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File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [365r] (734/898)
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.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government.]
JaSTERN (Arabia)
CONFIDENTIAL
[E 2484/10/91]
Consul Bullard to Mr. Austen Chamberlain.—(Received April 27.)
(No. 31. Secret.)
Sir, Jeddah, April 11, 1925.
I HAVE the honour to enclose a report on the situation covering the period the
20th March to the 11th April.
2. Copies of this despatch and of its enclosure are being sent to India, Egypt,
Khartum (through Port Sudan), Jerusalem, Bagdad, Beirut (for Damascus), Aden,
Singapore, Bushire, Koweit, Bahrein and Muskat.
I have, &c.
R. W. BULLARD
[April 27, 1925.
Section 1.
roTTr
Enclosure in No. 1.
Report for the Period March 20-April 11, 1925.
(Secret.)
RAMADAN has confirmed the lull in hostilities. A few shells are fired morning
and evening, and that is all. The Wahabis’ shelling is reduced to a few shots daily
at the Hedjaz guns and barracks. Occasionally a shell falls into the town, but that
is now very rare. The Hedjaz troops are free to fast and many of the men are taking
advantage of the permission. It is believed that all the Wahabis are fasting.
On the 23rd March the two Italian cars were sent out and for several hours
there was much machine-gun and rifle fire. The Hedjaz Government report at
least 300 enemy casualties at a cost of six wounded on this side. Why a performance
so simple and so effective is not repeated several times a day is not explained.
Perhaps it is realised that such operations are governed by the law of diminishing
returns.
One of these cars has since had a Wahabi shell through it and all the crew
wounded except one, who was killed. This was in a fierce attack they made on five
Javanese pilgrims, whom they took for Wahabis. They fired many rounds at the
pilgrims from their machine guns, but without hitting any of them.
The soldiers who were recruited at Amman are protesting so loudly at being
kept over two months in arrear with their pay that the Government are becoming
seriously alarmed. They have been obliged to allow thirty-five Egyptians and
Palestinians to leave for home. This will encourage ail the other foreign recruits
to demand their release. Most of them seem prepared to cut their losses if they can
only get away.
Private individuals can pass between Tambo and Medina, but the road is cut
against the Hedjaz Government. Yambo might fall into the Wahabis hands at
any time.
2. The Italian consul says he has received orders from M. Mussolini to assure
all his colleagues that he is much annoyed to hear that munitions have been landed
at Jeddah from an Italian steamer and that if the munitions are Italian they must
have been smuggled out of Italy. The Italian consul states that the captain must
have made false declarations : the ship's papers gave the cargo a.s timber only.
The three Germans are still here, though, as they are being paid in drafts on a
person in Egypt who is unlikely to honour them, they may not be here much longer.
Willi Beirsdorff of Berlin is adviser on fortifications and teaches the use of flame
throwers; Karl Schultz is artillery expert; and Fritz Bensener [ ?], an Australian-
born German, has been driver of the King’s car and of one of the Italian armoured
cars since the Palestinian who formerly drove them was wounded in the attack of
the 14th March.
I ought to have corrected before this the report I mentioned some time ago, that
the flame-throwers which were being used here were among the stocks of munitions
left behind by the Turks. The flame-throwers (forty in number) came from Germany
[920 dd—1]
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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File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [365r] (734/898), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/1115, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100084998362.0x000087> [accessed 19 April 2024]
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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