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85. Coll 6/6 'Nejd: Nejd-Transjordan Frontier Raiding. Note from H.M.G. to Ibn Saud.'
- Description:
- Abstract: This volume largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence (forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India) regarding reported raids on the frontier between Transjordan and the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia). Most of this correspondence consists of copies of letters and telegrams between the Foreign Office and the British Minister at Jedda, Sir Andrew Ryan, as well as translated copies of correspondence between Ryan and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia). The volume also contains India Office correspondence with the Foreign Office and Air Ministry.The correspondence is chiefly concerned with reported raids carried out on the Transjordan frontier by tribes from Nejd and Transjordan. Much of the Foreign Office correspondence discusses the efforts of the British to arrange a meeting between Captain John Bagot Glubb (recently appointed as British Intelligence Officer attached to the Transjordan Bedouin Control Board) and his counterpart, Abdul Aziz Ibn Zeid [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin Zeid], in order to resolve respective claims regarding raids from August 1930 to February 1931, and to make arrangements for the future intercommunication of information.Also discussed are the following:An alleged crossing into Hejazi-Nejdi territory by British aircraft and cars from Transjordan.A proposed extradition treaty between Transjordan and the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd.Reports of meetings between Glubb and Abdul Aziz Ibn Zeid.The question of nationality in relation to certain tribes on the Transjordan and Hejaz-Nejd frontier (namely the Beni Atiya [Banū ʿAṭiyya] and the Atun, which Ryan describes as being a section of the Howeitat [Banū al- Ḥuwayṭāt]).In addition to correspondence the volume contains copies of minutes from meetings in early 1931 of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for questions concerning the Middle East, which discuss possible measures (such as the withdrawal of the British Minister at Jedda) that the British could take in the event of Ibn Saud returning 'an unsatisfactory answer' to British demands relating to the situation on the Transjordan and Hejaz-Nejd frontier. Also included are copies of memoranda from Glubb, one of which responds to complaints made against him by the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Hejaz and Nejd.Other correspondents besides those already mentioned include the Secretary of State for Colonies, the Colonial Office, the High Commissioner for Transjordan (Sir John Robert Chancellor, succeeded by Arthur Grenfell Wauchope), the British Resident at Transjordan (Charles Henry Fortnom Cox), and His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill).The volume includes three dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 780; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.
86. Coll 6/64 'South-Eastern Boundaries in [Arabia] – Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1913. Attitude of U.S.A.'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file relates to boundaries in eastern Arabia (specifically Saudi Arabia and Qatar). It concerns British policy regarding what is referred to as the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, as laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of the following year).Much of the correspondence relates to a request for a copy of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention, which was submitted by the United States Embassy in Angora [Ankara] to its British counterpart (reportedly on behalf of the United States' State Department), as well as to the wider significance of this request in relation to the United States' oil interests in the region.The correspondence also discusses Foreign Office concerns that aerial survey work carried out by the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) in relation to its Hasa oil concession might extend beyond the blue line (subsequent correspondence relays reports of Casoc's aeroplane having crossed the blue line).Although the date range of the file is 1913-1934 most of the material dates from 1934. In addition to correspondence from 1934, the file includes two letters between officials of the Foreign Office and the India Office dating from 1924, and printed copies of the Anglo-Ottoman Conventions of 1913 and 1914 (in English and French), both of which contain enclosed maps (with text in English and Arabic). Also included with the Conventions are printed copies of agreements and treaties between Britain and various Gulf rulers, covering 1820-1904, and printed copies of Anglo-Ottoman protocols, covering 1903-1905.Notable correspondents include the following: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the British Ambassador in Angora (Percy Loraine); Hugh Millard, United States Embassy, London; officials of the Foreign Office and the India Office.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 (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 91; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
