Abstract: Correspondence and other papers relating to visits made by Europeans and Americans to Saudi Arabia, and specifically to Riyadh:A visit made in 1937 by Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, former Political Agent at Kuwait, reportedly in his capacity as a representative of the Kuwait Oil Company. The papers include English translations of press reports of the visit as reported in various Arab newspapers, including the Baghdad newspaper
Al-Kifah, the Cairo newspaper
Al-Mukattam[
Al-Muqattam] and the
Wakalat-ul-Sharq Al-Arabia(ff 3-16).Dickson’s request to the Political Resident to visit the Ruler of Saudi Arabia Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] in December 1938, and the Ruler of Kuwait’s [Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ] strong objection to the visit (ff 18-28).Lord Alington’s [Captain Napier George Henry Sturt] visit to Ibn Saud in April 1939, including notes on his visit, and demi-official letters exchanged between the Political Agent at Kuwait (Major Charles Crawshaw Galloway) and the Political Resident (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle) commenting on Alington’s description of Ibn Saud (ff 27-37).Correspondence dated 1942 between the Political Agent at Kuwait and the United States military relating to unauthorised entry into Saudi Arabia by foreigners (ff 41-42).A note written by the Political Agent at Bahrain (Edward Birkbeck Wakefield), dated 5 April 1943, on wartime conditions in Saudi Arabia, based on reports received by Dr Harold Storm and Gerrit Dirk Van Peursem, both of the American Mission at Bahrain, following their medical tour of Saudi Arabia (f 44).Correspondence dated August 1943 relating to a visit to Ibn Saud by Lieutenant-Colonel Harold B Hoskins, personal envoy of US President Roosevelt (ff 45-54).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover 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. 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 A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The file comprises correspondence and papers relating to visits to the Persian Gulf by foreign dignitaries. Correspondents in the file include the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and the Political Agents at Bahrain and Kuwait.The file includes:correspondence relating to the visit to Bahrain in December 1937 of Amir Sa‘ūd bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd from Saudi Arabia, including: discussion amongst British Government officials who take a positive view of the proposed visit; a letter from the Political Agent in Bahrain (Captain Tom Hickinbotham) to the Ruler of Bahrain (Sheikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah), dated 7 October 1937, insisting that he be present during any political discussions (ff 24-25); reports in late December 1937 of the visit, written by the Political Agent Hugh Weightman (ff 43-48) and an unknown author (ff 50-53). Both reports include details of: the visiting dignitaries, receptions and dinners; the large quantities of gold sovereigns brought up by the Saudi party in the Bahrain bazaars, to be used to purchase Maria Theresa dollars in Saudi Arabia; rumours amongst the Bahrain bazaars of the purposes of the trip;correspondence relating to the Sheikh of Kuwait’s (Sheikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ) proposed visit to Bahrain, his intention being to meet the Ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah, and offer mediation over the Bahrain-Qatar (Zubarah) dispute (ff 26-30);a proposed trip in 1936 by the Iraqi statesman Nuri Pasha to Bombay, stopping off at Kuwait, Bahrain and Muscat, and the consequent postponement of this trip due to unforeseen circumstances (ff 2-10). Correspondence relating to Nuri Pasha’s later trip to Riyadh via Bahrain in April 1940 is also included in the file (ff 57-63);the return of the Egyptian Chargé d'Affaires, Abdul Hamid Munir, to Egypt from Riyadh via Bahrain in 1944 (ff 72-76);wartime and post-war various visits by United States dignitaries and legations, including: a US legation at Bahrain in 1942 (ff 65-66); Colonel Hoskins, Personal Envoy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1943 (68, 70-71); and US senators in 1943 and 1944-45 (ff 69 77-79);Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover, and terminates at the inside back cover; 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 2-81; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence.
