Abstract: The volume contains letters, telegrams, memoranda, and reports pertaining to relations between Najd and Iraq. The correspondence is between Harold Dickson, Political Agent in Kuwait, Hugh Biscoe, Political Resident in Bushire, Lord Passfield, Secretary of State for the Colonies in London, William Bond, Charge d'Affaires in Jeddah, Francis Humphrys, High Commissioner in Iraq, John Chancellor, High Commissioner in Palestine, Robert Brooke-Popham, Air Officer Commanding in Iraq, Arthur Henderson, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in London, the Government of India, Sheikh Ahmed al-Jabar al-Sabah, Sheikh of Kuwait, Ibn Sa'ud, King of Najd and the Hejaz, and Charles Prior, the Political Agent in Bahrain.The volume covers the unsettled period following the collapse of the Ikhwan rebellion against Ibn Sa'ud's rule when many rebel tribes sought sanctuary in Iraq and Kuwait. The documents discuss the whereabouts of some of the leaders (Faisal ad-Dawish, Naif al-Hithlain, ibn Mashhur, ibn Lami and ibn Shiblan) and their tribes (mainly Ajman and Mutair), and what to do with them should they surrender. The negotiations of their surrender and those to secure an agreed return to Najd is also discussed, the latter in some detail following meetings between the Political Resident and Ibn Sa'ud himself. Restitution of property lost during raids is also discussed and negotiated.The volume also covers a dialogue on the idea of a meeting between King Faisal of Iraq and Ibn Sa'ud.At the back (folios 286-87) are internal office notes.Physical description: Foliation: The main sequence runs from the front cover to the back cover. The numbering is written in pencil, circled and found in the top right corner of each folio. Foliation anomalies: 1A, 1B; 4A, 4B; 5A, 5B; 258A, 258B, 258C; 261A, 261B; 282A, 282B; 285A, 285B, 285C. Fold-out folios: 241, 244, 245, 249. In addition, two Arabic letters (folios 258B-258C and 261B) are folded and enclosed in envelopes. The back of each envelope has been attached by adhesive to a separate blank page (folios 258A and 261A). There are a number of strips of blank, re-used paper towards the back of the volume, along the fold of the spine. These paper strips originally formed the left hand margin of sheets of paper that are not present in the volume. Three of the paper strips are numbered 282B, 285B and 285C. The other twelve paper strips are unnumbered. A secondary and inconsistent foliation sequence is also written in pencil in the top right corner of most of the folios in the volume, but is not circled.Condition: broken spine cover.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence relating to relations between Najd, Kuwait and Iraq. The correspondence is between Harold Dickson, Political Agent in Kuwait, Hugh Biscoe, Political Resident in Bushire, Lord Passfield, Secretary of State for the Colonies in London, William Bond, Charge d'Affaires in Jeddah, Francis Humphrys, High Commissioner in Iraq, Robert Brooke-Popham, Air Officer Commanding in Iraq, the Government of India, Sheikh Ahmed al-Jabar al-Sabah, Sheikh of Kuwait, Ibn Sa'ud, King of Najd and the Hejaz, Fuad Hamza, Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd, and Sheikh Hafiz Wahba, advisor to Ibn Sa'ud.The documents cover a period following the surrender of rebel Ikhwan tribes and their leaders. The first part of the volume contains correspondence from Jeddah with enclosures that pertain to earlier events in January 1930, including the search for rebels and their eventual surrender. The remainder of the volume covers the following events and subjects:the negotiations between Dickson, Biscoe, and Ibn Sa'ud over the return of rebels to Najd and compensation claims for losses;the arrangements for and results of a meeting of Iraqi and Najdi delegates to discuss future relations;the arrangements for and results of a meeting between Ibn Sa'ud and King Faisal of Iraq to come to a 'bon voisinage' agreement;the search for any remaining rebels in Kuwaiti territory;some reports of ill treatment of the returning rebels by Ibn Sa’ud's people.Also of note are several extracts and summaries of newspaper articles about the situation (folios 25, 38-39, 40-41). These are either from the Saudi newspaper
Umm al-Quraor the Egyptian
al-Muqattam.At the end of the volume (folios 252-56) are internal office notes.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: 2 and 2A; 34 and 34A; 39 and 39A; 55, 55A, and 55B; 188 and 188A. There is a second, inconsistent sequence. It is a combination of foliation and pagination and runs between folios 5-251. It is written in pencil but is not circled.Condition: folio 121 has a hole in it, obscuring some text.
