Abstract: This volume compiles printed copies of letters, telegrams, memoranda and newspaper extracts relating to Britain's involvement across the Arabian Peninsula during the period 1929-1938. Whilst the correspondence encompasses all matters concerning British interests in the region, much of it relates to Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia). Matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:Reports of unrest in the Hejaz.Relations between Imam Yeha Hamid-Ud-Din [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen] and Ibn Saud.Reports of raids and arms trafficking on the Transjordan-Nejd frontier.Reports of the proceedings of British naval ships in the Red Sea.Details of the Akhwan [Ikhwan] revolt against Ibn Saud, including the movements of one of the revolt's leaders, Faisal Dawish [Fayṣal bin Sulṭān al-Dawīsh], and his surrender to the British in Kuwait.Relations between Kuwait and Nejd.Relations between Iraq and Nejd, including a proposed meeting between Ibn Saud and King Faisal [Fayṣal] of Iraq, and reports of a treaty of alliance between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.Objections from the Hejaz Government to Royal Air Force aircraft flying over Nejd territory.The purchase of arms by the Hejaz Government from Poland.Ibn Saud's annexation of Asir.The death of King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī].Harry St John Bridger Philby's conversion to Islam, his mapping of Rub-al-Khali, and his reported spreading of Saudi propaganda in the Aden Protectorate.The currency exchange crisis in the Hejaz-Nejd and the financial situation in the kingdom generally.Reports on a survey of the water and mineral content of the Hejaz coastal area.Relations between Soviet Russia and Saudi Arabia.The emigration of Jews from Yemen to Palestine, via Aden.British fears that Italy might harbour ambitions to annex Yemen.Saudi oil concessions.Italian-Saudi relations.Prominent correspondents include the following: the British Agent (later His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires) at Jeddah; His Majesty's Minister at Jeddah; the High Commissioner for Egypt; the High Commissioner for Iraq; the High Commissioner for Transjordan; the Political Agent, Kuwait; the Political Resident (later Chief Commissioner, and later still, Governor), Aden; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; His Majesty's Ambassador to Iraq; His Majesty's Ambassador to Italy; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Minister (and Acting Minister) for Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia); Ibn Saud; King Feisal of Iraq; the Prime Minister of Iraq; various officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the Air Ministry, and the Admiralty.The French material in the volume consists of several items of correspondence and a copy of a treaty between France and Yemen, which was signed in April 1936.The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 529; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: each section of correspondence within the volume (as described in the arrangement field) has its own pagination sequence.
Abstract: This file consists of printed copies of correspondence received by the Foreign Office, which have been compiled by the India Office's External Affairs Department. Most of the correspondence is addressed to the Foreign Office by the British Minister at Jedda, Sir Reader William Bullard. Other received correspondence includes letters from His Majesty's Consuls at Benghazi and Damascus enclosing translated extracts from Damascus and Benghazi newspapers.Subjects covered include:Plans for an Arab convention at Mecca, to be held during the 1937 pilgrimage season.Protests from Mussalmans [Muslims] in Tripolitania against a proposal [made by the Peel Commission] to partition Palestine.Reports of Palestinians amassing large quantities of what is referred to as 'anti-British propaganda' for distribution in Mecca.British relations with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], including Bullard's accounts of his meetings with Ibn Saud.Italian-Saudi relations, including discussion of a recent delivery of arms from Italy to the Saudi Government.The future of Saudi Arabia in the event of Ibn Saud's death.The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the front of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at inside back cover with 19; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: This volume largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence, which have been forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India. The correspondence, most of which is between Foreign Office officials and either the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard) or His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill, succeeded by Albert Spencer Calvert), relates to financial and political matters in the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia).The correspondence discusses the following:The history of the Wahabi movement and Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd's] attitude towards Wahabism.The currency exchange crisis in the Hejaz.Requests from Ibn Saud for the British Government either to assist in establishing a British bank as a state bank in the Hejaz, or to provide a loan directly to the Hejazi Government (both requests are declined).The British Minister at Jedda's accounts of his meetings both with Ibn Saud and with various Hejazi/Saudi Government officials.A Hejazi-Soviet contract for the supply of Soviet benzine and relations between Soviet Russia and Hejaz-Nejd generally.Tensions within the Hejazi Government.The Hejazi Government's budgetary reforms.The prospect of a new Saudi state bank, possibly backed by the financial assistance of the former ex-Khedive of Egypt [ʿAbbās Ḥilmī II].The death of Emir Abdullah ibn Jiluwi [‘Abdullāh bin Jilūwī Āl Sa‘ūd].Saudi-Egyptian relations.The discovery of oil in Hasa.In addition to correspondence the volume includes the following:A copy of an economic survey of Saudi Arabia, produced by the British Legation at Jedda in June 1936.A copy of a note written by Frederick Gerard Peake, Commanding Officer of the Arab Legion, on the history of the Wahabi movement.A copy of a printed Government of India report entitled 'Confidential Report of the Haj Inquiry Committee on the Arrangements in the Hedjaz', dated 1930.A copy of a report by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Vincent Biscoe), recounting a visit to Ibn Saud at Hasa in early 1932.Copies of extracts from Kuwait intelligence summaries and Bahrain intelligence reports.The volume includes three dividers, which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 651; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 563-649 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This file relates to the finances of the Saudi Arabian Government and to the political situation in Saudi Arabia generally. It consists partly of copies of correspondence between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Trenchard Craven William Fowle, succeeded by Major Charles Geoffrey Prior) and the Political Agent at Bahrain (Hugh Weightman), and partly of copies of correspondence received by the Foreign Office from the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard), which have been forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India. Matters discussed in the correspondence include changes to the value of the Saudi riyal, Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd's] indebtedness to the Qusaibi [Āl Quṣaybī] family, and concerns held both by the Political Resident and by the Political Agent that members of the Qusaibi family could attempt to establish themselves as official representatives of Ibn Saud in Bahrain. The file also includes a short report from the British Minister at Jedda, which discusses the state of affairs in Saudi Arabia generally.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.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 27; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 1-26 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This file relates to Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and the future of Arabia in the event of his death.The file largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence, which have been forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India. Also included are copies of correspondence addressed to the India Office and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle, succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior).The correspondence begins with the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf's response to the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India's remark that British influence in the Middle East seems largely to depend on the life of one man: Ibn Saud.Related matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:The effect that Ibn Saud's death, or fall from power, might have on Kuwait.The designation of Amir Saud [Sa‘ūd bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] as Ibn Saud's heir apparent in 1933.Rumours of tense relations between Amir Saud and his brother Feisal [Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Sa'ud].Arab public opinion on Ibn Saud, following the Saudi-Yemeni war.Reports of Ibn Saud and Amir Saud having been attacked by would-be assassins in Mecca in 1935.Amir Saud's visit to India for medical treatment in 1940.Reports of the arrest of ninety persons suspected of being involved in a plot to assassinate Ibn Saud in 1940.Other prominent correspondents include the following: the Political Agent, Kuwait (Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, succeeded by Gerald Simpson de Gaury); the Political Agent, Bahrain (Hugh Weightman); the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan; Sir Reader William Bullard; Hugh Stonehewer Bird); His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires, Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); officials of the India Office, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, and the Government of India's External Affairs Department.In addition to correspondence the file includes the following:A report by the Political Resident entitled 'The Future of Arabia', which discusses the present position of Ibn Saud and how Arabia might look without him.Extracts from Kuwait intelligence summaries.A copy of a report produced in 1937 by the Political Agent at Kuwait, Gerald Simpson de Gaury, on the history of the Shammar tribe and the Ibn Rashid [Āl Rashīd] family, which includes as enclosures a table of the Shammar confederation and a genealogical table of the Al Rashid family, both of which are printed in Arabic and English.A copy of a report, produced in 1938 by de Gaury, on the 'Anaza [‘Aniza] tribe, which includes a tribal table of the tribe.The file includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 219; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An external leather cover wraps around the documents and the front inside of this cover has been foliated as folio 1. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 2-218 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This file, like the previous volume (IOR/L/PS/12/2087), concerns relations between the British Government and the Government of Saudi Arabia.The file largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence, mainly between His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, Sir Reader William Bullard, Hugh Stonehewer Bird, and Stanley R Jordan successively) and officials of the Foreign Office. Other prominent correspondents include the following: the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires to Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert, succeeded by Alan Charles Trott); His Majesty's Ambassador in Baghdad (Sir Kinahan Cornwallis); Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd]; Amir Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd], Minister of Foreign Affairs for Saudi Arabia; officials of the Colonial Office and the War Office.The correspondence documents the progression of negotiations for a general settlement between the two governments, which would result in the initial prolongation of the validity of the Treaty of Jedda (the treaty signed between Britain and Ibn Saud in 1927, which initially expired in September 1934) for a period of seven years from 1936 (and for another seven years from 1943).In addition to discussing matters relating to the proposed general settlement (e.g. the eastern and south-eastern boundaries of