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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎353v] (717/792)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (388 folios). It was created in 27 Dec 1924-28 Oct 1929. 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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SECTION " B
Remarks.
On the night of the 18th March I got a telegram from the Resident at Aden
stating that the imam of the Yemen had started hostilities against Asir and had
captured Ibn Abbas, a village near Kamaran, that he feared an attack on the
latter place and asking me to stand by there.
2. Kamaran is strictly speaking under the League of Nations as ex-enemy
occupied territory, but the Union Jack is flown there by the Administrator.
3. I considered it advisable to proceed to Kamaran after asking the French
Man-of-War “ Diana ” at Jeddah to look after our Consul.
4. On arrival at Kamaran I found the R. I. M. S. " Cornwallis just about
to sail having carried out the routine relief of the garrison which consists of one
officer and sixty other ranks of the Q. O. Corps of Guides.
5. Colonel Battye who commanded this corps was on board on a tour of
inspection and in reply to my request for his opinion on the military situation,
he signalled. “ No likelihood of attack on Kamaran and garrison is sufficient to
deal with any possible situation
6. In view of this and the fact that " Cornwallis " was due at Aden on 23rd
March and was then to go to Hodeida to stand bv there, I told Aden that I
could not comply with his request to stay between Hodeida and Kamaran, but
must return to Jeddah calling at Hodeida first.
7. Kamaran.—The present disturbance became a future certainty as soon as
we removed our troops and subsidies"from Arabia.
8. Hodeida is the natural port of Sanaa the capital of the Yemen, but when
we evacuated this port we handed it over to Asir in return for services rendered
in the revolt against the Turks.
9. The European conception of a territorial frontier has more meaning in
this part of Arabia where there is a considerable agricultural and settled popula-
1 n than in the north where a Chief rules his Now ad tribesmen on whatever
nge they may happen to be and where territorial frontiers have little significa-
1 .on.
10. During the last few years the frontier between Asir and the Yemen has,
joughly speaking, run from just south of Hodeida straight inland for about 50
miles and then turns north-east to the edge of the desert (Bahr El Safi) passing
north of Sanaa which is in the-Yemen.
11. What has now happened is that the Yemenese have seized Asir territory
as far north as a line joining Sanaa and a point on the coast about 15 miles north
of Loyeiya, meeting with little resistance.
12. They have not occupied Hodeida yet but will do so in due course.
13. Loyeiya and Salif have been occupied without fighting.
14. All this is merely Arabia finding its own level now that outside forces
have been removed.
15. Hodeida.—Hassan Konjuni our Consular Agent came on board and was
not in the least worried about the situation.
He said that neither he, nor the 50 other British Native subjects, wished to
go away or feared any unpleasantness when the Yemenese forces walked in,
W hich he expected to happen in about 8 days.
16. He said the towns people had always hated the Idrissi and would welcome
the Imam of Yemen.
17. He said there would be no resistance unless the Idrissi sent troops by
sea.
18. There is a permanent south wind at this time of the year and he and his
nationals could reach Kamaran in six hours if necessary.
There are no white men in Hodeida.
19. He confirmed information given me at Kamaran that between 1st and
15th March four dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. loads of slaves, totalling 150, had come from near
Tajourah in French Somaliland to Gizan aid Midi in Asir.
MC. 306 FD.

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Content

This volume mainly relates to British policy in Arabia, and specifically concerns British relations with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd, also referred to in the correspondence as Bin Saud]. The papers cover the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25 and political affairs in Ibn Saud's Kingdom of Hejaz and Sultanate of Nejd [Najd] (or the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, as it became in 1927).

The volume mainly consists of compiled sections of printed correspondence, with each section closing with a report from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah. The most prominently featured correspondents are as follows: the British Agent and Consul, Jeddah; the Secretary of State for India; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; 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. , Aden; the High Commissioner, Egypt; the High Commissioner, Iraq; the High Commissioner, Palestine; officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, 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 Government of India's Foreign and Political Department. Also featured as correspondents are Ibn Saud, King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī], and British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.

Matters covered in the correspondence include the following:

  • Diplomatic relations between Ibn Saud and Britain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Persia [Iran]
  • Information on developments in the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25, mainly in the form of telegrams and letters from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah, and British policy regarding the conflict
  • British policy in relation to the fate of the ex-King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī]
  • Reports of Wahabi forces having damaged or destroyed holy sites in Mecca and Medina
  • The efforts of King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] to raise money in Jeddah
  • Details of the Hadda Agreement and the Bahra Agreement, concluded between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud in late 1925
  • Details of King Ali's surrender and abdication on 19 December 1925, and arrangements for his passage out of Jeddah
  • Britain's recognition of Ibn Saud as King of the Hejaz in February 1926
  • British concerns regarding the spread of anti-British opinion in the Hejaz
  • Public outrage in the wider Muslim world regarding the desecration of holy sites by the Wahabis, and the British Government's refusal to become involved, owing to its stated policy of non-intervention in Muslim religious affairs
  • British efforts to ensure the Government of Hejaz's participation in the International Sanitary Convention of 1926
  • Arrangements for a private visit to London by Ibn Saud's son Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] in September 1926
  • British concerns regarding Ibn Saud's diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR]
  • A change to Ibn Saud's title in 1927, from 'King of Hejaz and Sultan of Nejd' to 'King of Hejaz and Nejd'
  • The conclusion of the Treaty of Jeddah in June 1927
  • Relations between Ibn Saud and the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn], and the former's suspicions that the Italian Government has been supplying the Imam with arms
  • Profiles of prominent figures in the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
  • The number of pilgrims arriving each year for Hajj
  • Tense relations between Ibn Saud and the Iraqi Government, particularly concerning the Uqair Protocol.

Also included with the correspondence are the following: minutes of an interdepartmental conference held at the Colonial Office on 20 May 1926, to discuss matters arising out of Clayton's Mission to Ibn Saud (ff 178-179); a Colonial Office memorandum entitled 'British Interests in Arabia', dated 8 December 1926 (ff 111-113).

The volume includes a small amount of correspondence written in French.

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 (f 1).

Extent and format
1 volume (388 folios)
Arrangement

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

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 388; 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. A previous foliation sequence between ff 118-388, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.

Pagination: each of the various sections of printed correspondence has its own printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎353v] (717/792), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/1155, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100145454965.0x000076> [accessed 6 July 2026]

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