Abstract: The file contains correspondence sent and received by the Political Agent at Bahrain concerning commercial motor routes between Kuwait/Haifa, Kuwait/Riyadh, proposed by the Kuwait Oil Company to link Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Palestine as an alternative route to the main route via Baghdad.On folios 9-17 there are envelopes containing two copies of a 'Sketch map showing Motor Road from Kuwait to Riyadh', both of which consist of three sheets.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the back cover with 20; 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 4-8; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes, relating to the mission of Harry St John Bridger Philby to Ibn Sa'ud in Najd. Correspondence discusses the operation of the blockade of all land trade to Kuwait.Correspondence includes Philby's handwritten notes (folios 2-22; 42-46; 51-59; 51-73; 111-13; 131-140; 142-154; 162-165; 173-178; 182; 185-186) where he discusses personalities, events, tribes, policies. The policy to be pursued is also discussed by other high officials. The file also includes a folio (187) with an index listing topics.Included in the volume is a copy (folios 105-107) of the treaty between 'The High British Government ... and Abdul Aziz bin Abdur Rahman bin Faisal Al-Saud, Ruler of Najd, El Hassa, Qatif and Jubail ... 'The principal correspondents in the volume include: Harry St John Bridger Philby; the Political Agent at Kuwait (Percy Gordon Loch); Political Agent at Baghdad; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Percy Zachariah Cox); the Viceroy; the Office of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Political Agent at Basra; Ruler of Najd (Ibn Sa'ud).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 189; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Additional foliation sequences are present in parallel between ff 1-187; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes, for the period April 1918 to August 1918 relating to the main topics:Harry St John Bridger Philby's Mission to Ibn Sa`ud.Friction between Najd and Kuwait because of the British blockade of land trade.The volume also includes an index (folio 192) listing key individuals and subjects mentioned in the correspondence including: the blockade; King Husain [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī]; Ibn Rashid [Saʿūd bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Rashīd]; an alleged Turkish agreement with Ibn Sa'ud; Imam Yahya [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn].The principal correspondents in the volume include: the Political Agent, Kuwait (Gordon Percy Loch); Ibn Sa'ud; the Office of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Viceroy; King Husain of the Hijaz.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 193; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Additional foliation sequences are present in parallel between ff 2-192; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: A simple printed street plan of Riyadh from the Royal Geographical Society marking main sites and fortifications.Physical description: Dimensions: 250 x 290mm.Materials: Printed on paper.Materials:
Abstract: The file contains a historical memorandum written in response to claims advanced by Ibn Saud to ancestral rights on the eastern boundary of the Saudi Kingdom, and to suggestions put forward by him that at some period in the past arrangements were entered into with his ancestors, the Wahabi Amirs, by representatives of the British Government, which afforded some recognition of those claims. The memorandum was written by John Gilbert Laithwaite, India Office, and is a revised edition of a document published on 1 September 1934.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 32; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: Harry St John Bridger Philby's account of his journey in the southern regions of the Najd, published for the Arab Bureau by the Government Press in Cairo, 1919.The journey was taken in May to June 1918 while the author was in Riyadh for the purpose of maintaining relations with Ibn Sa‘ud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥman bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], ruler of Najd, on behalf of the British Government. Travelling 640 miles from Riyadh to Wadi Dawasir [Wādī al-Dawāsir] and back along a different route, he reports any geographical, meteorological, agricultural, demographic, and historical information that he deems of use to the British government. Included are notes on the tribes and wells of the area.Folio 46 is a foldout map of the route taken.Physical description: Foliation: the sequence is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 48.Pagination: there is also a printed pagination sequence that begins on the first page of the account proper and continues through to the last page of the account.
Abstract: The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes relating to the Najd mission to Ibn Sa‘ūd by Harry St John Bridger Philby, Political Officer. Correspondence mainly concerns the dispatch and arrival of supplies for St John Philby: tea, tobacco, film, ammunition and arms, camping equipment, and medical supplies. After some correspondence (folio 64) St John Philby, signs his name and 'Pol Dept' thereafter. St John Philby also requests tents for Ibn Sa‘ūd. After St John Philby's mission is finished, arrangements are made to send his kit to his brother Ralph Montague Philby, Naval Transport Officer, Basra.Correspondence also discusses the dispatch of geological and natural history specimens to the Bombay Natural History Society. The volume includes correspondence in Arabic with Ahmad El Jaber Es Subah and Abdullah en-Nafisi who were helping with the supply operation.Correspondents include: Harry St John Bridger Philby, Political Department, the Political Agent at Kuwait; (Percy Gordon Loch; Daniel Vincent McCallum) Director of Sea Transport, Basrah; Deputy Civil Commissioner, Basrah Wilayet; Officer Commanding,
H.T. Kalika.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 269; 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 1-267; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The file includes a printed copy (folios 16-41) of the diary of Colonel Robert Edward Hamilton's (Political Agent at Kuwait) visit to Najd in 1918 on a mission to Ibn Sa'ud. The file also includes the original typed copy (folios 43-102) of the diary.The diary describes his trip from Kuwait to Najd and records the topography, distance travelled each day, temperature and barometric pressure and people encountered. The principal correspondents in the volume include: the Political Agent at Kuwait (Robert Edward Hamilton); the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad (Percy Zachariah Cox); the Chief Political Officer, Baghdad; and the Ruler of Najd (Ibn Sa'ud).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 103; 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 contains a report about the American Mission Hospital in Bahrain.The report is divided into six parts. Its contents include:• A summary of the medical tour in Saudi Arabia.• An account of the conditions of the city, food and people.• Public sentiment towards news of the war.• A discussion on the King• The fee for medical services.Physical description: Foliation: the 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.