Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes relating to the 1923 Kuwait Conference to arbitrate the Najd-Transjordan and Najd-Hijaz boundaries.The discussion in the volume relates to the following:a proposal to hold Conference at Kuwait to settle the Najd-Transjordania and Najd-Hijaz boundaries. Correspondence discusses costs and practical arrangements and arrival of delegations from Iraq, Transjordania and Nejd and uncertainty over arrival of delegates from Hidjaz;preliminary negotiations and letter of credentials from Abdullah bin al-Hussain, Ruler of Transjordania, for Ali Khulqi Bey; letter of credentials from Faisal, Ruler of Iraq for Sabih Bey Nasrat; letter of credentials from Ibn Saud for Saiyid Hamzah; discussion of the implications of the Mohammerah Iraq-Najd Convention;conference negotiations - correspondence discusses points put forward by the various delegations, including blood-money, raiding and losses, raids by the Ikhwan, and the collection of zakah;summaries of the sessions of the conference and arbitration;a draft agreement (ff 227-228) on raiding;a list of raids (ff 247-248);an index to topics discussed in the conference (folio 249).The principal correspondents in the volume include: the Secretary of State for Colonies, London; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Stuart George Knox; the High Commissioner, Baghdad; the High Commissioner, Jerusalem; the Political Agent, Kuwait; Political Agent, Bahrain.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 250; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A fold-out is present on the verso of folio 235 and has been labelled with an ‘a’. Two additional foliation sequences are present in parallel between ff 3-248, and ff 122-237; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: Correspondence concerning a visit made by Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] to Kuwait, for discussions with the Ruler of Kuwait (Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ) in January 1936. Papers cover:Initial rumours, surfacing in early January 1936, of Ibn Saud’s intention to visit Kuwait, and British officials’ attempts to ascertain concrete facts of any such visit, and whether it was to be of a political or personal nature.A report of the visit, prepared by the Political Agent at Kuwait (Captain Gerard Simpson DeGaury), dated 7 February 1936 (ff 41-43).Two telegrams at the end of the file (ff 57-58) relate to a visit by Ibn Saud (referred to as the Amir Saud) to Kuwait in 1940.The file’s principal correspondents are: the Political Agent at Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson; DeGaury); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch).Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 61; 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 3-60; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The volume includes papers relating to the implications of the assumption by the British Government of jurisdiction over foreigners in Kuwait, especially in view of the possibility of the influx of large numbers of non-Muslim foreigners (particularly Americans) to work in the Kuwaiti oil industry, June 1932 - March 1933; and papers relating to the discussion and drafting of the
Kuwait Order in Council, 1935(His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1935), March 1933 - July 1935, which was designed to clarify the question of British jurisdiction over non-Muslim foreigners in Kuwait, including papers recording discussions of the matter between British officials and the Ruler of Kuwait [Sheikh Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah], July 1934, which resulted in the Sheikh's acquiescing in the terms of the revised Order in Council.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation system in use commences at the front cover of the volume and continues through to the back cover. The sequence appears written in pencil, circled, in the top right hand corner of the recto page of each folio. Foliation anomalies: f.1 is followed by ff. 1A, 1B, 1C. A second numbering system also appears, starting at 1 on f.2 and continuing to 259 on f.257. This sequence is again written in pencil, but not circled, and appears in the top right hand corner of every page that bears text.
Abstract: Papers relating to the composition, drafting and publication of
The Kuwait Order in Council,
1925(His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1925). The volume includes papers relating to initial objections and subsequent agreement on the part of Sheikh Ahmad al-Jabir as-Subah [Sheikh Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah], the ruler of Kuwait, to the exercise by the representative of the British Government of jurisdiction over the subjects and protected persons of all non-Muslim foreign governments in Kuwait, including a letter of agreement from the Sheikh written in Arabic, November - December 1925; Rules of Court relating to fees, October 1926; papers relating to the registration of British subjects in Kuwait, November 1925 - December 1926; and papers relating to the regularisation of the position of American missionaries in Kuwait, so that, if the need arose, they would be entitled to British protection, February - December 1928.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation system in use commences on the title page and continues to the last folio that bears any text (seven folios from the end of the volume). The sequence appears written in pencil, enclosed in a circle, in the top right hand recto page of each folio. Foliation anomalies: folio 1 is followed by folios 1A, 1B and 1C. Folio 186 needs to be folded out in order to be read. A second sequence also appears, again written in pencil in the top right hand corner of most of the folios, but not enclosed within a circle. This appears to start at [3] on folio 4 and continues to 287 on folio 254. This sequence marks all pages bearing text.
