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Coll 6/8(1) 'Printed Series: 1929 to 1938.' [‎248r] (500/1062)

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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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L632(C) FVPD
83
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selves
01
dhiim
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there Wi
ee tnm
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treat what he said as purely personal. He developed then on this agreed
understanding, on the following lines : 1 , r is agreed
)nal
Kino* both f T ^ t HejaZ Ba i 1Way ( l uestlon ’ wllich interested the
Km & both politically and economically; politically from
the point of view of bringing certain parts of his dominions
m o closer touch with each other; economically, because of the
value of the railway, if reconditioned, as a means of rapid
transit, huad Bey referred to a private letter which I had
written to the King and which was in the file. I said that,
while I was not authorised to discuss the question, I was odad
to know that His Majesty’s advisers had knowledge oAhe
letter, which had taken the form it did for very special reasons.
Fuad Bey understood those reasons, and said that, as they
had imposed a special course of action, a suitable communi
cation, .would be made to me in reply in the first instance.
(2) The question of Aqaba and Ma’an was still unsettled. He did
not say that the King wished to reopen it now or to press it,
but it was an outstanding matter between him and His
Majesty’s Government.
(3) The King desired assistance in connexion with the extensive
Wakfs in territory under British control.
(4) Fuad Bey said that he was on such terms with me that he could
speak of a matter, which others might hesitate to broach so
frankly, viz., the financial needs of this country. I knew
very well, he said, the King’s difficulties and liabilities. He
was expected to maintain security, to provide a sound sanitary
administration; to improve his ports; to promote economic
development; and to seek resources other than the pilgrimage
on which the country at present depended and which had
become precarious. He reminded me that the Turks in their
time had to maintain an army of 30,000 men in the Hejaz, and
to subsidise tribes as well. The resources available
were known. I observed that I myself had no accurate
idea of them.) If the King had to work on the Turkish
plan and did things on the Turkish scale, it would
now be necessary to spend $1 million to £2 million a year on
security alone. It was also necessary to provide for the civil
administration and for representatives abroad. Fuad Bey,
after enumerating those burdens, observed that both King
Hussein and Ibn Saud had enjoyed British financial assistance
in the past.
(5) Finally, Fuad Bey said, His Majesty’s Government could help
Ibn Saud by ensuring a good attitude on the part of his
neighbours, in regard to whom we had a special position.
16. Fuad Bey assured me, and renewed the assurance later, that the
King desired a perfect understanding with His Majesty s Government, and
that, if such an understanding existed. His Majesty was prepared to mee.,
us on all the points to wTiich he conceived us to attach importance.
17. I thanked Fuad Bey for speaking to me so fully and frankly. There
followed a long and intimate conversation which was confined to the question
of my personal relations with Ibn Saud, to which Fuad Bey had referred
tactfully as being in need of restoration to an earlier and better tooting.
I said that I myself had been conscious of a strain I traced m detail the
history of relations with Ibn Saud, referring to the various occasions on
Wluch, in dealing with particular matters notobly ^
question, I appeared to have given offence. While agreeing generally with
Fuad Bey’s "definition"of the o°bject of a mission like mine and his view as
to the importance of personal factors in diplomacy, P increa-
questions of the highest importance, diplomatic re PJ ,e ^. ta i 1 J e ^ e J r e ta ^ e of
singly dependent on their central Governments, and the 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.' [‎248r] (500/1062), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2071, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100061765165.0x000065> [accessed 18 April 2024]

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