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Coll 34/3 'Slavery and Slave Trade: Red Sea and Arabia: Attitude of Ibn Saud' [‎37v] (79/886)

The record is made up of 1 file (444 folios). It was created in 6 Feb 1922-27 Dec 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. .

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nr ill treated slave desiring a change of master can run away to the Dekka and
demand to be sold which the master (unless he be a person of exceptional power
and Influence) cannot, by custom, refuse. A member of the Legation staff, who
visited this Dekka on the 2nd March last found ten male and seven female slaves
exhibited there. Usually, however, in Mecca, and always m Jedda sales are
Seated little less publicly in the houses of the slave-brokers. Many of the latter
f fst in Mfcca andTddZ the names of six in Jedda being known to the Legation,
a HadhramT a Hejazl Bedouin, an Italian Somali, and three natives of Jedda.
The intending purchaser gets into touch with one of these brokers and visits his
house where he is shown the slaves for sale and allowed to examine them, female
slaves Tre exhibited sufficiently scantily clad to enable him to judge their physical
development After agreement as to the price the sale is usually completed by the
execution of a document of sale before two witnesses; occasionally by a document
obtained from the Sharia Court proving ownership. a a v,
60 Such sales, however, though formerly common, have been rendered much
less so'by the deadness of the market. The majority of middle-aged slaves
manumitted by the Legation in the past three years have had three or more owners
The Sheikh Ad Dallalin or chief broker Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation. of Mecca, however, stated recently that
1 000 sales in Mecca were registered in his records of 1930, but scarcely 100 in
1933. In Medina there are said to have been only ten sales last year, and tne
Dekka there is closed. , . ,1
61 Ibn Sand’s large stock of slaves is obtained either by purchases m the
open market or by gifts from notables. The latter practice is fairly common,
both with a view to currying favour with the King, and also because His Majesty s
custom is almost invariably to recompense such a gift with another of greater
price. Slave-brokers were at one time eager to give him, or members of the Koyai
family, first refusal of any new slaves who might have come into their hands, but
are nowadays inclined to fight shy because, although the prices offeied by the
Koyal personages are always good, their actual payment is entrusted to the
Minister of Finance, Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman, who is notoriously and
increasingly dilatory in settlement. Once finished with they are given as presents
to notables or handed over to Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman for disposal, but are said
to be never again sold; though a person receiving one and not needing him can
return him to the King.
Prices.
62. The following table of current prices of slaves in Mecca shows plainly
the great depreciation in the value of slaves which has taken place in the last
three years : —
r..>30-31 Prices,
Type of Slave.
(1) Town-trained, young (age 1-14, either sex)
Full-grown (age 15-45, male)
Marriageable girls
Old (age 45 upwards, either sex)...
(2) Bedouin (country-trained)
1933-34 Prices.
£ (gold), £ (gold).
30-40 15-25
50-70 20-30
80-150 35-50
15-20 5-10
Roughly half the above
prices.
63. These prices, though obtained from the head broker Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation. of Mecca, must be
accepted with some reserve, as present sales are few and the value of each slave
clearly depends greatly on their physical attributes and accomplishments. The
fourth class of slave, those over 45 years of age, are seldom bought except for the
purpose of freeing them (see paragraph 24).
III .—Action by Hds Majesty’s Government.
64. During the past three years the action taken by His Majesty’s Govern
ment in connexion with Arabian slavery has consisted of two parts : (i) The
maintenance of the naval patrol in the Red Sea, and (ii) the maintenance of the
right of manumission by the British Legation, Jedda, of slaves who take refuge
in it.

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Content

Correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and notes relating to slavery and slave traffic in the Red Sea and Arabian Peninsula. Principal correspondents include officials at 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. , Foreign Office, Colonial Office, Treasury, and Admiralty. Further correspondence, included as enclosures, comes from officials at the British Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. in Jeddah, the 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. in Aden, the 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. in Bushire, the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. , the Government of India (Foreign and Political Department), as well as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the Kingdom of Hejaz, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France, the Royal Legation of Saudi Arabia in London, the High Commissioner for Palestine, the Chief British Representative in Trans-Jordan, Ibn Saud, the ruler of Najd, Hejaz (after 1925), and its Dependencies, and John Hobbis Harris, Organising Secretary to the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.

The file contains, often as enclosures, reports of proceedings by commanding officers of British vessels in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Parliamentary Notices of questions relating to the issue of slavery, extracts from Le Matin , a French daily newspaper, and a copy of the October 1934 issue of The Slave Market News .

Matters covered by the papers include:

  • Reports on slave traffic in the Red Sea, including cases where suspected vessels have been seized
  • Slave traffic within the Arabian Peninsula and along the Omani coast
  • Cost of repatriating manumitted slaves
  • French and Italian cooperation in the fight against slavery
  • Protests to appropriate authorities in Arabia about the trade
  • British subjects allegedly owning slaves
  • Individual cases of slave seeking refuge with the British.

Also of note are the following memoranda:

  • 'Memorandum on Slavery and the Slave Traffic in the Kingdom of the Hejaz and of Nejd and its Dependencies' by William L Bond, British Agent at Jeddah, 6 March 1930 (folios 215-221; this document is referred to often in the correspondence contained in IOR/L/PS/12/4088)
  • 'Memorandum on Slavery in Saudi Arabia' by Sir Andrew Ryan, British Agent at Jeddah, 15 May 1934 (folios 31-44)
Extent and format
1 file (444 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged in chronological order from the back to the front.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 446; 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.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 34/3 'Slavery and Slave Trade: Red Sea and Arabia: Attitude of Ibn Saud' [‎37v] (79/886), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/4090, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100075136542.0x000050> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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