Skip to item: of 636
Information about this record Back to top
Open in Universal viewer
Open in Mirador IIIF viewer

File 1855/1904 Pt 10 'Koweit:- Relations with Turkey. Sheikh's properties at Fao and Fadaghia' [‎170v] (340/398)

The record is made up of 199 folios. It was created in 12 Jan 1908-18 Sep 1912. It was written in English and French. 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.

Apply page layout

6. It was not long that I was permitted to remain in this state of doubt. In
the course of my stay at Fao, I was assured by the local gossip that it was an
open secret that the creek on which the detachment was posted was not the
“ Nahar-i-Moosa ” but the “ Nahar-i-Ghath-ban ” and that Sheikh Mobarak has
taken from the Ma’amir property and added to his own a large block of date
garden probably 100 yards wide and stretching from the river on the east side
to the marshes on the west. Which version is the true one it is difficult to say,
but there is no doubt that a large tract of extremely vah 'ble and well cultivated
land is in dispute and it will be necessary to move with extreme caution before
w’e lend our support to what may quite likely be a piece of serious lawless aggres
sion.
7. I next proceeded down river and landed at the Telegraph buildings and
delivered a letter from the quarantine officer at Basrah to the quarantine officer at
Fao. As I had no motive for concealment, I expressed a wish to see the Kaim-
mokam but it was midday and he was taking his siesta.
8. I again embarked and we went down stream to the house of Abdur
Rahim bin Haji Rashid who is Sheikh Mobarak’s principal Fao agent and an
inhabitant of this part of the country. Here we were met by the news that
Abdur Rahim was out and would not be back till sunset, so I despatched my
chuprassi Hamad with a local man to go by land to the Ras an Nabt, the
extreme southern end of the Fao properties, where Abdur Rahim was stated to
be, while we proceeded thither by sea, so that we could catch him on his return
journey whether by sea or land.
9 I was now accompanied by the Telegraph nakhoda one Yasin but we
failed to find Abdur Rahim who had left a little before Yasin in the dinghy
reached his objective.
10. We then returned a short way up river and proceeded to a house north
of the Turkish fort which was said to overlook the land in dispute between Sheikh
Mobarak and military authorities of the Fao fort. This house belonged to Ahmed
bin Rizq of whom mention has already been made in the correspondence
relating to Warba island, and here I was, with the usual Arab hospitality prompt
ly made welcome. As we proceeded westwards up the little creek bounded on
either side by reeds, nakoda Yasin pointed out to me the broken bund and
informed me that it had been constructed in 25 hours by 1,000 men of whom
500 came from the Persian side of the river, while the soldiers were afraid to
interfere.
11. The Arabs—and there were a matter of a dozen or so at Ahmed bin
Rizq’s house—informed me that, in their position, they w r ere between the devil and
the deep sea and were at their wits’ ends to know what to do. If they carried out
Sheikh Mobarak’s orders, they incurred the hostility of the Fort soldiers and, if
they did not, they had Sheikh Mobarak punishing them. A garden, overlapping
Ahmed bin Rizq’s date garden and house to the north, was inclosed and planted,
so I ascertained, within the last six years according to one account and within
the last three years according to another. The significance of this will appear
later.
12. We had been sitting in Ahmed bin Rizq’s date garden a matter of 20
minutes when Sheikh Mobarak’s agent, Abdur Rahim arrived, and w'e inspected the
ground enclosed by the offending embankment. Abdur Rahim informed me
that the foundations of the old embankment were laid fourteen years ago but tha-
nothing had been done subsequently until last autumn when the whole embankt
ment was constructed in one day. It was destroyed in the winter and had not
been repaired.
13. The ground inclosed to the east of Ahmed bin Rizq’s house has never
been cultivated and though it would, no doubt, be extremely valuable,
if reclaimed, an inspection of the spot is quite sufficient to satisfy any
reasonable person that nothing of greater value than reeds has been taken
out of it up to date. I am, as a military man, entirely in sympathy with
the local military authorities in forbidding its cultivation. No soldier would
permit it for a moment. That, at the same time, the fort also is entirely
valueless either for attack or defence is perhaps beside the question. It appears

About this item

Content

The papers concern relations between Shaikh Mubarak [Mubārak bin Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], Ruler of Koweit [Kuwait] and the Government of Turkey [the Ottoman Empire]; particularly in regard to the purchase by the Shaikh of date gardens at Fao [Al Fāw] on the Shatt-al-Arab, and property at Fadaghia, near Fao, both of which were in Turkish territory. In both cases, the Turkish authorities insisted that the Shaikh should first register himself as an Ottoman subject before they would allow the legal formalities of ownership to be completed.

The principal correspondents are 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. (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Zachariah Cox); 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. , Kuwait (Major Stuart George Knox; from 1909 Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear); the British Consul at Basrah (also referred to as Bussorah) [Basra] (Francis Edward Crow); the British Ambassador at Constantinople (Sir Gerald Augustus Lowther); Shaikh Mubarak; and senior officials of 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. , the Government of India, and the Foreign Office.

The papers cover: papers concerning the Fao property, including the Shaikh's appeals for a committee of inquiry and arbitration over the matter, January 1908 - July 1909 (folios 115-199); papers concerning the Fadaghia property, February 1909 - December 1910 (folios 6-114); Foreign Office paper containing a memorandum communicated to the Turkish Ambassador concerning the Bagdad railway question and other matters, July 1911 (folios 4-5); and correspondence concerning a false report in a Turkish newspaper that an allowance had been granted by the Turkish Government to Shaikh Mubarak, May-July 1912 (folios 2-3).

The French language content of the papers is confined to three folios of newspaper extracts (folios 133-135).

The date range gives the covering dates of all the documents contained in the papers; the covering dates of the Secret Department minute papers that enclose them, as given on folio 1, are 1908-1912.

Extent and format
199 folios
Written in
English and French in Latin script
View the complete information for this record

Use and share this item

Share this item
Cite this item in your research

File 1855/1904 Pt 10 'Koweit:- Relations with Turkey. Sheikh's properties at Fao and Fadaghia' [‎170v] (340/398), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/51/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037401202.0x000096> [accessed 29 March 2024]

Link to this item
Embed this item

Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.

<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037401202.0x000096">File 1855/1904 Pt 10 'Koweit:- Relations with Turkey. Sheikh's properties at Fao and Fadaghia' [&lrm;170v] (340/398)</a>
<a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100037401202.0x000096">
	<img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000365.0x000388/IOR_L_PS_10_51_0349.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000365.0x000388/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Use and reuse
Download this image