87. Coll 6/66 'Saudi-Arabia: Saudi-Transjordan Frontier'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file primarily concerns British policy on the question of the Saudi-Transjordan frontier, specifically the frontier between Transjordan and Nejd, as initially outlined in the Hadda Agreement of 1925.The correspondence includes discussion of the following:The reported disaffection of certain Saudi tribes in the Jauf [Al Jawf] and Teima [Taymā’] areas.Difficulties arising from inaccuracies discovered on a 1918 map of the frontier, on which the Hadda agreement was based.Saudi Government complaints regarding the alleged violation of the Saudi frontier by British aeroplanes and soldiers at Thaniyya Taraif [Thanīyat Ţurayf, Saudi Arabia].A proposal made by Fuad Bey Hamza, Deputy Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs, during a meeting at the Foreign Office in July 1935, that the frontier should be that which is shown on the 1918 map, regardless of the map's inaccuracies (a proposal that the British authorities in Transjordan encourage the Foreign Office to accept).Reports of infringements of the existing frontier by Saudi patrols.The British response to Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] claim to the districts of Akaba [Aqaba] and Maan [Ma‘ān] in Transjordan.The file also includes the following:Compiled notes of correspondence relating to the Treaty of Jedda (1927) and its modification (and more specifically, to the question of the Hejaz-Transjordan frontier) exchanged between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud (1927), and between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs (1936).Copies of the minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, concerning the Saudi-Transjordan frontier (and, in one instance, also addressing the Island of Tamb in the Persian Gulf).Copies of the minutes of interdepartmental meetings regarding the Saudi-Transjordan frontier, held at the Colonial Office (7 January 1935) and Foreign Office (28 September 1934) respectively.Two sketch maps depicting disputed territory near the frontier.The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard); His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires to Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); John Bagot Glubb, Acting Officer Commanding the Arab Legion; the Air Officer Commanding Palestine and Transjordan (Richard Edmund Charles Peirse); the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Air Ministry, and the War Office.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 (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 213; 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 2-209; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
88. Coll 6/72 'Saudi Arabia: Relations with the Yemen. Delimitation of the Saudi-Yemeni Frontier.'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file primarily concerns the delimitation of the Saudi-Yemeni frontier, following the conclusion of the Treaty of Taif in 1934. It includes discussion of the following: the geographical position of the Beni Malik [Bani Malik], Abadil [ʿAbādil] and Ahl Faifa [Ahl Fayfa] tribes; amendments to a pre-existing sketch map of the frontier; arrangements made by both parties of the treaty for the delimitation of the frontier.Correspondents include the following: His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); His Majesty's Minister, Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); officials of the Foreign Office and the British Legation at Jedda.In addition to correspondence, the file includes a copy of the aforementioned sketch map (enclosed in an envelope), and a copy of a translation of an extract from the Treaty of Taif.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 main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 25; 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 1-24; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
89. Coll 6/79 'Oil: Oil concessions in South East Arabia (Rub'al Khali).'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file relates to oil concessions in south-eastern Saudi Arabia. Much of the correspondence discusses British concerns regarding the possibility of oil being discovered in the Ruba' al Khali [Rubʻ al Khālī], and the bearing that such a discovery might have on the question of the eastern and south-eastern frontiers of Saudi Arabia. Also discussed are the prospect of Petroleum Concessions Limited securing an oil concession for territory in the Ruba' al Khali, and the extent of the territory covered in the concession secured by the Standard Oil Company of California in 1933.The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); Major Stephen Hemsley Longrigg of Petroleum Concessions Limited; officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office and the Admiralty.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 40; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
90. Coll 6/80 'South and South-Western boundaries of Saudi-Arabia'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file relates to the disputed south and south-western boundaries of Saudi Arabia. It primarily concerns an expedition to southern Saudi Arabia that was undertaken by Harry St John Bridger Philby in 1936, during which Philby was reported to have entered Yemeni and British territory. Much of the correspondence discusses Philby's visit to Shabwa [Shabwa, Yemen] (reportedly with an armed Saudi party), a visit considered by the British to be an incursion into the Aden Protectorate.The file's principal correspondents are the following: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); the Acting Political Resident, Aden (Morice Challoner Lake); Harry St John Bridger Philby; the Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; the Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla; the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyā Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn].In addition to correspondence the file includes Philby's own account of his visit to Shabwa, in an article published in The Timesin January 1937.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 70; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
