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1. 'File 5/193 II (B 38) Slavery in the Gulf'
- Description:
- Abstract: The majority of the correspondence in the volume relates to Sir George Maxwell's report on slavery in Arabia, submitted to the League of Nations Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery in around 1936. The file should be read in conjunction with IOR/R/15/1/227, which contains a continuation of correspondence on the subject.British officials in the Persian Gulf liaised with their colleagues at the Foreign and India Office, to produce reports for Maxwell and the League of Nations Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery. In January 1936 Maxwell sent questionnaires for completion to British representatives in the Gulf (folio 144). The questionnaire covered information such as size and population of states, and numbers, ethnicity and religion of slaves. Completed copies of the questionnaire from the Political Agents in Kuwait (folios 151, 160) Muscat (folio 153) and Bahrain and the Trucial Coast (folios 155-58) are included. A letter from Maxwell to Mr Walton at the India Office (folios 200-218), written July 1936, describes the political dimensions of the Slavery Committee talks, and the outcome of Maxwell's discussion with Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Loch, Political Agent Bahrain, about the status of slavery in Bahrain. Included with the letter are two enclosures written by Maxwell, the first regarding Islamic law in relation to slavery, the second on domestic slavery in the Arab region.Further correspondence in the volume, related to Maxwell's requests for information, takes place between officials from the Foreign Office, and British officials in the Persian Gulf region. A telegram from a Foreign Office official in London, to the British Legation at Jiddah [Jeddah] in January 1935, discussed the political implications of the League of Nations/Maxwell's investigations regarding Saudi Arabia, while Britain's own negotiations with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] were ongoing (folios 78-79). A letter sent from the Political Residency to the India Office in September 1936 (folio 20-31), pointed out inaccuracies made by Maxwell about slavery in the Gulf, in his letter of July 1936.Also of note in the file is a letter sent from the Bahrain Political Agent (Loch) to the Political Resident (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle) in January 1936, discussing the impact of the global economic depression upon the pearling industry in Bahrain. Loch stated that 'slaves do not ... mind much where they go, so long as they have an owner who feeds and clothes them' and that born slaves 'are anxious to remain as slaves' (folios 130-31). Loch also recalled an anecdote for Fowle, of an old man who produced his manumission certificate to a medical officer. The man got angry when told by the officer that the certificate gave him his freedom, and not as the man insisted, that it proved he was a slave and was entitled to be fed by his owner.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 235; 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; 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.
2. 'File 5/193 III (B 46) Slavery in the Persian Gulf'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume contains confidential correspondence related to the slave trade and slavery, exchanged between a number of British Government representatives. It should be read in conjunction with IOR/R/15/1/226, of which this file is a continuation, there being numerous references to it in some of the correspondence in this volume (for example, on folios 18-19, and 20).A large proportion of the correspondence is high-level, relating to requests from the British Government and the League of Nations for information on the nature and extent of slavery and the slave trade in the Persian Gulf. This correspondence is composed of memoranda sent to the Persian Gulf Political Resident (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle throughout the period covered by the file), from staff at the India Office in London, and from Sir George Maxwell, then a member of the League of Nations Committee on Slavery. Other correspondence is lower-level, mainly comprising letters sent between the Political Resident and the Political Agent in Bahrain (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Loch, Nov 1932-Apr 1937), and the Political Resident and the other Political Agents and naval officers in the Gulf region.George Maxwell wrote a report on slavery in the Persian Gulf in 1935 (National Archives: FO371/18915). Further details on the extent of slavery, the trade in slaves and abolition efforts were requested by Maxwell in 1936. As the centre of British administration on the Arab Coast, Maxwell was particularly interested in Bahrain (folios 7-11). He asked British officials for information about treaties and legislation introduced by the British Government, manumission figures, details of the trade and the routes it used. The report compiled by the Political Resident stated that, to all intents and purposes, Bahrain was a slavery-free state. The report detailed no significant new legislation, low manumission numbers, and, with no discernible organised trade, no information on known slave traders and trading routes (folio 88). Maxwell was disappointed at the 'meagre' amount of information forthcoming (folio 86), leading to a more detailed report being compiled by the Political Resident (folios 115-119). Maxwell wanted a new proclamation be made in Bahrain, effectively announcing that the state had abolished slavery outright (folio 118). A proclamation to this effect was made by the Shaikh of Bahrain in August 1937 (folio 113).Other correspondence in the volume (folios 160-225) relates to a flashpoint in Dubai in March 1938, in which civil unrest amongst the people of Dubai was provoked by Sheikh Sa'id bin Maktum's decision (under British direction) to deport two men dealing in arms. According to the Residency Agent at Sharjah ('Abd al-Razzaq Razuqi) the root cause of the unrest was the growing concern created by increasing numbers of slaves (and in particular domestic slaves) being manumitted by the Residency Agency (folio 159). This was seen by Dubai inhabitants as a threat to the pearling season (folio 169) and the wider economic stability of the town (folios 203-04). The civil unrest in Dubai caused consternation among British officials, who were anxious to remain on friendly terms with the region's shaikhs and their subjects. With the likelihood of global war looking increasingly likely, the British Government desired that the Trucial Coast region, which was a staging post on the air supply route from Britain to India, remain politically and socially stable (folios 198-200).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 241; 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; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.