Abstract: This file concerns relations between Italy and Yemen. It largely consists of copies of Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence discussing the following:Reports in 1936 that the Treaty of Friendship (1926) between Italy and Yemen has been extended until November 1937.Details of negotiations for the renewal of the aforementioned treaty and reports of its conclusion on 4 September 1937.Claims made in the British press that Italy's supply of arms to Yemen contravenes certain clauses in the Anglo-Italian Agreement.Rumours of renewed French claims to Sheikh Said [Ra’s Shaykh Sa‘īd].The Foreign Office's response to unconfirmed reports of Italian military presence in Yemeni territory in early 1939, including reports of the Island of Jebel Zukur in the Red Sea (also spelled Djebel Zukur in the file) [Jazīrat Jabal Zuqar] having been occupied by Italian troops, and reports of Italian intentions to mount forty-three heavy guns at Sheikh Said.The file features the following principal correspondents: the Political Resident, and later Governor, of Aden (Bernard Rawdon Reilly); His Majesty's Ambassador in Paris (Eric Phipps); His Majesty's Ambassador in Cairo (Miles Wedderburn Lampson); His Majesty's Ambassador in Rome (James Eric Drummond, Earl of Perth); His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires to Rome (Edward Maurice Berkeley Ingram); the Secretary of State for the Colonies; His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); officials of the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office.In addition to correspondence the file includes copies of Aden political intelligence summaries from 1933 and a copy of a translation of the Italian text of the treaty between Italy and Yemen, signed on 2 September 1926.The date range of the file is 1926-39; however, most of the file dates from between 1933 and 1939, with the exception of the aforementioned copy of the Italo-Yemeni 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 commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 92; 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 17-36; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This file primarily concerns the sovereignty status of the Hanish Islands, as well as that of other islands in the Lower Red Sea. It documents concerns held by the British Government that the Italian Government is in the process of attempting to establish some kind of informal control over certain islands.Matters discussed in the correspondence include:The content and wording of a proposed Red Sea Lights Convention, the result of negotiations between the British and French governments, which ostensibly relates to the construction and maintenance of lighthouses – both on islands in the Lower Red Sea and in the territory of Mocha – but also concerns questions of sovereignty.Whether the Italian Government's plan to construct a lighthouse on South-West Haycock Island constitutes a claim of sovereignty over the island.The establishment of Italian military posts on the Hanish and Jebel Zukur [Jazīrat Jabal Zuqar] islands.Concerns expressed by the Admiralty and Foreign Office that by establishing these posts the Italian Government could be attempting to enforce rights of sovereignty over the islands.The extent to which either the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) or the Rome Conversations of 1927 (between Britain and Italy) provide any basis to contesting an Italian claim to sovereignty over the islands.Reports of attempts by the Italian military posts to restrict fishing and pearling in neighbouring waters to dhows possessing a permit from Assab.The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Ambassador in Rome (Sir Ronald Graham, succeeded by James Eric Drummond); the Command-in-Chief, Mediterranean; the Senior Officer of the Red Sea Sloops; the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the India Office, the Admiralty, the Air Council, and the Board of Trade's Mercantile Marine Department.As well as correspondence the file includes the following: extracts from reports of the proceedings of HMS
Dahlia(1929 and 1931), HMS
Penzance(1933), and HMS
Calcutta(1934); copies of the minutes of an interdepartmental conference, held at the Foreign Office on 6 July 1931 to consider questions relating to the Red Sea islands; draft English and French texts of modifications to the aforementioned Red Sea Lights Convention, prepared by Sir Cecil Hurst, legal adviser to the Foreign Office; two sketch maps depicting the Lower Red Sea islands and surrounding area.In addition to the aforementioned French text, the file contains some material in Italian, namely a copy of a fishing permit issued at Assab (an English translation is included).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 209; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.