Abstract: The file includes three land deeds of the date gardens, all dated 12 February 1909. The first two deeds are between the Shaikh of Kuwait Mubarak al-Sabah and Abdul Wahhab al-Qirtass, on behalf of certain members of al-Zuhair family in Basra Iraq. The third deed is between Shaikh Mubarak and Shafiqa bint Hafiz Afendi (wife of the late Ali Pasha al-Zuhair). The file is entirely in Arabic.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 5; 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 2-4; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 107 of 1847, dated 31 December 1847. The enclosures relate to British attempts to suppress the 'slave trade' [trade in enslaved people]. They are numbered 3-91 and are dated 11 September to 30 December 1847.The enclosures consist of correspondence, and minutes, resolutions and memoranda of the Government of Bombay. The enclosures also include: an enclosed copy of the treaty between the Queen of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria, and the Sultan of Maskat [Muscat], Saud Saud bin Sultan [Sayyid Sa‘īd bin Sulṭān Āl Bū Sa‘īd, also written as Syud Sueed in this item], for the termination of the export of enslaved persons from the African dominions of the Sultan of Muscat, dated 2 October 1845 (in enclosure No. 3); and enclosed depositions of ‘liberated’ enslaved African people (in enclosure No. 37).The enclosures concern matters including:The Resident in the Persian Gulf, Major Samuel Hennell, reporting the arrival at Bushire [Bushehr] Harbour of a bugla [baghlah] belonging to a subject of the Imaum [Imam, or Sultan] of Muscat, with ‘some 30 or 40 Negro and Abyssinian slaves’ [Black African and Ethiopian enslaved persons] on board for saleThe recommendation of the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, Commodore Sir Robert Oliver, that the ‘Arabs’ on board buglas detained in Bombay Harbour, which had been captured in the Persian Gulf and found to be carrying enslaved persons, should be allowed a supply of tobacco and coffeeThe Government of Bombay authorising the Superintendent of the Indian Navy to release the buggalows [baghlahs] seized with enslaved persons on board, currently detained in Bombay Harbour, but directing him to warn the nackodas [nakhudas, also spelled naquodahs and in various other ways in this item] that any subsequent infractions of the treaty with the Sultan of Muscat would not be met with leniencyThe Senior Magistrate of Police, Bombay, Gregor Grant, reporting that what appears to be smallpox has broken out amongst some of the formerly enslaved persons currently on board the police hulk
ZenobiaThe opinion of the Advocate General, Bombay, A S Le Messurier, on the inability of Government to enforce the treaty concluded with the Sultan of MuscatInstructions issued by the Government of Bombay to the Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, as to the course they should pursue in regard to vessels seized with enslaved persons on boardThe preparation of a letter from the Governor of Bombay to the Imaum of Muscat, congratulating him on the seizure by British officers of enslaved persons on board vessels belonging to his subjects, who were acting in contravention of his orders and the treaty concluded between the two governmentsThe Senior Magistrate of Police, Bombay, forwarding the depositions of forty-seven girls and women and twelve boys. Grant writes that these fifty nine individuals are: the ‘slaves recently liberated’; two women whom he is satisfied are the wives of two of the naquodahs, to whom they have been returned; and two boys who state that they were not enslaved and are anxious to return to the vessel from which they were taken. Most of these girls, women and boys, Grant states (with the exception of three or four individuals, who appear to be natives of Zanzibar), appear to be ‘Gallas’ [Oromo people] or ‘Abyssinians’The question of how the formerly enslaved persons should be ‘disposed of’, with the Government of Bombay instructing the Senior Magistrate of Police that as many boys as the Superintendent of the Indian Navy wishes to take should be made over to him for care and naval education, and that if he does not take all of them, then the remainder may go to the polytechnic institution on similar terms, and that the best mode of providing for the girls and women will be for the Senior Magistrate of Police to invite applications from ‘respectable persons’ to ‘entertain’ them as servants, with preference being given to Christian familiesA letter from the Governor of Muscat, Syud Thoenee bin Sueed bin Sultan [Sayyid Thuwaynī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd], to the Governor of Bombay, requesting the release of the buggalows seized for having enslaved persons on boardThe Superintendent of the Indian Navy requesting the sanction of the Government of Bombay for the bugalows detained in Bombay Harbour being allowed to depart without paying harbour duesA letter from the President of the Diocesan Committee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society, the Bishop of Bombay, Thomas Carr, to the