Saudi Arabia, slavery regulations, arms traffic, and Saudi debts), the correspondence also documents various visits and meetings, including the following:The visit of Amir Saud [Āl Sa‘ūd, Sa‘ūd bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, heir apparent of Ibn Saud] to Britain (17 June-1 July 1935), accompanied by Fuad Bey Hamza, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs for Saudi Arabia.Further meetings at the Foreign Office between Fuad Bey Hamza, Hafiz Wahba (Saudi Minister in London), Sir Andrew Ryan, George William Rendel (Head of the Foreign Office's Eastern Department), and other Foreign Office officials, in July 1935, following on from meetings in September 1934.Sir Andrew Ryan's meetings with Ibn Saud in Riyadh in December 1935 and in Jedda in February 1936.Four interviews held between Ibn Saud, Sir Reader William Bullard and George William Rendel, in Jedda, during March 1937.Also discussed are matters relating to the Second World War, including:An exchange of letters between Ibn Saud and the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, in early 1939, which principally relate to Ibn Saud's concerns regarding his country's security in the event of the beginning of general hostilities.German radio broadcasts in Jedda during the first few weeks of the Second World War and their possible effect on the Jedda population.The possibility of Iraq and Saudi Arabia formally joining the Allies in the Second World War.In addition to correspondence the file includes the following: a copy of a programme for Amir Saud's visit to Britain (ff 339-348); exchanges of notes (in English and Arabic) between the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Legation at Jedda, confirming the prolongation of the Treaty of Jedda, dated 1936 and 1943 respectively (ff 189-192 and ff 4-5); a sketch map showing air routes over Saudi Arabia and Iraq (f 31v).Although the material in this file falls inside the date range of 1935-1943, the final document in the file does include an additional date stamp which is marked '12 April 1947'.The file includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 380; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This file concerns matters relating to the administration of the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia). It contains correspondence discussing laws and regulations passed by the Hejazi/Saudi Government.The early part of the file (1928-1929) contains copies of translations of various royal decrees regarding the following:The appointment of a commission to oversee the distribution and administration of charities in the Hejaz.The registration of companies in the kingdom.The composition and functions of the Legislative Council.This part of the file contains a significant amount of correspondence from local government officials in British India, which discusses how the regulations on the distribution and administration of charities in the Hejaz might affect Indian Muslims. It includes concerns raised by representatives of Indian Muslims in Bombay and Karachi that the Wahabi interpretation of Sharia law on the subject of charities does not coincide with Sunni and Shia interpretations.Later correspondence discusses the reorganisation of the administration of the Hejaz in 1930 and the new designation of Ibn Saud's dominions as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in September 1932. This part of the file includes the following:A copy of a translation of the Hejazi constitution or 'fundamental rules' of 1926, together with copies of translations of subsequent regulations and notifications amending or superseding certain articles of the constitution.A copy of a translation of a royal decree marking the change of name of the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Details of various Saudi Government regulations, such as those regarding the registration of companies in Saudi Arabia and those relating to the governance of foreign residents in the country.Reports of the formation of the Saudi National First Aid Society in 1935.Details regarding the reorganisation of Saudi Arabia's Legislative Council.The file's principal correspondents are the following: the British Agent and Consul, Jedda (Hugh Stonehewer Bird); His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires to Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill, Albert Spencer Calvert, and Alan Charles Trott successively); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard); officials of the Board of Trade, the Foreign Office, and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department.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.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 194; 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 2-193; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This file contains correspondence discussing the reported activities of Sayed Mohamed Tahir al Dabbagh [Sayyid Muḥammad Ṭāhir al-Dabbagh, former Hashimite finance minister in the Hejaz] and other persons referred to as 'anti-Saudi consipirators'. It documents their movements in political exile and their eventual return to Saudi Arabia, following the Saudi Government's granting of a general amnesty to political émigrés in January 1935.Much of the file's correspondence, which largely consists of copies of letters received by the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office, is concerned with the movements of Mohamed Tahir al Dabbagh and another Saudi political exile, Muhammad Abdulla Ahmed Sadiq [Muḥammad ʿAbdullāh Ahmed Sadiq], during 1933-1934. It reports on the pair's visit to (and subsequent expulsion from) India, and discusses whether the Government of India has powers to prevent the two men from entering foreign countries such as Iraq or Eritrea.Other notable anti-Saudi figures discussed in the correspondence include Abdul Raouf Sabban [‘Abd al-Ra‘uf al-Sabban], Abdul Hamid al Khatib [‘Abd al-Ḥamīd al-Khaṭīb, former envoy of Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī], and Mohamed Tahir al Dabbagh's brother, Husain [Ḥusayn Ṭāhir al-Dabbagh].The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires to Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); the Political Resident, and later, Chief Commissioner, Aden (Bernard Rawdon Reilly); the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Philip Cunliffe-Lister); the High Commissioner, Cairo (Percy Loraine, succeeded by Miles Wedderburn Lampson); Sayed Mohamed Tahir al Dabbagh; the Saudi Minister for Foreign Affairs [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the India Office, and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department.