1. 'AKABA (Transjordan)'

Description:

Abstract: View of Akaba, Transjordan [Aqaba, Jordan] from the sea. Photographer unknown. Prepared by naval staff in the Admiralty's Naval Intelligence Division.Physical description: Materials: 1 black and white photograph.Dimensions: 98 x 149mm, on sheet 328 x 202mm.

2. 'File 61/15 II (D 44) Kuwait Conference'

Description:

Abstract: The volume contains correspondence relating to the adjournment, second phase, and collapse of the Kuwait Conference. The correspondence is between the Political Residency at Bushire, the Political Agencies at Kuwait and Bahrain, the High Commissioners in Baghdad and Jerusalem, the Colonial Office in London, the British Agency at Jeddah, the Government of India, Sheikh Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait, Ibn Sa'ud, Sultan of Najd, King Faisal of Iraq, and Amir Abdullah of Transjordan.The main aim of the conference was to settle issues of border delineation between Najd, Transjordan, the Hejaz, and Iraq. Other issues of negotiation were the return of Shammar refugees to Najd from Iraq and compensation for past raids. Much of the correspondence deals with this. The discussion focuses around the status of places that there is most disagreement on: Wadi Sirhan (Jauf [Jawf], Kaf [Kāf]), Akaba [al-‘Aqaba], Maan [Ma‘ān], and the Hejaz frontier (Khurma, Turbah, Khaybar). Other more practical issues are discussed, such as travel arrangements and the identity of attendees, including Ibn Sa‘ud's decision not to send one of his son's as delegate which led to King Hussein withdrawing his own representative.Other subjects covered by the volume are:a large raid by the Ikhwan on Iraqi shepherd tribes that effectively ended the conference;the presentation by the British of a silver plate to Sheikh Ahmed to thank him for his hospitality;the official Najd government publication of a 'green book' on the conference.Notable within the volume are Stuart Knox's notes and minutes on the numerous sittings of the conference: folios 1D-37, 57-90, 120-29, 252-63, 265-71, 274-80.Physical description: Foliation: the sequence starts on the title page and ends on the last folio. The numbering is written in pencil, circled, and found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. There are the following irregularities: 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D; 165A and 165B. There is a second, incomplete sequence the runs between folios 165-319. It is also written in pencil but is not circled.

3. 'File 61/10 (D 63) Relations between Nejd and Transjordania (political status of Jauf)'

Description:

Abstract: The volume consists of letters (in English and Arabic), telegrams, and memoranda relating to relations between Ibn Sa'ud, the Hejaz, and Trans-Jordan. The majority of the correspondence is between the Political Residency in Bushire, the Political Agency in Bahrain, the Political Agency in Kuwait, the High Commissioner in Baghdad, the Colonial and Foreign Offices, both in London, the High Commissioner in Jerusalem, the British Agency in Jeddah, the Chief British Representative in Amman, the Government of India, and Ibn Sa'ud.The majority of the papers concern the definition of borders between Ibn Sa'ud's territories (the Najd and later the Hejaz) and Trans-Jordan, most specifically the status of the Jauf [al-Jawf] area and the towns of Kaf [Kāf], Akaba [Aqaba], and Maan [Ma'an], and to a lesser extent, Iraq. Reports on tribal raids and counter-raids are also included, particularly those between the Bani Sakhr and the Ikhwan. The latter's raid just south of Amman in August 1924, and the British military response, is prominent. Details of the Hadda Tribunals, which were set up to settle such disputes, are also given. The question of where ex-King Hussein should settle after his departure from the Hijaz is also discussed.Transcripts from Parliamentary Questions on these subjects are also included (folios 178-185). At the back of the volume is a broadside announcing the Shaw Commission, following the 1929 Palestine Riots.Physical description: Foliation: The sequence starts at the title page and continues through to the inside back cover. The numbers are written in pencil in the top right corner of the recto of each folio. There are the following irregularities: 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D; 141A and 141B; f 202 and f 211 are written on the verso of the preceding folio. Three individual folios have been given a number range, rather than a single number, written respectively as: 17-18, 21-22 and 34-35.

