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File 2182/1913 Pt 4 'Persian Gulf: Policy towards Bin Saud (Capt. Shakespear's Mission)' [75r] (147/426)
The record is made up of 1 item (211 folios). It was created in 22 Sep 1914-17 Jan 1916. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
therefore secured an order from the Inspector of the war affairs stating the
necessity of calling out Bin Saud to fight with you. This order was dated
20 days before the time {i.e, before the order was given ?), and was the means j
of my getting out of Basrah in such a manner that nobody could prevent
me. This was before the receipt of your letter to me through Shaikh Khazal \
Khan. I left Basrah after having secretly warned the President of the
Municipal Committee, some of the town people and the Shaikh of Madinah,
Hamud al Mir Jabir, not to fight with you. I then came to Koweit ex
pressly to see the Consul and to complete my communications (negotiations)
with you. I had no other business at Koweit. The said Consul informed
* Misunderstanding. I did not say i had ^(3 that you had sent me a letter* through
wntten - p z Cox Shaikh Khazal Khan which I have not
seen to this moment. He pressed me to
stop at Koweit or to go to you to the battlefield. I explained to him my
inability to do either, and let it not be hidden from you that if I had stayed
on at Koweit or had come to you then, the Turkish Government with the
hatred it had for me, w r ould at once on hearing the news, have killed my
children and my family and looted my property, which is one of the greatest
calamities and tyrannies, and is recognised as such by you and others.
After thus explaining to him my excuse and these dangers, I gave him
my word of honour that I shall never act against you, that I shall serve
your interests now and in future, in whatever way I can, and I will save my
children and my family and my property (then in the hands of the
Turks) from their mischief. I assured that my visit to Amir Abdul
Aziz
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
al Saud was not with the purpose, as is supposed among
the Turks, of bringing him out to fight with you or to oppose you but to
escape from the machinations of the Turks and to get the said Amir to
intercede for me to you, as I knew all about him and his good relations with
your Government and his real mind and intentions. P’or this reason I left
Koweit and came to the said Amir. The letter which the Amir has written
to Captain Shakespear, in which he has explained to the latter that my views
and intentions are in your favour and in no degree against you, will demon
strate the fact that I do not ask him {i.e., Bin Saud) to do anything against
you. All the statements I have made to you and my action from the beginning
to the end, are borne out by the references and communications I have made
to your Government and by my good dealings with the subjects of your high
Government and with the Christian Community at Basrah. All this is not
hidden from the Christian Missionaries at Basrah, and the former British
Consul at Basrah, Mr. Crow, was aware of it. The very fact that I have
never displayed any activity against you, either before or after the war, and
the treatment meted out to me by the Turks, these (in themselves) are great
arguments proving that I support your view T s and desire to be with you in soul
and body.
I am now sending you the bearer of this letter, Haji Sulaiman Eaizi,
formerly a Basrah deputy, to represent me and inform you of what is necessary.
He has been authorised by me to do all that is required, and any undertaking
that he may give you in my behalf will be acceptable to me and wdll be
adhered to by me. I therefore request you kindly to take him into your con
fidence and admit him to a conversation with you, and also to give him a
reply wdiich will assure me of my reception and which will be suitable to the
dignity of your high Government and your undoubted good disposition. I
undertake to you to serve your good Government and endeavour to secure its
t Literally, one who should be shunned. interests in every way, now and in _ future
because there will not now remain any
tyrantf whom I shall fear.
Enclosure No. 5, Serial No. 4.
Translation of a letter to Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al Raisal l( Bin
Saud,’’ dated 23rd December 1914, corresponding to 4th Safar 1333.
After compliments. —Since despatching to you my letters of 29th
Muharram and 1 st Safar I have received your esteemed letter of 22nd
About this item
- Content
Part 4 primarily concerns British policy towards Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], following the outbreak of the First World War. It includes the following:
- discussion regarding Bin Saud's relations with the Ottoman government, and the need for the British to secure Bin Saud's goodwill, especially in the event of the Ottoman government entering the war on the German side;
- details of Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear's mission (as a political officer on special duty) to meet with Bin Saud, with the aim of ensuring that, in the event of hostilities between Britain and the Ottomans, no assistance is offered to the latter by Bin Saud;
- translated copies of letters from Shaikh Mubarak [Shaikh Mubarak bin Ṣabāḥ Āl Ṣabāḥ], Ruler of Kuwait, to Bin Saud, urging the latter to side with the British Government;
- details of a proposed preliminary treaty between the British and Bin Saud;
- reports of Captain Shakespear's death;
- reports on Bin Saud's military engagements against Bin Rashid [Saʿūd bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Rashīd];
- a copy of a draft of a preliminary treaty between the British government and Bin Saud;
- details of proposed gifts from the British to Bin Saud of arms and ammunition captured from the Ottomans, plus a £20,000 loan.
The principal correspondents are the following:
- Secretary of State for India [Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe];
- Viceroy of India [Charles Hardinge];
- Foreign Office;
- India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ;
- War Office;
- Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India, Thomas William Holderness;
- Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Zachariah Cox;
- Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel William George Grey);
- Secretary to the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department [Alfred Hamilton Grant];
- Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart George Knox (on special duty in the absence of the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. );
- Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear;
- Bin Saud.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (211 folios)
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/387/1
- Title
- File 2182/1913 Pt 4 'Persian Gulf: Policy towards Bin Saud (Capt. Shakespear's Mission)'
- Pages
- 3r:23v, 24ar, 24r:45v, 48r:63v, 64ar, 64r:85v, 85ar:85av, 86r:119v, 120ar, 120r:120v, 121ar, 121r:212v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence