File 2182/1913 Pt 9 'Arabia Policy towards Bin Saud' [136v] (270/406)
The record is made up of 1 item (203 folios). It was created in 27 Dec 1918-2 Jun 1919. 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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This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
2
Agent at Kuwait, had little difficulty in establishing “^fXiLting
tions with the ruler of Najd by a series of to Suez in the early
The history of his operations and the sequel thereto ha , li , t< Precis re-
^ati^
S y Shm a spt n A th d:afh eat Hrn:^^^ and held in high
honour in Arabia by all with whom he came into contact, and I TV ma Q e ^
doubt that had he lived, Hail would have fallen long since and Ibn Sand,
assisted by us on a more lavish scale than was m fashion during the early
davs of the War, would have taken a more prominent part m operations against
the enemy than it has been possible or indeed necessary for him to do.
A reference to the Memorandum above quoted will show that the death
of Captain Shakespear in January 1915, on the bat *. le ^ ^ Ibn Rashid
the forces of Ibn Sand were arrayed m our cause a^mst those of Ibn Rashid
who had declared for Turkey and where the day went lU a J iy, T T^
followed by a long period of military inactivity on the part of Ibn Sand. I
interval hid, however, been profitably spent m cementing our alliance with
him and had resulted in a treaty highly satisfactory to both parties m a meet
ing of rulers at Kuwait at which Sir P. Cox invested Ibn baud with the insignia
of a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire and finally m a
visit by Ibn Saud to Basrah, during which he not only had every opportunity
11 of seeing for himself the paraphernalia of modern warfare and the results ot
' the British occupation of Basrah, but was himself provided with a welcome
addition to his armament and a regular monthly subsidy to enable him to
I ^^4-4-r-r/-v 4 -t c orroicf lii q o ti rl nnr pti omv. Ibn Raslud.
The year 1917 thus dawned with bright hope for the future. The neces
sity of sending an Officer to represent him in Najd was already engaging bir
P Cox’ serious attention, but it was not until May, that an opportunity P 1 ®"
sented itself of giving efiect to his plans in this direction. Mr. (now Colonel)
E Storrs C.M.G., had arrived at Baghdad on a visit on behalf ot the High
Commissioner for Egypt, and with the latter’s ready consent it was decided
that he should return to Egypt across Arabia, visiting Ibn Saud m the Qasim
en route in order to place Sir P. Cox in possession of such first hand informa
tion regarding Ibn Sand’s strength and prospects as was necessary to enable
him to decide on the course to be adopted with a view to making the operations
in Central Arabia a substantial contribution to the general activities of our
Military forces in the Turkish theatre of War. Incidentally Mr. Storrs was
to endeavour to effect such improvement as was possible in the relations of : the
King of the Hijaz and the Wahhabi ruler, whose mutual suspicions and dis
trust were growing increasingly apparent.
The necessary preliminary preparations having been made, Mr. Storrs left
Kuwait on the 9th June, 191§, 7 with a zilfi caravan, but four days later he was
back at Kuwait, having fallen a victim to the sun on the third day of his
journey. It was out of the question for him to think of venturing again into
the desert at such a season and he returned to Egypt by sea.
It was now obviously impracticable to renew the attempt to link up with
Ibn Saud until the climate moderated and the hot weather dragged on with
Ibn Saud making a somewhat half-hearted pretence of threatening Hail from
the Qasim until Ramdhan, when he left Turki, his eldest son, in command of
such forces as had not dispersed and returned to Riyadh to^ fast. Meanwhile
the position in Central Arabia was becoming increasingly obscure, Madina
showed no signs of falling to the forces of the Sharif, the Turks held on to
the Hijaz railway, repairing breaches therein as they occurred, while the rela
tions of our two chief Arab allies, the Sharif and Ibn Saud, were rapidly
becoming strained and difficult, the inactivity of the latter giving the former
pretexts for accusing him of lukewarmness in our cause and even of tacit
neutrality of a benevolent nature towards Ibn Rashid and the Turks.
It was in these circumstances that at the end of September, 1917, Sir P. Cox
renewed the project of sending a mission to Ibn Saud and, as it was generally
agreed that a serious effort should be made to eliminate or neutralise Ibn
Rnshid in order that the Sharif’s operations might be facilitated and the ground
of the existing friction between him and Ibn Saud removed, His Majesty’s
Government sanctioned the. despatch of a Mission of more ambitious pro
portions than had been considered feasible during the previous hot weather.
In fact it was contemplated that the Mission should be sufficiently representa
tive of all interests to be able to dispose of the political differences and jea
lousies of our various Arab allies and that it should at the same time partake
of a semi-military character in order that such proposals as it might make
About this item
- Content
Part 9 primarily concerns the dispute between Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and King Hussein of Hejaz [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī, King of Hejaz], and British policy towards both. The item includes the following:
- a note by 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. 's Political Department, entitled 'Arabia: The Nejd-Hejaz Feud', which laments the fact that relations between Bin Saud and King Hussein have to some extent been reflected in the views of the two administrations with which they have respectively been brought into contact (i.e. the sphere of Mesopotamia and the Government of India in Bin Saud's case, and the Cairo administration in King Hussein's case);
- reports on the presence of Akhwan [Ikhwan] forces in Khurma and debate as to which ruler has the stronger claim to it;
- attempts by the British to ascertain whether or not a treaty exists between King Hussein and Bin Saud;
- a copy of a report by Harry St John Bridger Philby entitled 'Report on Najd Mission 1917-1918', which includes as appendices a précis of British relations with Bin Saud and a copy of the 1915 treaty between Bin Saud and the British government;
- reports of alleged correspondence between Bin Saud and Fakhri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , Commander of the Turkish [Ottoman] forces at Medina;
- reports of the surrender of Medina by Ottoman forces;
- discussion as to whether Britain should intervene further in the dispute between Bin Saud and King Hussein;
- details of the proposals discussed at an inter-departmental conference on Middle Eastern affairs, which was held at Cairo in February 1919;
- reports that King Hussein's son Abdulla [ʿAbdullāh bin al-Ḥusayn] and his forces have been attacked at Tarabah [Turabah] by Akhwan forces and driven out.
The principal correspondents are the following:
- 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. , temporarily based in Baghdad [Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold Talbot Wilson, acting Resident in Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Zachariah Cox's absence];
- Civil Commissioner, Baghdad [held in an officiating capacity by Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold Talbot Wilson];
- High Commissioner, Egypt (General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, succeeded by General Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby);
- Milne Cheetham, 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. , Cairo;
- Secretary to 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. 's Political Department (John Evelyn Shuckburgh);
- Bin Saud;
- King Hussein;
- Feisal [Fayṣal bin Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī], son of King Hussein;
- Foreign Office;
- Secretary of State for India [Edwin Samuel Montagu];
- Harry St John Bridger Philby.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (203 folios)
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 2182/1913 Pt 9 'Arabia Policy towards Bin Saud' [136v] (270/406), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/390/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036528095.0x00004e> [accessed 17 April 2024]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/390/1
- Title
- File 2182/1913 Pt 9 'Arabia Policy towards Bin Saud'
- Pages
- 2r:4v, 6r:25v, 29r:36r, 37v:50v, 59r:122v, 124r:160v, 162r:173v, 175r:189v, 191r:196v, 198r:204v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
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- Open Government Licence