91. Coll 6/63 'SOUTH EASTERN ARABIA AND QATAR BOUNDARIES.'
- Description:
- Abstract: This volume relates to the eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia and the southern boundary of Qatar.Much of the correspondence discusses the legal and international position of what is referred to as the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, as laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman convention of the following year), which is regarded by the British as the eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia, but is disputed by the Saudi Government, mainly on the grounds that it is no longer correct, following various developments during the years since the line was demarcated.British concerns regarding these boundaries follow a recent oil concession for the Hasa [Al Hasa] region of Saudi Arabia, granted by the Saudi Government to the Standard Oil Company of California, as well as reports of the possibility of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company securing an oil concession in Qatar.Related matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:The British policy regarding the blue line.The views of India Office and Foreign Office officials, as well as other British officials (most notably Sir Percy Zachariah Cox, former Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, Political Agent at Kuwait), regarding the demarcation of the southern boundary of Qatar.British concerns regarding the land lying between the blue line and the southern boundary of Qatar, as recognised by the Sheikh of Qatar [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī].A request for a copy of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention, submitted by the United States Embassy in Angora [Ankara] – reportedly on behalf of the United States' State Department – to its British counterpart, and the wider significance of this request in relation to the United States' oil interests in the region.Foreign Office concerns that aerial survey work carried out by the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) in relation to its Hasa oil concession might extend beyond the blue line.The volume features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the Political Agent, Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson); the Secretary of State for India (Samuel Hoare); the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India; the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs; officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Admiralty, and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department.In addition to correspondence, the volume includes extracts from Bahrain political intelligence reports and minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, which concern the Qatar boundary.Whilst the volume contains material dating from 1923 to 1934, the vast majority of the material dates from 1934. The French material consists of a short extract from the aforementioned Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, which is contained in copies of an India Office memorandum on the southern boundary of Qatar.The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folios 3-4).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 374; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The front and back covers have not been foliated.
92. Coll 28/76 ‘Persia. Turkey. Turco-Persian Frontier.’
- Description:
- Abstract: Correspondence, maps and other papers exchanged between British officials in response to a 1927 dispute between Persia [Iran] and Turkey over the delimitation of the frontier between the two countries. The dispute arose when Persian troops crossed the frontier into Turkey. The file’s principal correspondents are: HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Tehran; HM’s Ambassador at Constantinople, George Russell Clerk, who also wrote from his summer residence at Therapia [Tarabya]. The file covers:Correspondence dated 1927 commentating on diplomatic relations between Persia and Turkey, and the diplomatic efforts between the two countries to resolve the frontier disputeThe ratification of an agreement between the Governments of Persia and Turkey, establishing the frontier between the two countries. A copy of the agreement (in French), dated 1933, is included in the file (ff 34-35).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 inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 214; 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.