4. 'File 61/15 (D 40) Bin Saud: boundary settlement conference at Kuwait'

Description:

Abstract: The volume contains correspondence relating to the conception, planning, and first sitting of the Kuwait Conference. It is between the Political Residency at Bushire, the Political Agencies at Kuwait and Bahrain, the High Commissioners in Baghdad and Jerusalem, the Colonial Office in London, the British Agency at Jeddah, the Government of India, Sheikh Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait, Ibn Sa'ud, Sultan of Najd, King Faisal of Iraq, and Amir Abdullah of Transjordan.The main aim of the conference was to settle issues of border delineation between Najd, Transjordan, the Hejaz, and Iraq. Other issues of negotiation were the return of Shammar refugees to Najd from Iraq and compensation for past raids. Much of the correspondence deals with this. The discussion focuses around the status of places that there is most disagreement on: Wadi Sirhan (Jauf [Jawf], Kaf [Kāf]), Akaba [al-‘Aqaba], and Maan [Ma‘ān]. Other more practical arragments are also discussed. Such as costs, accommodation, and attendees.Prominent in the volume are the following subjects:the involvement of Sheikh Khazal of Mohammerah;rumours of Ikhwan raids into the Hejaz;King Hussein's refusal to attend or send a delegate;British dissaproval of Hafiz Wahba as a representative of Najd;the threat of Faisal al-Dawish attacking Medina.The volume covers up until the adjournment of the conference, including arrangements for the second phase of negotiations.Physical description: Foliation: The sequence starts on the first folio and ends on the last. The numbering is written in pencil, circled, and found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. There are the following irregularities: 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D; 149A and 149B.

5. Coll 6/66 'Saudi-Arabia: Saudi-Transjordan Frontier'

Description:

Abstract: This file primarily concerns British policy on the question of the Saudi-Transjordan frontier, specifically the frontier between Transjordan and Nejd, as initially outlined in the Hadda Agreement of 1925.The correspondence includes discussion of the following:The reported disaffection of certain Saudi tribes in the Jauf [Al Jawf] and Teima [Taymā’] areas.Difficulties arising from inaccuracies discovered on a 1918 map of the frontier, on which the Hadda agreement was based.Saudi Government complaints regarding the alleged violation of the Saudi frontier by British aeroplanes and soldiers at Thaniyya Taraif [Thanīyat Ţurayf, Saudi Arabia].A proposal made by Fuad Bey Hamza, Deputy Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs, during a meeting at the Foreign Office in July 1935, that the frontier should be that which is shown on the 1918 map, regardless of the map's inaccuracies (a proposal that the British authorities in Transjordan encourage the Foreign Office to accept).Reports of infringements of the existing frontier by Saudi patrols.The British response to Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] claim to the districts of Akaba [Aqaba] and Maan [Ma‘ān] in Transjordan.The file also includes the following:Compiled notes of correspondence relating to the Treaty of Jedda (1927) and its modification (and more specifically, to the question of the Hejaz-Transjordan frontier) exchanged between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud (1927), and between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs (1936).Copies of the minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, concerning the Saudi-Transjordan frontier (and, in one instance, also addressing the Island of Tamb in the Persian Gulf).Copies of the minutes of interdepartmental meetings regarding the Saudi-Transjordan frontier, held at the Colonial Office (7 January 1935) and Foreign Office (28 September 1934) respectively.Two sketch maps depicting disputed territory near the frontier.The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard); His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires to Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); John Bagot Glubb, Acting Officer Commanding the Arab Legion; the Air Officer Commanding Palestine and Transjordan (Richard Edmund Charles Peirse); the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Air Ministry, and the War Office.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 (folio 2).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 213; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-209; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.