A. Ryan from
carrying out these instructions before he went on leave in August. On his return
in December it seemed advisable still to leave the matter in abeyance, pending
developments in connexion with the Hejazi law on Nationality, and with the
complex of Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Questions described earlier in this Report.
(4) British Claims against the Hejaz-Nejd Government.
!20(). It is right to refer to these claims in the present section, but they are
sufficiently dealt with in paragraph 118 owing to their bearing on the appreciation
there given of the general financial situation.
(5) Euro'pean Cemetery.
201. The only permanent European institution in the Hejaz, not being a
foreign representative mission or a commercial establishment, is the European
cemetery at Jedda, which presents a special interest from a British point of
view. It consists of a desolate piece of ground enclosed by walls to the south of
the town, half empty, half filled with perhaps a hundred graves, of which only
about a fifth have anything to show who lies buried. It is or supposed to be the
concern of four missions, the British, the French, the Dutch and the Italian. In
the recent past one or other of them has been in charge of it. There are
fortunately few deaths to stimulate interest; unfortunately no proper cemetery
records, except an account book showing the proceeds of an occasional collect
in the community and the expenditure, consisting mainly of the monthly wage of
a native caretaker.
202. In June 1930 the Netherlands Legation, which had administered the
cemetery for two or three years, invited the British Legation to take charge.
There arose out of this transfer a suggestion that something should be done to
place the cemetery on a sound basis, to see whether any improvements could be
effected, to collect any available records of the past, and to ensure that future
records should be kept. The heads of the four interested missions agreed to form
themselves into a committee with the consent of any colonies they might have in
Jedda. For climatic reasons, further local action was left until the winter, but
some steps were taken towards elucidating the past history of the cemetery.
203. In August the Foreign Office produced a valuable memorandum which
throws much light on the history of this derelict institution in a far country in
which Europeans, unless they compel respect, still pass for “ Christian dogs.” It
also stimulates regret that so little has been done locally in the past to preserve
records. The uncertain history begins at an undefined moment between 1820 and
1860 when Mehmed Ali gave a grant of land. This was so ill-enclosed and
crowded in 1860 that repairs and enlargement were necessary. The bodies of
the British and French consuls and the Europeans killed in the Jedda massacre
of 1858 had been thrown promiscuously into a trench by the sea. Interest was
taken in the cemetery for some years. The British and French Governments
contributed money, and a monument was apparently erected to the memory of
the Europeans murdered in 1858. It is not known when this was done, but the
monument, of which there is now no trace, was in existence in 1881, when the
death of the Austrian vice-consul’s wife caused a new wave of interest and led
to local action being taken to improve matters under the auspices of the Dutch
consul. No record of anything subsequent to 1881 was discovered in the Foreign
Office, except that in 1912 the Treasury agreed to a grant of £20 which had been
refused in 1910, but permission could not be given to the then British consul to
charge an annual contribution to public funds. It is possible that French and
Dutch archives may produce some further information.