93. Coll 28/99 ‘Persia. Anglo-Persian Relations. Treaty negotiations, 1937– (Perso-Baluch Frontier Demarcation)’
- Description:
- Abstract: Correspondence and other papers concerning the Persian [Iranian] Government’s renewed desire in 1937 to finalise a treaty of friendship between Britain and Iran (also referred to in the file as the Anglo-Persian Consular Convention). The papers, chiefly exchanged between HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tehran, Horace James Seymour, the Foreign Office, and the India Office, cover: outstanding points remaining to be agreed prior to the signing of any treaty, including the withdrawal of Iran’s claims to Bahrain, Tamb [Greater Tunb] and Abu Musa, and the demarcation of the Perso-Baluch frontier, between Iran and British Baluchistan, now part of Pakistan; the British Government and Government of India’s reluctance to commit to a demarcation of the Perso-Baluch frontier, in part because of the financial implications of such a project; the despatch of an Iranian technical commission between February and May 1938 to recommence a survey of the Perso-Baluch frontier that was originally started in 1932; arrangements for the Government of India’s cooperation with the Iranian survey party, with the support of the Political Agent at Chagai; reports on the Iranian survey party’s activity and progress; a confidential entitled ‘Status of the Islands of Tamb, Little Tamb, Abu Musa and Sirri’ written by John Gilbert Laithwaite of the India Office, and dated 24 August 1928 (ff 45-48); the return of the Iranian survey party to the frontier in late 1938.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 inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 137; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
94. Coll 28/91 ‘Persia. Iran-Baluchistan Frontier; Violation of the frontier by British levies and Iranians’
- Description:
- Abstract: Correspondence, papers and maps relating to territorial infringements by British and Persian subjects (levies, troops, customs officials) across the border dividing Persia [Iran] and British Baluchistan (part of present-day Pakistan). Correspondence is chiefly exchanged between the British Legation in Tehran, the Foreign Office in London, and the External Affairs Department of the Government of India. The correspondence includes efforts to ascertain the facts and circumstances of reported incidents, and the ensuing diplomatic correspondence with the Persian Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Incidents covered include: in September 1930, the arrival in Dizzak [Dīzūk], Persian Baluchistan, of British levies in pursuit of camel thieves; in November 1935, the presence of British troops near Kuhak [Nūk Jow], Persia, the Persian Government’s dispatch of 400 troops to the region, the British Government’s insistence that the area occupied by its troops at Gorich Kalag [Gorich Categ] lay in British territory, and assertions that troops were dispatched in response to reports that a Persian occupation of the area was anticipated; in November 1937, the raid of a shop in Pilani Sunt (referred to locally as Kastag [Kastak]) by Iranian customs officials, regarded by British officials as an incursion into British territory.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 274; 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.
95. The Romanes Lecture, 1907, Frontiers
- Description:
- Abstract: Two copies of the 1907 Romanes Lecture entitled Frontiers, by Lord George Nathaniel Curzon of Kedleston. The lecture was delivered in the Sheldonian Theatre, University of Oxford, 2 November 1907. The volumes were printed by Clarendon Press, Oxford.The address opens with Curzon’s feelings on being asked to give the Romanes Lecture followed by an introduction to his subject. It is then divided into sections under the following sub-headings:'Frontiers in History''Origin of Frontiers''Natural Frontiers''Artificial Frontiers''Modern Expedients''Evidence of Progress'.The first volume (ff 1-32) is a clean copy, without notes. The second volume (ff 33-65) is heavily annotated by Lord Thomas Henry Sanderson, former Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. A letter from Sanderson to Curzon, dated 8 November 1907 (f 34), is placed inside the front cover.Physical description: Foliation: this file consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover of volume one (ff 1-32) and terminates at the inside back cover of volume two (ff 33-66); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the file also contains two original printed pagination sequences.
96. Correspondence and Papers on Persia
- Description:
- Abstract: This volume consists mainly of correspondence received by George Nathaniel Curzon, mostly on matters relating to Persia but also regarding Curzon's recent travels in Afghanistan. The letters are from friends, acquaintances and other correspondents, including a number of army officers, diplomats, writers and travellers with an interest in Persia and Afghanistan.Many of the letters discuss Curzon's recent book, Persia and the Persian Question, as well as the internal affairs of Afghanistan and Persia and British policy regarding both countries, mostly from the perspective of British officers and diplomats who have resided or visited there. Of particular note are a number of letters received by Curzon from Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Molesworth Sykes, writing as British Consul for Kerman and Persian Beluchistan [Baluchistan] (later as British Consul, Kerman). Matters discussed in these letters include the settlement of the frontier between Persian and British Baluchistan.Other notable correspondents include the following: John Richard Preece, British Consul at Ispahan; Sir Henry Mortimer Durand; Sir Frederic John Goldsmid; Henry Lake Wells; Benjamin W Stainton; Albert Houtum-Schindler.All of the correspondence dates from 1895. In addition, the file contains the following: several printed articles relating to railway routes to India, which date from 1895-1897 (ff 141-157); a number of newspaper cuttings dating from 1893-1894, containing reviews of books on Persia.The German language material consists of one of the aforementioned newspaper cuttings.Physical description: The foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 173; 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 4-169; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.