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Coll 30/213 'U.S. Desire to Establish Consulate at Bahrein.' [‎6r] (14/491)

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The record is made up of 1 file (243 folios). It was created in 8 Feb 1943-9 Jan 1948. It was written in English. 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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FOREIGN OFFICE, S. W. 1
24th November, "1947.
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There has recently been an opportunity to discuss
various Middle East problems informally with officials
of the State Department, in the course of which the
question of our special position in the Arab Sheikdoms
of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. was raised. The State Department
indicated that they had no intention of questioning
the continuance of this system but that in their view
certain difficulties had from time to time arisen as
a result of an apparent lack of full understanding
between British political agents on the one hand and
American representatives and individuals on the other.
We have told them we realise that the situation might
require a certain forbearance at times, but warmly
agree that friction should be reduced to the minimum. .
2. We should therefore be grateful if you would
inform Hay very confidentially of the above and ask
him to impress on all his officials the desirability
not merely of doing everything possible to reduce
friction with Americans, whether officials or private
individuals, to a minimum but of making them feel that
we regard them as close friends. There may, of course,
always be competition between British and American
business concerns, as there may be between different
British business concerns. But such competition can
and ought to be friendly. We should dismiss completely
’from our minds any latent feeling that on the official
level
E. P. Donaldson, Esq., C.M.G. ,
Commonwealth Relations Office.

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Content

The file concerns a request from the Government of the United States of America (US, USA) to the British Government in 1943 to be allowed to open a consulate at Bahrain, in view of the construction of additional oil refining facilities at Bahrain, and a consequent increase in the numbers of American personnel and shipping there (folio 241). However, the British Government rejected the approach (Foreign Office letter, folios 239-240), and saw 'difficulties and dangers' in allowing foreign consular representation at Bahrain ( 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. minute, folios 195-196). Later papers, dated 1944-48, show the reaction of the British Government to attempts by the US Government to extend the influence of the US vice-consulate at Dhahran (and the vice-consulate at Basra) to the Gulf states. The papers show that there was a dichotomy between the attitude of 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. and the Foreign Office towards American influence in Bahrain (e.g. folio 59).

The papers cover: correspondence from 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 Foreign Office, the Government of India, 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. , and 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. , Bahrain; the attitude of the Ruler of Bahrain; British agreement to the establishment of a US consulate at Dhahran, February-March 1944; the issue of the extension of the US Consul's exequatur to Bahrain, March - April 1944; clarification for the US Government of the issue of jurisdiction over foreigners in Bahrain; the issue of policing in Bahrain; reports of discussions between representatives of the British Government and the US representative Wallace Murray, 1944; British Government correspondence concerning the actual numbers of US citizens resident in Bahrain (e.g. folio 123); a US demand that an American citizen act as a Bahrain judge in all criminal cases in which the defendant was an American citizen (folio 119); correspondence concerning the activities of the US Vice-Consul, Dhahran, October-December 1944; the decision over whether to issue visas to the US Vice-Consul at Dhahran to visit Qatar and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , December 1944; US relations with Muscat, March 1945; the visit of the US Vice-Consul at Basrah [Basra] to Kuwait, in July 1945 (report dated August 1945); the issue of competing British and US interests in the Middle East (e.g. folio 14); and Foreign Office stress on the need to reduce friction between British officials and American citizens, whether officials or private individuals, November 1947 (folio 12).

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

Extent and format
1 file (243 folios)
Arrangement

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

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 243; 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 file contains one foliation anomaly, f 158A.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 30/213 'U.S. Desire to Establish Consulate at Bahrein.' [‎6r] (14/491), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3956, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100080300617.0x00000f> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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