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.
Abstract: The file concerns the question of whether Kuwait Bay (also referrred to in the papers as Koweit Bay) was an historic bay (or territorial inlet) [an area of water over which a coastal state has asserted soverignty over a long period of time, and with the acquiescence of other nations], and the precise extent of Kuwait's territorial waters. The issue arose from an enquiry raised with the India Office by the Kuwait Oil Company in 1940 about how to settle details of oil concessions, but which had not been investigated fully because of the intervention of World War Two. The file contains correspondence on the subject between the India Office, the Ministry of Fuel and Power, the Admiralty, the Foreign Office, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the Political Agent, Bahrain, and the Political Agent, Kuwait, July 1946 - July 1947 (including reference to the issue of ownership of the seabed under international law for the purposes of extracting oil, and discussion of the ways in which the Sheikh of Kuwait could assert his title to the bay); and resultant correspondence in Arabic and English between the Political Agent, Kuwait (Major Maurice Patrick O'Connor Tandy) and the Ruler of Kuwait (Sheikh Sir Ahmed al Jabir As-Subah) containing a request from the Agency that the Ruler inform the Kuwait Oil Company in writing that the territory of the State of Kuwait included Kuwait Bay, as defined within precise maritime co-ordinates, July 1947.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation system in use commences at 1 on the front cover, and continues through to 19 on the back cover. The sequence is written in pencil and appears in the top right hand corner of the recto page of each folio. Foliation anomalies: ff. 1, 1A, 1B. The following folio needs to be folded out to be read: f. 7.
Abstract: This file contains correspondence between the Political Agency in Kuwait and the Political Residency in Bushire related to the establishment of a quarantine station at Kuwait after an outbreak of plague in Bahrain. In particular, the file contains correspondence on some disagreements with the ruler of Kuwait regarding the establishment of the station. The file's various letters also contain discussions on compliance with the Paris Sanitary Convention on quarantine regulations and the Ottoman government's demands for compliance with them.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 97; 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 mixed foliation/pagination sequence is also present in parallel between ff 3-85; 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: The file contains correspondence relating to several complaint cases investigated by the Political Agent, Bahrain. They include: the desertion of his wife by a Kuwaiti subject in 1930; the recovery of money owing to a divorced wife by her ex-husband in 1931; the alleged seizure of goods from the vessel of a Kuwaiti Nakhoda [captain or master] who had run aground in Qatar in 1934; the non-payment of a business debt to a British Indian merchant of Kuwait, by a Bahrain merchant in 1936; and the release from imprisonment in Bahrain of a convicted Government of India employee, in 1949.The correspondence also includes copies of the printed annual statement of accounts for Kuwait Municipality for the period 1936-1939, which are in Arabic.The correspondence is mainly between the Political Agents for Kuwait and Bahrain and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.There are also several petitions and witness statements made by the claimants and their representatives, including several in Arabic and one in Persian. There are also several letters in Arabic from the Ruler of Kuwait to the Political Agent, Kuwait about some of the complaints under investigation.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 102; 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; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 4-101 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence between the Political
Resident in Bushire, the Political Agent in Bahrain and the Secretary of State for
India, on the Qatar oil concession, on the Southern boundary of Qatar and on the role of
Ibn Saud in the negotiation.The volume includes:meeting notes, copies of telegrams and letters on
Qatar and Kuwait oil concessions;note from the Political Agent in Kuwait to the
Political Resident dated 23 Jan 1934 about the Qatar and Hasa Oil concessions and the
Kuwait Neutral Zone (ff. 60-63);memorandum on the political importance of 'the
maintenance of a British position on the Arab littoral of the Gulf' (ff. 71-76)
and the need to offer protection to the Sheikh of Qatar in return for an
'undertaking on his part to grant a concession to the Anglo Persian Oil Company
(Iraq Petroleum Company);correspondence between the British Air Ministry and
the India Office about air facilities in Qatar;note referring to a conversation that occurred at the
end of 1922 between Sir Percy, Ibn Saud and Major Holmes regarding the southern
boundaries of Qatar and the political relationship between Qatar and Saudi Arabia (f.