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 commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 160; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Two additional foliation sequences are also present in parallel between ff 2-159, and ff 123-149; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This file concerns a request, made by the Army Headquarters, India, to the British Embassy at Baghdad, for a map of Arabia showing the national and provincial boundaries of Saudi Arabia. The correspondence discusses the difficulties associated with marking out the various boundaries, owing to the fact that many of them are 'the subject of actual or potential controversy'. Also discussed are recommended revisions to the boundaries of Arabia, as shown on a National Geographic Society map of Asia (map not included).Notable correspondents include the following: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Persian Gulf Political Residency, the British Embassy in Baghdad, and the British Library of Information in New York.In addition to correspondence the file includes the following:A copy of a memorandum dated 18 April 1932, which recounts an interdepartmental conference held at the Colonial Office three days earlier, concerning the submission of the frontiers of the mandated territories (namely the Iraq-Transjordan frontier, the Iraq-Kuwait frontier, and the Palestine-Syria frontier) for approval to the Council of the League of Nations.Two maps: one depicting the Arabian Peninsula and the other showing the eastern portion of the Aden Protectorate.Whilst the date range of the file is 1916-1934, only two items (including the aforementioned memorandum) date from earlier than 1934.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 60; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This file relates to boundaries in eastern Arabia (specifically Saudi Arabia and Qatar). It concerns British policy regarding what is referred to as the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, as laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of the following year).Much of the correspondence relates to a request for a copy of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention, which was submitted by the United States Embassy in Angora [Ankara] to its British counterpart (reportedly on behalf of the United States' State Department), as well as to the wider significance of this request in relation to the United States' oil interests in the region.The correspondence also discusses Foreign Office concerns that aerial survey work carried out by the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) in relation to its Hasa oil concession might extend beyond the blue line (subsequent correspondence relays reports of Casoc's aeroplane having crossed the blue line).Although the date range of the file is 1913-1934 most of the material dates from 1934. In addition to correspondence from 1934, the file includes two letters between officials of the Foreign Office and the India Office dating from 1924, and printed copies of the Anglo-Ottoman Conventions of 1913 and 1914 (in English and French), both of which contain enclosed maps (with text in English and Arabic). Also included with the Conventions are printed copies of agreements and treaties between Britain and various Gulf rulers, covering 1820-1904, and printed copies of Anglo-Ottoman protocols, covering 1903-1905.Notable correspondents include the following: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the British Ambassador in Angora (Percy Loraine); Hugh Millard, United States Embassy, London; officials of the Foreign Office and the India 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 91; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
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.
Abstract: This file concerns relations between the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia) and Germany. The material in the file dates from two periods: 1928-30 and 1939-41. Notable correspondents include the following: the British Agent at Jeddah (Herbert George Jakins); the High Commissioner, Egypt (George Ambrose Lloyd, Lord Lloyd); His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires to Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill); His Majesty's Ambassador in Cairo (Miles Wedderburn Lampson); His Majesty's Ambassador in Bagdad [Baghdad] (Sir Basil Cochrane Newton); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, Sir Reader William Bullard, and later, Hugh Stonehewer Bird); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Anthony Eden); officials of the Foreign Office.The correspondence includes discussion of the following:The conclusion of a treaty of friendship between Germany and the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd in April 1929.The appointment of a German Consul in the Hejaz in 1931.Anglo-Yemeni relations.Reports in 1940 that Mussolini has been approached by Hitler with a request that the Italian Government should ask Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] to allow German diplomatic representative Dr Fritz Konrad Ferdinand Grobba to take residence Jedda.Whether Ibn Saud should be urged by the British to refuse to receive Dr Grobba.Italy's request for Saudi diplomatic representation in Rome.Ibn Saud's requests for financial assistance from the British Government.The reported arrival of eight German officers (in civilian disguise) in Iran, in late 1940.Reports in 1940 of wireless communication between Riyadh and Germany.Reports in November 1941 of pro-German Arabs having attempted to persuade Ibn Saud to call for an Arab congress to be held in Mecca or Medina during the pilgrimage.In addition to correspondence the file includes a copy of an English translation of the aforementioned treaty.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 front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 89; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.