Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 58 of 1856, dated 9 August 1856. The enclosures are dated 17 June-26 July 1856.The enclosures comprise:A report by Brigadier William Marcus Coghlan, Political Resident in Aden, to the Government of Bombay, concerning his efforts to mediate peaceful relations between the Abdali [al-‘Abdalī], Foudelie [Faḍlī] and Azaiba [a sub-tribe of the ‘Abdalī], following disputes over tribute money for drawing water from the wells at Shaik Othman [Shaykh Uthman]A general report by Stephen Page, HM Acting Vice-Consul and Officiating Honourable Company’s Agent at Juddah [Jeddah, also spelled Judda in this item], to the Government of Bombay, notably regarding the flourishing trade in enslaved persons there, including his views that: despite the firman of the Ottoman Sultan, the local Ottoman authorities never really intended to stop the trade; the reading of the firman at Mecca generated anti-Christian and anti-English feeling; the recalled Sherrif of Mecca, Abu Moutallib [Sharīf ‘Abd al-Muṭṭalib bin Ghālib bin Musā‘ad] exploited local anger to generate support for an uprising by which he hoped to regain his position; and the only way to reduce the trade is for British agents to supply intelligence to Indian Navy steam vessels employed in the Red Sea with permission to seize vessels carrying enslaved personsA report by Page to the Government of Bombay, notably concerning: complaints by British subjects over their treatment by local trade and customs officials and the salt monopoly; the attempt by a consulate guard to assassinate Mr Lawless, the sailing master of the British barque
Futtay Sultan, who was a guest in the consulate, the guard’s trial by the Ottoman authorities and the requirement of Page to choose his punishment; and the non-cooperative business policies and general ill-feeling of the local Mooshir [mushīr, advisor or senior minister] towards the British and French at Juddah particularly since the uprising by Abu Moutallib.Physical description: 1 item (13 folios)
Abstract: The file contains papers relating to the attempted assassination of Sultan Fadhl bin Abdul Karim, in response to his being named heir apparent to the Sultanate of Lahej by his father, Sultan 'Abd al Karim II ibn Al Fadhl Al 'Abdali.The file consists of copies of Political Intelligence Summaries submitted to the Colonial Office by the Protectorate Secretary, and correspondence between the Aden Chief Commissioner, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the Secretary of the India Office Political Department (John Charles Walton).The correspondence concerns: the assassination attempt; the petition against the election of Sultan Fadhl bin Abdul Karim; the break from the standard procedure of electing a successor following the death of the incumbent Sultan; discussion of the appropriate response to be issued from the Resident; the punishment of the conspirators, and their eventual deportation to the Seychelles. The Aden Chief Commissioner had initially proposed deportation to Zanzibar or Palestine, but this was overruled by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 'owing to risk of intrigues'.At folios 24-27 is a communication from the Resident regarding the custom of tribal succession in the Aden Protectorate, providing a brief summary of successions in the early twentieth century.The file includes a divider which gives a list of the correspondence contained within the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 2).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 37; 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 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.