Abstract: The contents of the file relate to the British Government’s concerns over growing British and international interest in the Gulf’s pearling industry, hitherto almost exclusively exploited by the region’s indigenous inhabitants.1) The first half of the file (folios 2-13) comprises copies of Government of India correspondence published in 1904 and 1905, which discuss Britain’s historic role in the Gulf in relation to the pearling industry. Themes covered include: Britain’s duty to protect the pearl banks for the benefit of the Arab pearl divers, acknowledgement of growing national and international interest in the pearl banks, the extent of territorial waters, and the likely result of any legal challenges to Britain’s refusal to allow foreign interests the opportunity to exploit the Gulf’s pearl banks.2) Correspondence relating to an enquiry by a German businessman, concerning the pearl trade in the Gulf (folios 15-17).3) Printed copies of correspondence (folios 20-23) from the Persian Gulf Political Resident (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Cox) and the Bahrain Political Agent (Captain Charles Mackenzie), dated 1910, concerning the increasing trade in oyster shells in the Gulf, used for the production of mother of pearl. A drop in the numbers of oysters being fished is attributed to the mother of pearl industry. A German firm based in Bahrain, Wonckhaus & Co., is identified as a key exporter of oyster shells at Bahrain.4) A letter (folio 27) intercepted by the Political Agency in Bahrain, from the Secretary of the Wolverine Motor Works, U.S.A., to Robert Wonckhaus & Co., dated 3 February 1915. The letter and accompanying leaflet (folios 28-29) relates to Wolverine Motor Works’ new combined compressor and propelling motor, designed specifically for use in the pearl fishing industry.5) A typewritten extract from the
Times of India Illustrated, dated 19 [month missing, presumed June] 1918 (folio 30) reporting on rumours that German financiers are buying up all the pearls available in Britain and France.Physical description: Foliation: The file is foliated from its front cover to inside back cover, using circled pencil numbers in the top-right corner of each recto. There is an additional pagination system running throughout the file.Folio 29 is a fold-out.There is minor insect damage to papers throughout the file.
Abstract: The file contains correspondence in the form of letters, notes, pedigrees, news extracts and telegrams. The correspondence is mainly related to the ruling family in Kuwait. Reports were sent between the Political Agency, Kuwait and the Political Residency, Bushire regarding the following: political and social news in Kuwait; events concerning the al-Subah family (death, marriage or illness); news of Shaikh Mubarak’s coalition with Shaikh Khaz‘al against a number of tribes in the region; and reports on incidents taking place at Mohammerah, as well as news of the status of a number of Islands, such as Warba, which were claimed by the Shaikh of Kuwait.The file contains extracts from the Bahrain and Kuwait News, Residency reports about Shaikh Mubarak’s dispute with his pearl towashes (pearlers or pearl merchants), and an article (folios 219-224) on Shaikh Ahmad’s visit to London in 1919. It also contains a number of pedigrees of the al-Subah family.The file also includes correspondence related to the number of gun salutes due to chiefs in the Persian Gulf.The main correspondence is between the Political Agency, Kuwait, the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Bushire, the Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department, and the British Consul at Mohammerah.Due to the random arrangement of the papers in the file, the earliest paper (dated Nov 1904) is found at f 144, and the latest (dated Oct 1922) is found at f 135.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 230; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 4-227; these numbers are also written in pencil but are not circled.
Abstract: Reports, submitted by the Political Agent (Captain Charles Geoffrey Prior) or the Indian Assistant at the Political Agency in the Political Agent’s absence, detailing proceedings at Bahrain and elsewhere. The reports are organised under various headings, as follows:arrivals and departures of ships at Bahrain (with details of cargoes and their origins), and of the arrivals and departures of flying boats;the movements of British Government representatives (the Political Agent, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf);news from elsewhere in the region (Nejd, including updates of Ibn Saud’s [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] movements; Qatar, including Shaikh Abdullah’s [‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī] actions and movements; and events at Qatif [Al-Qaṭīf]);news in Bahrain, including the activities of members of the Āl Khalīfah ruling family, economic news, including reports of bankruptcies, and updates on the year’s poor pearling season, including diminished pearl yields, and pearl trading activity;meteorological reports, including details of the minimum and maximum temperatures for each fortnight, and rainfall figures;miscellaneous news, including the visits of foreigners to Bahrain, activities of the American Mission’s representatives, a visit by geologists from Eastern General & Syndicate Limited.Specific events of note include:disturbances at two Sunni schools in Bahrain, in which schoolmasters went on strike. Contributing causes to the disaffection, suggested by the Political Agent, include staff salaries, the school inspector’s preference for a schooling system ‘based on Beirut’, the rumoured curtailment of religious teaching, and an expansion of English teaching to the detriment of Arabic (ff 10-12);the opening by Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah of a new electric power station in Bahrain (f 24).Physical description: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 63; 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 1-19; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
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.
Abstract: This file consists of the following:A copy of a report entitled 'Fishery Development at the Head of the Persian Gulf with Special Reference to the Needs of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., Abadan. by G C L Bertram MA PhD, Middle East Supply Centre, 25th August, 1944' (folios 3-19)Correspondence regarding the development of fishing-related industries in the Persian Gulf, including discussions around the possibility of developing a local shark liver oil industry (folios 20-50)Correspondence regarding a visit made to the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman by the Fisheries expert, Dr George Colin Lawder Bertram, in order to advise its fishing industry (folios 51-92)Correspondence and documents concerning the possibility of exporting natural pearls from the Persian Gulf for sale in the United States (folios 93-101).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 106; 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 2-30 and between ff 51-101; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence related to slave manumission cases heard at the Political Agency in Muscat. The majority of the manumission cases featured in the volume are straightforward, with correspondence following a regular pattern. The Political Agent at Muscat (Major Watts for most cases, who was in charge from June 1935 to April 1939) sent slave manumission statements to the Secretary to the Political Resident in Bushire. In those cases where slaves had absconded from the Trucial Coast, the Political Residency referred the details of the case to the Residency Agent at Sharjah (‘Īsá bin ‘Abd al-Latif until August 1935, 'Abd al-Razzaq Razuqi from 1936) requesting he make enquiries into the slave's story. In many of the Residency Agent's enquiries, it was found that slaves were not in fact slaves, but indebted divers who were seeking to escape their debts. In a number of cases the Sharjah Agent sent details of divers' debts to the Political Residency (see for example, folios 170-175). In these situations the Political Residency authorised the issue of a manumission certificate to the indebted pearl diver, on the proviso that he return to the Residency Agent at Sharjah to settle his debts.Subject 7 of the volume includes a statement made at the Political Agency at Muscat in 1935, by a man who was seeking to retrieve his son, who he claimed had been kidnapped from him (folio 54). Enquires by the Residency Agent at Sharjah revealed that the man in fact gave his son as security against a debt, and that the boy would be sold unless the security was paid back (folio 67). Ongoing investigations carried out by the Political Agent at Bahrain (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Loch) showed that the boy was sold (or 'mortgaged') three times, twice in Ajman and once in Sharjah, the last time to an uncle of the Shaikh of Sharjah. The Political Resident wrote to Loch in July 1936, stating that there is a 'clear case against the shaikh of Sharjah for breaking his Slave Trading Agreements with us.' However, it was noted that 'any action against the shaikh of Sharjah might have an adverse effect on [Frank] Holmes' negotiations about oil, and also make us unpopular in Sharjah.' (folio 87) The Resident suggested a fine of 500 rupees for the Shaikh of Sharjah, as punishment for the slave trading offence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 449; 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 between ff 331-449, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence relating to in excess of 100 manumission requests heard by the Residency Agent at Sharjah ('Abd al-Razzaq Razuqi). The manumission statements were sent to the Political Resident for reference purposes only, all decisions on manumission cases in Sharjah now being made by the Political Agent in Bahrain. The vast majority of manumission cases are straightforward requests for manumission from slaves, employed as domestic servants and pearl divers, on the grounds of ill-treatment, being given insufficient earnings from pearling, or the fear of being sold to another owner. A few isolated cases are more complex, and involve the kidnap or sale of individuals. In such cases, the Residency Agent wrote to the shaikh in whose dominions the incident took place, requesting action and reminding him of his obligations in relation to the historic slave trade treaties signed by his predecessors. In one instance the Residency Agent sent a letter to the Shaikh of Ajman [Rashid bin Humaid], demanding his intervention. Shaikh Rashid retrieved the kidnapped woman in question, but demanded sixty rupees from her family to cover the costs associated with the woman's restoration. The family were warned by the Shaikh to leave Ajman, in light of the debt not being paid.The manumission statements show that an increasing proportion of female slaves were being manumitted on the grounds that they understood that they were to be sold (which would constitute a trade in slaves; an illegal act). Pearl divers represented a significant proportion of those men seeking manumission, often on the grounds of insufficient earnings being given to them by their masters.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 203; 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.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence related to slave trading activity in the Persian Gulf, including intelligence reports on suspected slave traders, and the movement of suspected slaves across the Gulf by traders. The volume also includes a number of reports on the extent and nature of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf during the period in question. Two reports are written by the Political Resident (Sir Hugh Biscoe) in 1930. The first describes the extent of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf (folios 34-40), with details on the principal slave trade routes and sources of slaves, including the Makran coast and the Nejd and Hejaz regions of Arabia. The second report investigates the character of domestic slavery in the Persian Gulf (folios 43-50). Domestic slaves, wrote Biscoe, include those employed as bodyguards to the shaikhs, house servants and coffee makers. Biscoe noted that the lots of these slaves were generally good, contrasting their lot to the 'industrial slaves', i.e. those employed as pearl divers or date plantation workers. Biscoe described the region's indebted pearl divers as being 'virtual slaves.' Another report, written by Charles Belgrave, Advisor to the Ruler of Bahrain, describes the pearling industry around 1930, and the measures taken by the previous Political Agent at Bahrain (Major Clive Daly) to improve the lot of indebted pearl divers (folios 23-26). The volume also contains a report, written in 1934 by the then Political Agent in Bahrain, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Loch, on the slave trade in Nejd/Hejaz regions (folios 159-60). Loch writes that slaves taken from the Baluchistan-Makran region generally end up in this part of Arabia. A list of slaves manumitted at Sharjah between 1936 and 1938 is also included (folios 174-80).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 218; 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 9-170; 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 consists of correspondence between the Political Agent, Bahrain and the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (Charles Dalrymple Belgrave) concerning the Salifah Court, Bahrain, which handled judicial cases relating to the pearl diving trade in Bahrain.The correspondence concerns the organisation, composition and functions of the Salifah Court.The Arabic language content of the papers consists of bilingual correspondence in Arabic and English between the Government of Bahrain and the Political Agency, Bahrain.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 at the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 3-24; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: The contents of the volume relate to Bahrain's pearl diving economy, and fall under two major concerns:1) The industry's declining profitability, and the impact this has had upon pearl divers. A large portion of the file is occupied by handwritten balance sheets (all undated) of saibs (pullers) and ghais (divers) showing the payments, loans and debts for individuals (ff 5-36). Also included is a report, written in 1930 by Britain's Advisor to the Government, Charles Belgrave, entitled 'Slavery and the Bahrain Pearl Industry' (ff 49-52);2) The threat posed by modern innovations to the traditional nature of the pearling industry in Bahrain and the wider Gulf coast. Of chief concern are the modern diving technologies that commercial enterprises wish to use, and the introduction to the Gulf of cultured pearls. Included in the file is a translation of a proclamation from 1930, which bans the import of cultured or tinted pearls, the sale of unbleached, drilled pearls, and the import or use of diving apparatus (f 62). A letter from a Glasgow-based company to the India Office in London, dated 15 May 1931, seeks advice on obtaining a license to use its modern diving apparatus to dive for pearls in the Gulf (f 65). A return letter dated 21 August 1931 rejects the possibility of obtaining a permit to dive in the Gulf (f 74).Physical description: Foliation: The foliation starts with 1a on first page with writing (3rd page on volume), and runs to 74 on the last page of text. The front cover and two blank sheets at the the front of the volume are unfoliated, as are the five blank pages and the inside back cover at the end of the volume. With the exception of a few pages where foliation anomalies were corrected in pencil, the foliation is the original, in blue crayon in top-right corner of recto pages. The following foliation anomalies occur: ff 1A-1D; ff 5-5A; ff 23-23A; ff 43-43A.Condition: Many of the pearl divers' balance sheets included in the file are fold-outs, and are in fragile condition.
Abstract: The file contains a paper entitled 'Vocabulary of diving terms', giving a list of terms for types of divers and persons related to diving, and descriptions of four diving systems; notes on advances and payments; notes on accounts; list of general terms relating to diving; miscellaneous notes on diving; correspondence between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire (Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Charles Johnson Barrett), and the American Consul in Baghdad, dated 1929, in which the Resident strongly advises the Consul against an American firm sending a pearl fishing ship to the Persian Gulf, stating that the pearl fisheries had been conducted from time immemorial by the inhabitants of the Gulf coasts, and any interference by outsiders would be strenuously resisted and attended with considerable risk; press cuttings, 1934-1935; and note on levy recruits' diving debts.Physical description: Foliation: The foliation system in use appears in a circle in the top right-hand corner of each folio. There is a second, uncircled, foliation sequence by which some of the folios are numbered (with gaps) 1-8, 18-19, 35-37, and 78-79 (folios 2-21).Condition: Folio 21 is torn at one corner and some text is missing.
Abstract: Trade Reports and related correspondence, Bahrain. The file includes trade reports, Bahrain, for the financial years 1924-25 to 1931-32, inclusive, with associated correspondence. The reports list twenty-five countries from which imports were received (notably India, Iraq, Arabia, and Persia) under the general headings of animals; animals for slaughter; building materials; cereals; dyeing and colouring materials; oils; pearls, shells and specie; provisions; textiles and fabrics; and miscellaneous; and twelve countries to which exports were sent (notably India, Arabia, Persia, Iraq, Africa, England [United Kingdom], Belgium, Japan, and Java) under the general headings of building materials; cereals; fuel; oils; pearls, shells, and specie; provisions; textiles and fabrics; and miscellaneous. The file also includes a report on the Bahrain pearl industry by Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, with covering letter to Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Charles Johnson Barrett, Political Agent, Bahrain, dated 19 December 1928.Physical description: Foliation: the system in use appears in the top right corner of each folio, circled.