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Coll 6/8(1) 'Printed Series: 1929 to 1938.' [‎52v] (109/1062)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (527 folios). It was created in 6 Jan 1929-15 Jan 1938. 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. .

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47
'atimttiatty to the Foreign Office, No. M.-03230/36,
LettE r from the Admiralty^ th ^ ^ im
• i„ ttpr No E.-3797/1283/25 of the 25th
With reference to your printed^^^^^^ H ^ Eepresenta _
June, and subsequent te ^ P g di Arabian Red Sea Oil Concession, I
tive at Jedda, COIlcerI11 T ^ d Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint
am commanded by My Lord 8 Conmi mo ^ for Fore n Afiairs! tiat
E; ?,'2■“>“ “'"•••“"• 8 “
competition for this concession.
Ponies of this letter have been sent 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. , Petroleum
Department and Department of Overseas Trade.
Letter from the Colonial Office to the Foreign Office, No. 78026/
36, DATED the 22nd August 1936.
I understand that you received a copy of Starling’s letter to me of the
18th July on the subject of the application of Petroleum Concessions
Limited for an oil concession in the Yemen.
There are obvious difficulties in affording any active support to the
company; and before I discuss the matter with Reilly I should be glad to
know what line you woulcf like us to take.
3
Letter from the Foreign Office to the Colonial Office, No. (E.-4590/|
260/91), dated the 28th August 1936.
Will you please refer to Starling’s letter No. 236/16 of 18th July, to
you and connected correspondence about the attitude to be adopted to the
proposal of Petroleum Concessions Limited to apply for an oil concession
in the Yemen.
2. We have been recently reconsidering the attitude to be adopted
towards Petroleum Concessions Limited in their quest for oil concessions
in the Red Sea area in the light of growing evidence of Italian designs and
aims in that region. As a result we are wondering whether as regards the
Yemen our attitude towards Petroleum Concessions Limited may not
perhaps have been hitherto a little too rigid, particularly as when they
were seeking a concession in Saudi Arabia we went so far as to assure the
Saudi Arabian Government that His Majesty’s Government fully
supported them. We cannot of course identify ourselves with any parti
cular company to the prejudice of other British or quasi-British concerns
or press the Imam to grant a concession to any particular company. Nor
can we well take part in the actual negotiations for the concession.
Further more, the absence of direct diplomatic representation in the Yemen
makes it difficult to extend to the Company the ordinary facilities which
we should extend, in a normal country, to a British Company which had
our confidence. At the same time there may well be ways and means by
which the Resident at Aden could indirectly facilitate the company’s task;
and it is clearly in the interests of His Majesty’s Government that
Petroleum Concessions Limited which, although an international concern,
is nominally a British Company with an important British element, should
obtain any concession which the Government of the Yemen may be willing
to grant, rather than that such a concession should go to the Italians.
Moreover we are inclined to doubt whether the appointment of Major
Holmes as the Company s mouthpiece in the Yemen should be allowed to
affect the attitude of His Majesty’s Government towards the Company s
activities for it must be remembered that he is being given every facility
bv ne Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Authorities in his search for concessions in Bahrain
and on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .
P

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Content

This volume compiles printed copies of letters, telegrams, memoranda and newspaper extracts relating to Britain's involvement across the Arabian Peninsula during the period 1929-1938. Whilst the correspondence encompasses all matters concerning British interests in the region, much of it relates to Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia). Matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:

  • Reports of unrest in the Hejaz.
  • Relations between Imam Yeha Hamid-Ud-Din [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen] and Ibn Saud.
  • Reports of raids and arms trafficking on the Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan -Nejd frontier.
  • Reports of the proceedings of British naval ships in the Red Sea.
  • Details of the Akhwan [Ikhwan] revolt against Ibn Saud, including the movements of one of the revolt's leaders, Faisal Dawish [Fayṣal bin Sulṭān al-Dawīsh], and his surrender to the British in Kuwait.
  • Relations between Kuwait and Nejd.
  • Relations between Iraq and Nejd, including a proposed meeting between Ibn Saud and King Faisal [Fayṣal] of Iraq, and reports of a treaty of alliance between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
  • Objections from the Hejaz Government to Royal Air Force aircraft flying over Nejd territory.
  • The purchase of arms by the Hejaz Government from Poland.
  • Ibn Saud's annexation of Asir.
  • The death of King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī].
  • Harry St John Bridger Philby's conversion to Islam, his mapping of Rub-al-Khali, and his reported spreading of Saudi propaganda in the Aden Protectorate.
  • The currency exchange crisis in the Hejaz-Nejd and the financial situation in the kingdom generally.
  • Reports on a survey of the water and mineral content of the Hejaz coastal area.
  • Relations between Soviet Russia and Saudi Arabia.
  • The emigration of Jews from Yemen to Palestine, via Aden.
  • British fears that Italy might harbour ambitions to annex Yemen.
  • Saudi oil concessions.
  • Italian-Saudi relations.

Prominent correspondents include the following: the British Agent (later His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires) at Jeddah; His Majesty's Minister at Jeddah; the High Commissioner for Egypt; the High Commissioner for Iraq; the High Commissioner for Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan ; 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; 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. (later Chief Commissioner, and later still, Governor), Aden; 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. ; His Majesty's Ambassador to Iraq; His Majesty's Ambassador to Italy; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Minister (and Acting Minister) for Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia); Ibn Saud; King Feisal of Iraq; the Prime Minister of Iraq; various officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the Air Ministry, and the Admiralty.

The French material in the volume consists of several items of correspondence and a copy of a treaty between France and Yemen, which was signed in April 1936.

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

Extent and format
1 volume (527 folios)
Arrangement

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

The items of correspondence are divided (roughly) into various sections. Each extract or item of correspondence within these sections has its own number, which is enclosed in brackets. These numbers proceed in ascending (and approximate chronological) order from left to right; however, the sections themselves proceed in reverse, from the rear to the front of the volume, in distinct groups (e.g. for 1929 numbers 1-23, which are located at folios 517-526, are followed by numbers 24-49 at folios 509-516, which are then followed by numbers 50-89 at folios 494-508, and so on).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 529; 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.

Pagination: each section of correspondence within the volume (as described in the arrangement field) has its own pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 6/8(1) 'Printed Series: 1929 to 1938.' [‎52v] (109/1062), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2071, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100061765163.0x00006e> [accessed 10 May 2024]

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