116C);memorandum from the meetings occurred on 11-12 Mar
1934 between the Sheikh Abdullah bin Qasim al-Thani and the Political Resident re oil
concession (ff. 131-140);copies of draft Qatar Oil Concession;a sketch of Qatar, ink on fabric (f. 212);memorandum on the frontiers of Saudi Arabia (ff.
196-199).There is an index at the end of the volume ( folios
211-216).Physical description: The foliation is on top right-hand corner, starting on the
first page of writing and finishing on the back cover. The numbering is in pencil,
enclosed by a circle and starts with 1, then 115, 116A, 116B, 116C, then carries on
until 221, which is the last number given. There is a second pagination on the top right
corner, uncircled, starting on folio 22 (numbered 21) to folio 100 (numbered 99) and
then from folio 116a (numbered 113) until folio 210 (numbered 207).
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence and telegrams between the India Office, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the Political Agent in Bahrain with the Shaikh of Qatar, the Foreign Office, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) on the borders of Qatar, the oil concession and the relations of the Shaikhdoms with Ibn Saud.The volume includes:'SKETCH MAP OF QATAR PENINSULA' (ff. 5 and 23);draft of the Qatar Oil Concession and copy of the Kuwait Oil Agreement, 5 March 1934;telegram sent on 6 March 1935 from the Political Resident to the Secretary of State for India, informing that a further extension of the exploration agreement was granted for 2 months by the Sheikh of Qatar to Mr Mylles, representing A.P.O.C. (f. 48);correspondence on the negotiation to find an agreement on some articles and on the financial conditions of the concession;drafts of the agreement with A.P.O.C. sent by Shaikh Abdullah and notes of the discussion at the India Office;there are some letters to and from the Shaikh in the file, in Arabic with English translation;papers regarding a visit to Qatar of the Political Agent in Bahrain;telegram sent on 30 April 1935 form the Political Resident to the Vice-Consul at Mohammerah informing that the agreement has been signed (f. 236).There is an index at the end of the volume (folios 250-256).Physical description: The foliation is on the front top right of each folio. The numbering is in pencil, mostly encircled, starting with 1 on the first page of writing and ending on back cover with 261. There is a second foliation, uncircled, starting from folio 26 (numbered 25) and ending on folio 101 (numbered 100).
