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Coll 6/63 'SOUTH EASTERN ARABIA AND QATAR BOUNDARIES.' [268v] (543/756)
The record is made up of 1 volume (374 folios). It was created in 19 Jan 1923-12 Jun 1934. 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.
2 -- sir -r,;; c £„f» “ t ”sr s« «
best of His recollection and belief the facts and circumstances were as follows: -
•i -ri g specific obiect with which, accompanied by Iraq representatives, I-**,
went to meeflbn Sand at Ojair was to induce him to ratify the Mohammerah
Agreement of 5th May 1922. Sir Percy proceeded to the rendezvous without
tnv knowledge that he would there meet Major Holmes or would have occasion
to express fny opinion as to the boundaries of the Qatar Peninsula; but
learntag from Major Holmes, and from the map that he produced that he was
endeavouring to obtain from Ibn Sand a concession for exploiting oi in an area,
which deluded the Qatar Peninsula, he (Sir Percy Cox) naturally informed
Major Holmes—and no doubt Ibn Saud also—that this could not be. If he a
then been asked as he doubtless must have been, what he considered should
be excluded, as instituting Qatar, Sir Percy would undoubtedly have based his
answer on his own knowledge, as Resident in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
for ^ny years,
namely that on the east coast, Qatar’s boundary with the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi s
territory was the head of the Khor-al-’Odaid, and on the west coast the head of Salwa
p., . iM.p ; n Si r Percy’s recollection, was the position recognised in the Bushire
ISdency’and ad^eT by Lorimer in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Gazetteer. Sir Percy
probably y had the Gazetteer with him, but on the above point he would hardly have
needed to consult it. In any case he is positive that the Anglo-1 urkish Blue Line of
1913 was never mentioned, and is of opinion that any view which he expressed
incidentallv and ex tempore could not reasonably be regarded as the official
pronouncement of the Hasa-Qatar boundary contemplated in our first treaty with Ibn
Saud (December 1915) in which it figured as one oi those to be heieafter
determined.” Moreover, Sir Percy Cox states that he informed both Ibn Saud and
Major Holmes that His Majesty’s Government ought to be consulted before any
concession was granted.
4 Sir Percy said that in these circumstances it seemed to him that His Majesty s
Government were entirely free, in so far as the conversations of 1922 were concerned,
to maintain against Ibn Saud the Blue Line of the unratified Anglo-1 urkish Convention
of 1913 as the eastern boundary of Nejd.
5 . Sir Percy said he was not aware whether either Ibn Saud or the Sheikh of
Qatar had ever advanced a definite claim to the ownership of the Barr-al-Qarah
coastal tract, between Zakhmmiyeh and Salwa, but it seemed to him that it occasion
arose in the future for a compromise it vrould be a reasonable course to assign to
Ibn Saud, in view of his strong position at Ojair close by, that lemgth of coast line-
with its hinterland, up to the Blue Line. This would have the advantage of leaving,
no indeterminate area along the sea-coast. J Gr L
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.
,
27th February 1934.
About this item
- Content
This volume relates to the eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia and the southern boundary of Qatar.
Much of the correspondence discusses the legal and international position of what is referred to as the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, as laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman convention of the following year), which is regarded by the British as the eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia, but is disputed by the Saudi Government, mainly on the grounds that it is no longer correct, following various developments during the years since the line was demarcated.
British concerns regarding these boundaries follow a recent oil concession for the Hasa [Al Hasa] region of Saudi Arabia, granted by the Saudi Government to the Standard Oil Company of California, as well as reports of the possibility of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company securing an oil concession in Qatar.
Related matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:
- The British policy regarding the blue line.
- The views of 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 Foreign Office officials, as well as other British officials (most notably Sir Percy Zachariah Cox, former 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. , and Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, 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 Kuwait), regarding the demarcation of the southern boundary of Qatar.
- British concerns regarding the land lying between the blue line and the southern boundary of Qatar, as recognised by the Sheikh of Qatar [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī].
- A request for a copy of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention, submitted by the United States Embassy in Angora [Ankara] – reportedly on behalf of the United States' State Department – to its British counterpart, and the wider significance of this request in relation to the United States' oil interests in the region.
- Foreign Office concerns that aerial survey work carried out by the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) in relation to its Hasa oil concession might extend beyond the blue line.
The volume features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); 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 Trenchard Craven William Fowle); 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 (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson); the Secretary of State for India (Samuel Hoare); the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India; the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs; officials of the Foreign Office, 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 Admiralty, and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department.
In addition to correspondence, the volume includes extracts from Bahrain political intelligence reports and minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, which concern the Qatar boundary.
Whilst the volume contains material dating from 1923 to 1934, the vast majority of the material dates from 1934. The French material consists of a short extract from the aforementioned Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, which is contained in copies of an 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. memorandum on the southern boundary of Qatar.
The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folios 3-4).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (374 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 374; 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. The front and back covers have not been foliated.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2130
- Title
- Coll 6/63 'SOUTH EASTERN ARABIA AND QATAR BOUNDARIES.'
- Pages
- 268r:268v, 332r:332v, 353r:354v
- Author
- Unknown
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact copyright@bl.uk with any information you have regarding this item.
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2130
- Title
- Coll 6/63 'SOUTH EASTERN ARABIA AND QATAR BOUNDARIES.'
- Pages
- 268r:268v, 332r:332v, 355r:355v
- Author
- Philby, Harry St. John Bridger
- Copyright
- ©Anonymous
- Usage terms
- Creative Commons Attribution Licence