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File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [23v] (51/898)
The record is made up of 1 volume (445 folios). It was created in 13 Mar 1924-18 Mar 1931. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
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Messrs. G„I„le,, Ha.le, •*» Co. ,»d the Ne.hsrki hiE'e
I.—Internal Affairs.
1. Local Government.
IBN SAUD spent the whole of July at Taif surrounded by his sons, his
Ministers, and the leading men of the Hejaz who were summoned to the summer
capital from Mecca and Jedda to discuss internal reorganisation. Ibn baud was
said to be severely overworked, his intention to reign rather than mle. f
Little is known of the deliberations, which were many, and xess of their results,
which are still barely visible. The Mecca Umm-al-Qura did indeed publish early
in July the formation and composition of an Inspectorate of Government Depart
ments. There was also a shuffling of the occupants of Administrative posts and an
increased immixture of Nejdis designed to stay corruption in the ( ustoms and
elsewhere. Talk of the reorganisation of the Foreign Office has not yet taken concrete
form.
The King, still apparently more dictator than sovereign, refreshed himself
during the first part of August by slaughtering gazelle at the purifying risk of being
thrown from his Mercedes-Benz.
2. Religion.
(a) A report was received in July from Simla containing the opinion delivered
by an Indian Moslem that Ibn Saud intended to proclaim himself Caliph of Islam.
This man’s reputation is unsavoury but he runs the Holy Carpet
Factory
An East India Company trading post.
in Mecca
and is there prominent. His evidence is the only one which has come to hand lately
of Ibn Saud’s penchant for the Caliphate.
(b) That his Wahhabism is resented in other Moslem circles has again been
shown by the representations made by the All India Shia Conference to his Excellency
the Viceroy, a copy of which was received in July. The conference had sought
British diplomatic intervention to restrain Ibn Saud’s Government from
deliberately and continuously trampling down the religious susceptibilities of
Moslems and of other sects,” but his Excellency had replied that the settled policy
of His Majesty’s Government was one of neutrality in religious matters and non
interference in the holy places of Islam. No other similar repercussion has been
recently noted.
(c) The Puritan Wahhabi faith has at last claimed Mr. H. St. J. B. Philby, who
on the 8th August made a unique entry into Mecca, there to make his first profession
of faith. He was closely followed into Islam by two other members of the European
colony in Jedda, an Italian mechanic and a German commission agent.
3. Agriculture.
(a) One of the July issues of the “ Umm-al-Qura ” described the policy whereby
certam of the Nejd Bedouin are being “ civilised ” by Ibn Saud, who collects them
into villages, grants them gifts and subsidies to attach them to the soil, and, as their
feudal lord calls upon them m time of war for the supply of armed contingents and
and northern Arabia e “ n ° ° ther reference to the agricultural possibilities of central
MiniSL^fTlvTfT 8 Were m ? de to the He i az r Ne i d Government by His Majesty’s
Minister m July with a view to permitting the International Locust Bureau of
tae“dinff Joundf of ThTu fT’T 11 the extent and nature of the
breeding grounds of the INejdian locust. The expected reply was received that
n Saud considered it undesirable to send such a mission at present.
4. Finance.
fr } ndlc ations multiplied during the last two months that all was still further
from well with the public exchequer. It became increasingly the habit to meet
governmental obligations by drafts on the Customs (April report par™^
neaALr tlght thr ° u ^ 0ut Jul y and August. Tredif felf to^y
(May ofTrepoS p“^h'^TfnCyft L^paidTor 1 ^et^oreT"' ° f
About this item
- Content
The volume mostly contains printed copies of despatches from HM Agent and Consul, Jeddah, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, enclosing reports on the situation in the Hejaz (also spelled Hedjaz in the file) [now a region of Saudi Arabia], from January 1924 to December 1930, and related enclosures to the reports. These despatches were sent to the Under-Secretary of State for India by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The volume also includes 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. Political and Secret Department minute papers, which include comments on the reports, and indicate that the reports had been seen by the Under-Secretary of State for India and the Political Committee of the Council of India.
The reports are monthly for January to August 1924, May 1925, September 1925 to March 1927, June 1927 to June 1930, and December 1930. Reports between these dates cover shorter periods, except July and August 1930, which are both covered by one report, and September, October and November 1930, which are also covered by one report.
The reports discuss matters including the actions of King Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi of the Hejaz, including his attempts to gain recognition as Caliph, and the military and financial situation in the Hejaz during the war between the Hejaz and the Saudi Sultanate of Nejd [Najd]. They report on events of the Hedjaz-Nejd war including: the capture of Taif (September 1924) and Mecca (October 1924) by Nejd; the departure of the ex-King Hussein from Jeddah; the fall of Medina and Jeddah and the surrender of the Hejaz to Sultan Abdul Aziz of Nejd [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd, also known as Ibn Saud] (December 1925); and the formal assumption of the title of King of the Hejaz and Sultan of Nejd and its Dependencies by Ibn Saud (8 January 1925).
The reports following the annexation of the Hejaz by Nejd cover internal affairs, including prohibitions introduced for religious reasons, the Hejaz Railway, the financial situation of the Hejaz-Nejd Government, and the Hejaz Air Force. They also report on foreign relations, including: the publication of an agreement, dated 21 October 1926, between Ibn Saud and Sayyid Hassan-el-Idrisi, establishing the suzerainty of Ibn Saud over Asir; relations between Ibn Saud and Imam Yahya of the Yemen; the situation on the frontiers between Nejd and Iraq, and Nejd and 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 ; and the Treaty of Jeddah between Hejaz-Nejd and Great Britain (20 May 1927). They also report Ibn Saud being proclaimed King of the Hejaz, Nejd and its Dependencies (4 April 1927).
In addition, other frequently occurring topics in the reports are: the Pilgrimage [Hajj], including the arrival of pilgrims in the Hejaz, from India, Java and elsewhere, arrangements for the pilgrimage, the welfare of pilgrims, and the repatriation of pilgrims; and the slave trade and slavery in the Hejaz, including the manumission and repatriation of slaves.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (445 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The subject 1707 (Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)) consists of one volume only.
- 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 447; 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. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 4-444; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/1115
- Title
- File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:88v, 90r:104v, 106r:108v, 110r:124v, 126r:128v, 129v:132v, 133v, 134v:137v, 139r:145r, 146r:161v, 162v:180v, 183r:205v, 206v:267r, 269r:271v, 273r:288v, 291r:308v, 309v, 310v, 311v, 312v, 313v, 314v, 315v, 316v, 317v:321r, 324r:335r, 337r:378v, 379v:381v, 383v:389v, 391r:393v, 395v:397v, 399r:400r, 402r:446v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence