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121. ‘File 28/1 V Visits to Bahrain of military officials (Brigadier Hughes & Party)’
- Description:
- Abstract: The file contains correspondence relating to visits by senior military officials to Bahrain, principally arrangements for the visit of Brigadier F E C Hughes (ff 6-50), referred to in the file as both Commander-Designate of Forces, and head of Persian Gulf Defence Mission, in late June/early July 1941, for the purposes of carrying out a reconnaissance mission. Correspondence concerning Hughes’s visit includes: arrangements for his arrival and departure, including onward travel to Khorramshahr in Iran; permission/arrangements for Hughes to travel to Zekrit [Zikrīt] (Qatar) and Dhahran [[al-Ẓahrān] (Saudi Arabia); the loaning of maps (none included in the file); assessment of land south of Zellaq in Bahrain for a proposed landing strip.Other correspondence in the file relates to: a visit to Bahrain by the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Iraq in October 1940 (ff 2-5); various visits in 1942, with details of the officers and visit dates (ff 51-55); correspondence in July 1944 relating to the proposed visit to Bahrain of the General Officer Commanding (GOC) in Charge of Paiforce (Persia and India Force), and the subsequent delay and cancellation of the visit (ff 56-59); correspondence relating to visits by the GOC in Charge of the Persian Gulf (ff 64-65), and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) in October 1945 (f 65).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 68; 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 2-65; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
122. ‘File 28/23 American Naval Observer at Bahrain’
- Description:
- Abstract: The file comprises copies of correspondence and other papers relating to the initial proposals for, and subsequent appointment and activities of, United States Naval Observers in Bahrain. Correspondents include: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior); the Political Agent at Bahrain (Major Reginald George Evelin William Alban and Major Tom Hickinbotham); and various representatives of the Government of India, India Office, Foreign Office, and Combined Intelligence Service Iraq (CICI).The file includes:correspondence dated between December 1940 and March 1941, in response to an application from the United States Chargé d’Affaires in London to Anthony Eden (then at the Foreign Office), dated 27 December 1940 (f 29) for the presence of a US Naval Observer at Bahrain. Subsequent correspondence records discussion of the application (and its consent) between officials in the British Government and the Government of India, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and the Political Agent at Bahrain. Points discussed include: the status of the Naval Observer in Bahrain; censorship and access to cypher facilities; British jurisdiction over the Naval Observer; the consent of the Ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah, to the application (ff 3-32);telegrams and correspondence, dated June 1941, relating to the loss with no survivors of an aircraft, travelling between Baghdad and Basra, on which the US Naval Observer at Bahrain, Lieutenant Commander George W Grove, was travelling, to take up his post in Bahrain (ff 34-39);correspondence dated between August and November 1941, relating to Grove’s replacement, Lieutenant (J.G.) [Junior Grade] Derwood W Lockard: his appointment, arrival in Bahrain, and the US Naval Department’s desire to transfer his post to Basra, and possibly later on to Khorramshahr in Iran (ff 40-52);correspondence dated October 1943 and September 1944, relating to British naval officials’ observations and reports on the presence and activities of US Naval Observers in Bahrain, including a report marked Top Secret, prepared by the Security officer at Bahrain (Captain A C Campbell) dated 3 August 1944, on American intelligence activities at Bahrain, and their primary interest in oil production (ff 61-62), and a letter from the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf (Commodore John Montagu Howson) to the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Fleet, dated 27 September 1944, commenting on the American presence in the Gulf, its apparent commercial as well as military nature, with profiles of a number of US individuals encountered by the Senior Naval Officer (ff 64-66).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 71; 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, intermittent foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-68; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
123. ‘File 28/29 Combined Intelligence Centre Iraq’
- Description:
- Abstract: The file comprises copies of correspondence received from or relating to the Combined Intelligence Centre Iraq (CICI), including: a letter from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior) to his Political Agents, dated 1941, concerning the establishment of the CICI (f 2); cessation of the issue of press and propaganda summaries by the CICI (f 3); a letter from the CICI to the Political Agent at Bahrain (Edward Birkbeck Wakefield), dated 4 December 1942, introducing Hussain Taymore, on pilgrimage and doing some ‘special work’ for the CICI (f 5); a request from the CICI to the Political Agent at Bahrain, dated 25 November 1944, asking for any information on Anglo-American relations in Bahrain (f 7); a letter from Air Headquarters in Iraq, dated 18 October 1946, concerning the closure of the CICI, and the transfer of functions formerly carried out by the Tribal and Political Section of the CICI to Air Staff Intelligence (f 11).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 15; 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 2-11; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
124. ‘File 28/40 Proposed military occupation of Gulf ports & coast watching system’
- Description:
- Abstract: The file comprises three items of correspondence relating to plans for reconnaissance flights over parts of the coast in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, with a view to their occupation by British forces if necessary:a memorandum from Tenth Army headquarters, dated 25 June 1942 and marked most secret, detailing locations for reconnaissance (Jask, Ras el Hadd [Ra’s al Ḥadd], Muscat, Khor Jamara [Khawr al Jarāmah], Kalba, Sharjah, Dibai [Dubai], Bushire, Asal, Lingeh [Bandar-e Lengeh], Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās], Kuwait, Massira [Maṣīrah]), the need for coast watching organisations in each area, and proposals for the organisation of local tribes to assist in action against enemy attack (f 2);an express letter from the British Consul at Bushire, dated 4 August 1942, stating that the proposed reconnaissance is unlikely to take place for some considerable time (f 3);a telegraph from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to the Political Agents in the Persian Gulf, dated 5 November 1942, informing them of proposals for reconnaissance for defence purposes, calling at: Bahrain, Sharjah, Lingah, Kalba, Muscat, Khor Jamara, Ras al Hadd, Masirah, Jask, Sharjah, and returning via Sharjah and Bahrain (f 4).The file notes record the Political Agent’s (Edward Birkbeck Wakefield) anxiety over the Tenth Army’s proposals to organise the Trucial Coast tribes to assist in the event of enemy attacks, suggesting that organised tribes would be ‘more likely to attack our RAF stations than a disembarking enemy’. (f 5)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 6; 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 2-5; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
125. 'File XX/4 Naval and Military Intelligence Queries.'
- Description:
- Abstract: The file contains information provided by the Political Agent, Kuwait in response to military and naval intelligence queries from the Government of India; Army Headquarters India; the Intelligence Officer, Bushire; the Commander in Chief, East Indies Squadron, and other military and naval officials; and correspondence with the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf concerning marine intelligence. The form 'Koweit' is generally employed in the papers.The papers include: 'Notes on Kowiet Harbour', 1907 (folios 2-24); information on the Turkish Army, e.g. return of troop numbers of Turkish VI Army Corps, 1907 (folios 31-33), and press cuttings dated 1911, concerning the reorganisation of the Turkish Army (folios 63-65); information for a proposed naval intelligence book about the Persian Gulf, e.g. information on the fort at Fao (folios 34-37); information for inclusion in maps and route books of the area; a draft report entitled 'Note on Capt Shakespear's tour via As-Safa, Al-Hafar, Al-Batin & back to Kowiet', prepared by Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear (Political Agent, Kuwait), 1910 (folios 44-60); requests for information for inclusion in the Gazetteer of Arabia, e.g. information on types of native boat, 1913 (folios 83-86), and a request for the precise location in which Shakespear was killed, 1916 (folio 105); and correspondence from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf concerning the sharing of marine intelligence (e.g lighting and buoying arrangements) with foreign consular representatives and local officials, 1914 (folios 94-104).The Arabic language content of the papers consists of Arabic forms (with English transliterations), forming part of a glossary of terms between folios 12-19 of 'Notes on Koweit Harbour'.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 107; 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 2-106; 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.
126. 'File 11/3 Diaries and reports: Capt O'Connor's report on Oman'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file consists of a Military Report on Oman by Captain R L O'Connor, and a letter from the Deputy Director, Military intelligence in New Delhi to the Political Agent at Muscat, enclosing copies of O'Connor's reports on the routes from Muscat to Sohar and Muscat to Sur.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 55; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
127. 'File 2/15 Iraq coup d'etat and political situation in Iraq'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file contains documents and correspondence relating to the takeover of Iraq by British forces following the coup d'état in Iraq during 1941. The papers discuss the possibility of an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and the domestic political situation in Iraq during and immediately after both the coup and the start of the British invasion. This includes ascertaining the political attitudes of notables, influential tribes, and military forces present in Iraq at the time. A variety of documents in the latter half of the file pertain to the British effort at stabilising the Iraqi Government following the British takeover, including discussions of its international alliances and treaty obligations.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 208; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Two additional foliation sequences are also present in parallel between ff 2-207, and ff 15-207; 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.