Abstract: The file consists of a single demi-official letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Trenchard Craven William Fowle, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, to the India Office, dated 5 February 1937, discussing the possibility of a commercial motor route from Kuwait to Haifa.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 7; 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 3-6; 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: The file comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes, relating to oilfields in the Gulf excluding Muscat territory.The discussion in the file relates to:Negotiations over concessions for oil exploration in the Trucial CoastThe impact of the negotiations on the behaviour of the Trucial Shaikhs and their territorial claims and boundary disputesKuwait oil – the jurisdiction over the subsoil and seabed immediately adjacent to territorial waters (ff 19-26), particularly in the light of a proclamation by the President of the United States of America (Harry S Truman).Included in the file is a copy (folio 17) of a telegram dated 2 March 1938 from the Political Agent, Kuwait, to the Secretary of State for India, London, conveying the news that the Kuwait Oil Company had discovered oil in Kuwait territory.The principal correspondents are: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the Political Agent, Kuwait (Gerald Simpson de Gaury); the Secretary of State for India; and the Managing Director, Petroleum Concessions Limited (Stephen Hemsley Longrigg).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) 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 also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: Correspondence between British Government officials, and between the Political Agent at Bahrain (Captain Charles Geoffrey Prior) and the King of Nejd and Hejaz (Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd]), concerning territorial transgressions and treaties associated with the borders between Nejd and Kuwait, Iraq and Trans Jordania [Jordan].Reference is made in the correspondence to: the presence of ‘rebellious subjects’ (associated with the Ikhwan), including Shaikh Faisal ed Dawish [Fayṣal al-Duwaysh], in Kuwait in late 1929; raids made by Ibn Mesaad in Trans Jordania in early 1930; arrangements for the signing of a
Bon Voisinage(good neighbourly relations) treaty between the Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz and Iraq at Baghdad in March 1930, following the meeting of King of Iraq [Fayṣal al-Awwal ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] and Ibn Saud, on board the British vessel HMS
Lupinin February 1930.Other correspondents in the file, to which reference is made in the file’s title, are: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Vincent Biscoe, referred to as ‘the P.R.’), and his Excellency (‘H.E.’) the High Commissioner (‘H.C.’) for Iraq (Sir Francis Henry Humphrys).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 40; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: Fortnightly reports (as opposed to weekly reports, as stated on its cover) from the Political Agency in Kuwait. The reports are signed by the Political Agent (Major James Carmichael More; Major Cyril Charles Johnson Barrett; Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson), or, in his absence, the Agency’s head clerk. The reports, which are broadly consistent in their content and arrangement from one fortnight to the next, contain information on:the arrival and departure of steamships and aircraft;British interests, such as the movements of the Political Agent, activities of Eastern & General Syndicate Limited in Kuwait, including the drilling of water wells, Royal Air Force (RAF) activity;foreign interests, reporting the activities and movements of foreigners at Kuwait, including doctors and other representatives of the American Mission;local interests, including the activities of the Ruler of Kuwait (Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ), activity and success of the pearling season, locust plagues (sometimes referred to as ‘dibbas’), establishment of the municipality of Kuwait, and municipal works;paper currency and rates of exchange;meteorological data (maximum temperatures during summer, rainfall during winter);rates of exchange for various commodities in the bazaars.Frequently coming under the headings of foreign interests or desert news, are reports of disturbances, raids, and clashes around Kuwait’s borders with Nejd and Iraq, between Bedouin tribes and families associated with the Ikhwan (also spelt Akhwan in the file), and those allied to the King of Nejd [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd, referred to throughout the file as Ibn Sa’ud]. These include intelligence reports, received by the Political Agency, on the following events:the movements and activities of Faisal ad-Dawish [Fayṣal al-Duwaysh];in January 1928, the bombing of raiders by the RAF (ff 107-108);in late 1928, a conference between Ikhwan leaders and Ibn Sa’ud, which took place in Riyadh;on 29 March 1929, a battle at Sibilah [Az Zulfi], between forces allied to Ibn Sa’ud and the Ikhwan (f 189);on 5 October 1929, a battle between the Ikhwan and the Awazim [Al-Awazem] tribe (ff 244-246;in January 1930, meetings between Ibn Sa’ud, the Political Resident (Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Vincent Biscoe) and Ikhwan leaders, and the surrender of Ikhwan leaders, including Faisal ad-Dawish (ff 268-273);in February 1930, Ibn Sa’ud’s conference with King Faisul [Fayṣal al-Awwal ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] of Iraq (ff 286-287).Physical description: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 383; 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 also present in parallel between ff 3-382; these numbers are also written in pencil, are circled, but have been struck through. A third foliation system is also present in parallel between ff 4-187; these numbers are written in a combination of coloured crayon and pencil, but are not circled.