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1. ‘File 28/1 A Bahrain Petroleum Company Limited – standing orders for their guards’
- Description:
- Abstract: The file comprises letters sent by representatives of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), generally the Chief Local Representative, John S Black, to the Political Agent at Bahrain (Hugh Weightman), enclosing copies of standing orders issued to their guards and security personnel for the defence of the Company’s refinery, oil fields and other installations, in the wake of the advent of hostilities in Europe.Several revisions of the standing orders are included in the file (ff 6-7, ff 9-24, ff 25-36 ff 38-68), dated October to November 1939. The orders cover a range of roles and aspects of BAPCO’s operations: instructions for sentries at refinery gates; checks on motor and goods vehicles coming into and out of the refinery; instructions for motor patrols; instructions for motorcycle patrols (left blank as a result of a lack of motorcycles); orders for the officer-in-charge of the field, including checks for sabotage of wells, pipelines and tanks; standing orders for the officer-in-charge of the refinery; orders for naturguards; orders for the second shift foreman; instructions for security personnel at Sitrah terminal, Sitrah pier, Sitrah wharf. Some pages of the standing orders are heavily annotated in pencil, presumably by Agency staff or by the Agent himself, with comments and questions relating to specific aspects of the standing orders.Also in the file is a letter (ff 2-4) from the Secretary of the Committee of Internal Refinery Defence, dated 25 September 1939, containing twelve proposals to improve security and reduce the need for labourers (referred to as ‘coolies’) to move around the refinery site unattended, and a letter (ff 69-71) from Max Weston Thornberg, Vice President of BAPCO, to Weightman, setting out BAPCO’s company policy towards the defence of its sites in Bahrain during ‘the existing state of emergency’.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the back cover with 72; 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 2-71; these numbers are written in a combination of pencil and blue ink, but they are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
2. ‘File 28/1 Q Provision of armed guard for British Overseas Airways Corporation Limited; Cable & Wireless etc.’
- Description:
- Abstract: The first part of the file (ff 2-6), containing correspondence dated 1940, chiefly from the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Station Superintendent at Bahrain, concerns the provision of armed guards as an anti-sabotage measure for BOAC aircraft on night stops at Bahrain. The correspondence includes: details of the provision of an armed guard for aircraft; a request that BOAC staff be lent a revolver by the Agency; BOAC liaison on the matter of protection with the Defence Office in the Persian Gulf (Major A C Byard); provision of guards according to the winter 1940 BOAC schedule; elimination of BOAC night stops at Bahrain.The second part of the file (ff 7-19) contains correspondence dated 1943, chiefly from Norman Luke Penfold, Officer-in-Charge for the Bahrain branch of Cable & Wireless (C&W), who requests the provision of an armed guard for Bahrain’s new C&W office and the equipment and instruments it contains. Correspondence between Penfold and the Political Agency relates to the assessment of the nature of the function of the new office and its equipment, and if this justifies the provision of an armed guard from the Bahrain State Police. A note written by Agency staff in the file notes (ff 20-21) states that ‘the turn the war has taken has convinced all Arabs & Persians that there is no longer any possibility of German forces arriving in these parts’.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the back cover with 22; 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 2-19; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence. Pagination: the file notes at the back of the file (ff 20-21) have been paginated using pencil.