128. 'Where's Where in Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume serves as an index of places featured on Survey of India degree sheets 2C, 2D, 2G, 2H, 2K, 1L, 2O, 2P, 3A, 3E, 3I, 3J, 3M, 3N, 10A, 10B, and 10C. The places are arranged alphabetically and give the degree sheet reference.The preface details the method to be used to identify any given place on the degree sheets; occasions where the spelling given in the index varies from that given on the degree sheets; the method of transliteration used on the degree sheets; and instructions on pronunciation of certain letter combinations.Folios 59-63 are comprised of a glossary of geographic terms featured on the map sheets. The glossary was compiled by Major Charles Cecil Rowe Murphy of the 30th Punjabis.Published in Simla by the Government Central Branch Press, 1916.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 65; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
129. ‘WILFRED THESIGER’
- Description:
- Abstract: This file concerns the movements of Wilfred Thesiger at the end of his second crossing of the Empty Quarter [al-Rub‘ al-Khālī]. Correspondence in the file is between the Political Officer, Sharjah; the Political Agent, Bahrain; the Political Resident, Bahrain; the Political Agent, Muscat; the Residency Agent, Sharjah; G W Furlonge and B A B Burrows, Foreign Office, London; and Richard ('Dick') Bird, representative of Petroleum Development Oman.Details concern Thesiger’s arrival in Abu Dhabi on 16 March 1948 and his intention to proceed to Buraimi [al-Buraymī]; the preference of the Sultan of Muscat for Thesiger not to visit Muscat and the cancellation of his visa to enter the Sultanate of Oman; Thesiger's intention to collect plants and animal specimens at Buraimi and to travel from Abu Dhabi to Bahrain by dhow; Bird's desire that Thesiger should not proceed anywhere south of the village of Hafit [Ḥafīt]; Thesiger's legal status during his travels and restrictions on his movements; the retention of Thesiger's Bedouin and their raid on Bani Qitab; his arrival in Bahrain; requests by Thesiger for ammunition; concerns that he was responsible for raiding in Saudi Arabian territory; and his nickname 'Mubarak bin London'.The file also includes summaries of intelligence gathered from Thesiger (ff 38, 42) and Bird's letter regarding Thesiger's presence in Buraimi (ff 54-55).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 64; 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 1-61; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
130. ‘I. Saudiyeh. (3). Saudiyeh State Prisoners.’
- Description:
- Abstract: Papers relating to the reported murder of Ibn Hithlain [Nāyif bin Ḥithlayn] of the ’Ajmān tribe, and Ibn Lami of the Mutair [Muṭayr] tribe, and others, at the orders of the King of Saudi Arabia Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd (Ibn Sa‘ūd)], at Hoffuf [Al Hufūf]. The file includes:Extracts from the Kuwait Intelligence Summaries for August 1933, October 1933, and November 1934, reporting the abductions and rumours of murders.A letter from the British Minister at Jedda, Andrew Ryan, to Sir John Simon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated 25 January 1934, concerning the veracity of reports of the murders, discussion with Ibn Saud’s adviser Faud Bey Hamza, and his reluctance to call Ibn Saud to account over the matter.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 13; 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 3-11; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
131. Papers concerning the Treatment of British Prisoners of War at Kut
- Description:
- Abstract: The papers consist of reports and associated correspondence concerning the treatment of British prisoners of war from the British garrison at Kut [Kut Al-Amarah], following its surrender to Ottoman Turkish forces on 29 April 1916.The papers include a typescript memorandum (folios 3-28), issued by General Headquarters, IEF D [Indian Expeditionary Force D], Basra, entitled 'Information obtained from sick and wounded officers and men of the Kut Garrison who arrived at Basrah [Basra] on September 9th and 14th, 1916', which contains first hand accounts of the treatment of British and Indian troops by Turkish, Arab, and German captors. The memorandum also provides information about the Turkish army; Turkish dispositions, supplies, and armaments at Baghdad and elsewhere; and relations between the Turks and their allies. The memorandum was forwarded by the Director of Military Intelligence, War Office.Also included in the file is a printed memorandum (folios 29-31) entitled 'Turkish Treatment of British Prisoners of War.', which provides similar information from a single eyewitness. The memorandum is undated, but is signed in manuscript 'Lt [Lieutenant] McNeal R.F.A. [Royal Field Artillery]'. The memorandum also gives an account of events and conditions at Baghdad.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 31; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
132. Political No. 198 of 1873, Forwarding Copies of a Letter from Sir Bartle Frere to Earl Granville, Regarding Consulate Arrangements in Jedda and Proposals to Establish Consulates for 'Somali Land' and Ports of the Red Sea
- Description:
- Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 29 October 1873 and received via Brindisi on 24 November, forwarding copies of a letter from Sir Henry Bartle Frere to Earl Granville, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated 28 May 1873. The enclosure comprises a report by Frere who argues the case for additional consulates or agencies for 'Somali land' and the ports of the Red Sea, both for watching the 'slave-trade' which, Frere alleges, is increasingly carried on through all the Red Sea ports, and to report on proceedings of the Turkish and Egyptian officials on the coast of the Rea Sea. The Despatch covering letter refers to Political No. 57 of 16 June 1873 in which the Government of India had stated that it did not consider that the cost for the establishments proposed by Frere for Somali land and the ports of the Red Sea should be charged to the revenues of India, 'unless the Imperial Governement are prepared to undertake half the expenses of Aden' but that in the case of Jedda [Jeddah] the Government of India Foreign Department have no objection to continue the present contribution of £200 annually towards the maintenance of a Consulate and Agency there, or to raise the sum to £300.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 81, and terminates at f 89, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains three foliation insertion anomalies: f 81a, f 84a, and f 87a.