Governor of Bombay, submitting an offer from the Committee to take the formerly enslaved persons and have them educated as Christians and provide for ‘their disposal in life’A letter from Mahomed bin Alli [Muḥammad bin ‘Alī, also spelled Mahomed bin Ally in this item], an ‘Arab inhabitant of Bombay’, to the Governor of Bombay, requesting that the formerly enslaved persons be made over to himself, for him to ‘entertain’ them at his own expense for charity, for as long they like, and for him to undertake to marry the grown up young women with whoever they may like, and to allow the rest to go where they may pleaseThe Senior Magistrate of Police reporting that: all the formerly enslaved boys have been made over to the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; the Senior Magistrate invited applications from ‘respectable families’ to house the girls as servants; there were a great many applicants, mostly ‘Mahomedans’ [Muslims], ‘with a few respectable Portuguese Gentlemen’; but only one of the women was persuaded to take service with one of the Portuguese men, whilst the rest refused to be taken in by Christian families; and he ultimately persuaded ‘the greater number of the girls’ to accompany ‘some respectable Mahomedan Gentlemen’ to their housesThe Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf, Captain William Lowe, pointing out the inadequacy of the force in that station for the complete suppression of the ‘slave trade’, and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy reporting that he is unable to increase the naval force on the Persian Gulf station, due to the limited number of vessels of war at his disposalThe Resident in the Persian Gulf reporting the arrival of articles sent from Bombay by HMS
Cruizer, but requesting to be provided with a bullet mould and a supply of scarlet cloth, for him to give as presents to ‘Arabian Chiefs’The Resident in the Persian Gulf reporting: his observations on the anomalous position of the Shaik of Koweit, Shaik Jabir [Shaikh of Kuwait, Shaikh Jābir bin ‘Abdullāh Āl Ṣabāḥ], for whilst the nominal supremacy of the Porte [the Government of the Ottoman Empire] over him means that he is exempt from the British political control and surveillance exercised over the other maritime chiefs of the Persian Gulf, Hennell also expects that he will not pay any attention to the Turkish orders for the suppression of the ‘slave trade’; Hennell’s intention to write to the Shaikh of Koweit about Soor [Sur] vessels sending enslaved persons to his town for sale, and to urge him to enforce within his own districts the same regulations which exist at Bussorah [Basra], regarding the suppression of the ‘slave trade’; the issue of Persian [Iranian] vessels and Persian ports engaged in ‘slave dealing’, the different methods of evasion practised by ‘slave traders’ in the Persian Gulf, and his suggestions for measures for the suppression of the trafficThe Government of Bombay instructing HM Consul and Honourable Company’s [the East India Company’s] Agent in the Dominions of the Imaum of Muscat, Captain Atkins Hamerton, to bring to the notice of the Imaum the Soor vessels evading the treaty entered into with him for the suppression of the ‘slave trade’, and to express the conviction of the Governor in Council that the Imaum will adopt the necessary measures for prohibiting the embarkation of enslaved persons in his portThe Government of Bombay requesting the Superintendent of the Indian Navy to issue instructions to the officer commanding the Honourable Company’s brigantine
Tigris, under orders for Zanzibar, regarding the removal and disposal of enslaved persons from vessels which he may have the right to seize, and to gain as much information as he can regarding the Slave Trade and the effect the treaties recently concluded have had upon it.The correspondence is primarily between the Government of Bombay (mostly the Chief Secretary to Government, Arthur Malet, and the Governor of Bombay, George Russell Clerk) and the following: the Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Advocate General, Bombay; the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; the Senior Magistrate of Police, Bombay; HM Consul and Honourable Company’s Agent in the Dominions of the Imaum of Muscat; the Secretary to the Medical Board, Bombay, John Scott; the Governor of Muscat; the Imaum of Muscat; the President of the Diocesan Committee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society; Mahomed bin Alli; and the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, George Alexander Bushby.Physical description: 1 item (168 folios)
Abstract: The file concerns the abduction from Dilam [Bandar-e Deylam] in Persia to Koweit [Kuwait] of two Persian customs guards by the crew of a Persian dhow. The nakhoda of the dhow feared punishment after his cargo was judged to be contraband by the Persian authorities, and so fled to Kuwait, with the customs guards on board and under arrest. When in Kuwait, the Shaikh of Kuwait [Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ] banished the nakhoda and his boat from Kuwait in perpetuity.The papers include a statement made by the nakhoda of the dhow (folio 14) and correspondence from various British officials, including the Foreign Office, as to what attitude the British should adopt, should a complaint be made about the incident by the Persian Government.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 commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 15; 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 contains a British Government report (folios 1-19) regarding promises made by the British in 1914 to the rulers of Kuwait and Mohammerah concerning their ownership of date gardens in Iraq.The report contains a description of the situation and the legal opinion of T W H Inskip and F B Merriman, Law Officers of the Crown. The report includes an appendix containing copies of a number of relevant memorandums and letters.The file also contains an undated report (folios 20-35) entitled 'The Date Gardens in Iraq of the Sheikhs of Koweit and Mohammerah' that provides a detailed historical summary of the case.Physical description: Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of the former and terminates at the last folio of the latter; 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 the file also contains an original and distinct pagination sequence.
Abstract: This file contains drafted, handwritten letters with annotations, as well as formal correspondence, sent between British officials in the Persian Gulf relating to the visit of Niall Rankin to Kuwait and his unfulfilled promise to send a copy of his film, much of which was set in Kuwait, to the Shaikh of Kuwait. The file also contains letters sent between officials in the India Office and Rankin regarding the issue.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at inside back cover with 16; 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 consists of three telegrams: two from the Political Resident, Bushire, and one from the British Embassy in Baghdad. The Political Resident wrote to HM Ambassador, Baghdad, and copied his correspondence to the Political Agent in Kuwait, the Secretary of State for India and the Government of India. The telegram from the Embassy was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The proposed visit of fifty Iraqi Boy Scouts to Kuwait is the subject discussed in the telegrams, a proposal which is ultimately rejected by the Shaikh of Kuwait.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at inside back cover with 8; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file concerns the rules of succession for the rulers of Kuwait (also referred to as Koweit).The papers cover: correspondence dated 1935 between the India Office and Charles Harry Clinton Pirie-Gordon of
The Timesconcerning the article on Kuwait for the new edition of the
Statesman's Year Book; letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, Political Agent, Kuwait, dated 14 February 1935, concerning the question of the appointment of an heir to the Shaikh of Kuwait; the question of the succession in view of the sudden and serious illness of the Shaikh of Kuwait [Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], May 1942; and an enquiry from the BBC concerning the locally-accepted date of the accession of the Shaikh of Kuwait, February 1948.The papers also include copies of earlier correspondence dated 1913-21 relating to the succession in Kuwait at that period.There are no papers in the file dated 1936-41 and 1944-47.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 front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 61; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file concerns the administration and finances of the state of Koweit [Kuwait], and in particular the proposed appointment of a British Financial Adviser to the Shaikh of Kuwait [Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], a role similar to that of Charles Dalrymple Belgrave in Bahrain. This was against the background of the increasing revenues of Kuwait, derived from the country's burgeoning oil industry. A Foreign Office letter of March 1948 expressed concern that Kuwait and Bahrain, which were relatively two of the more important of the Gulf shaikhdoms, did not appear to have realised that 'the increasing strategic and economic importance of their states' demanded an improvement in their present standard of administration in order to carry out a programme of administrative and social reform, and so avoid political agitation and economic unrest in the future (folio 6).The papers include correspondence on the subject from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and the Political Agent, Kuwait; statements of account of the Kuwait Revenue Department, 1945-47 (folios 41-44); papers concerning the management of Kuwait's finances; and discussion of the names of possible candidates from the Indian Political Service to fill the position of Financial Adviser.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 front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 74; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio