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Coll 6/21(1) 'Hejaz-Nejd: Relations with H.M.G.: Hejaz Legation in London and British Minister in Jeddah.' [144v] (299/914)
The record is made up of 1 volume (453 folios). It was created in 7 Sep 1927-10 Jan 1935. 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.
2
duty and the general discussion pursued at leisure. This could, if necessary, be
pursued with Mr. Calvert, but I should prefer to leave it until Fuad Bey and I
could deal with the matter on our reurn to Jedda. Fuad Bey noted my proposal.
6. I used various arguments, which need not be recorded in detail, to impress
on Fuad Bey the importance of this question, urging inter alia that the Saudi
Government should take account of the great services rendered by the dispensaries.
They supplied wants which the Saudi Government were not as yet in a position
to satisfy, and the Saudi Government should not make their position impossible
by attempting to exercise excessive control or by adding customs duty to the
expenditure entailed, the amount of which was already worrying the Government
of India.
7. I told Fuad Bey that this was the most important of the small number
of questions which I had suggested adding to the list of those already discussed
with Mr. Rendel and myself. I need only advert to two others, viz., the pecuniary
claims of His Majesty’s Government against the Saudi Government, and the
position as regards British nationality in Saudi Arabia. The latter question
seemed to be progressing on satisfactory lines and I would not pursue it. I did
not wish at this moment to pursue definitely the question of the two debts of the
Saudi Government to His Majesty’s Government, but I reminded Fuad Bey that
we were very anxious to dispose of the matter, which was one on which we were
faced with strong insistence on the part of the Treasury. I recalled our proposal
that the trivial MacDonnell debt should be settled out of hand, and the liquidation
of the larger debt placed on a business basis. I added that I had induced His
Majesty’s Government to postpone the matter pending a clearing up of the
situation between Saudi Arabia and the Yemen. That situation had now been
liquidated, and I had again reminded Sheikh Yussuf Yasin of the debts shortly
before leaving Jedda. J
8. Fuad Bey threw out a personal suggestion that perhaps His Majesty’s
Government might now see their way to promote the flotation of a small loan in
this country, sufficient to enable the floating debt of his Government to be paid off
He outlined m very general terms a scheme for the issue of bonds. I received
this suggestion very guardedly, but promised to report it. I explained that the
matter was outside my sphere and that I could not judge of the possibilities,
rough 1 had no reason to think that the prospect of raising money for Saudi
Arabia would be any better now than it had been in 1932.
Ju- C0I l c l us i 0I b I Fuad Bey, with reference to what had passed at
the third meeting about the Jedda-Port Sudan cable, that there was no hope of
bringing any adequately equipped representative of the Sudan Government into
a discussion of the matter before he left London. I had, however, just seen a
!>?Im e T 7 Ilt ^ tl iI e ° f S?: b 6 an ^ Wirel f ss (Limited), and had suggested that he should
meet huad Bey^ This gentleman had agreed, subject to the reservation that any
proposals which might emerge would have to be submitted to the board of the
company. The question of Saudi telegraphic communications had arisen in three
aspects, viz., cable rates, the position in regard to the present working agreement
HeT/A th6 C u b n thB Govei ”t of the Sudanand the
mS? I f t!r ? as * er “ Telegraph Company, and the wish of the Saudi Govern-
ment to establish wireless communication between Hasa and the outer world. I
lought that an entirely non-committal discussion would serve to put those
concerned m possession of each other’s views and desiderata.
/t • a g ree d to meet a representative of Cable and Wireless
Foreign Office 1^“^ Sh ° Uld to - m ™ ^ the
September 24, 1934.
A. RYAN.
About this item
- Content
This volume concerns relations between the British Government and the Government of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia).
The volume largely consists of copies of Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence. The correspondence near the beginning of the volume discusses Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd's] wish to enter into full diplomatic relations with the British Government. The Hejazi Government's proposal in 1929 to establish a legation in London is accompanied by a request for the British Government to raise the status of its Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and Consulate in Jedda to the same status.
The subsequent correspondence in the volume discusses the following:
- The British Government's consideration (and acceptance) of Ibn Saud's proposal, and the appointment of Sir Andrew Ryan as His Majesty's Minister at the British Legation in Jedda in May 1930.
- Hafiz Wahba's appointment as Hejazi Minister in London in 1930.
- Complaints made by the Hejazi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding Sir Andrew Ryan's attitude and conduct since his arrival in Jedda.
- Details of an Hejazi-Nejdi diplomatic mission to Europe (including visits to Italy, France, Britain, and the Netherlands), undertaken in May 1932 and headed by Amir Feisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd], Hejazi Minister for Foreign Affairs (this part of the volume includes detailed accounts of the mission's meetings with Foreign Office officials during its visit to London).
- Sir Andrew Ryan's account of his meeting with Ibn Saud at Taif in July 1934, and their discussion of the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, in the Anglo-Ottoman convention of 1913) and the Kuwait blockade.
- Details of several meetings held at the Foreign Office between Fuad Bey Hamza (Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs for Saudi Arabia), Sir Andrew Ryan and George William Rendel (Head of the Foreign Office's Eastern Department), during September 1934, regarding the 'blue line', the Kuwait blockade, and the future of the Treaty of Jedda (the treaty signed between Britain and Ibn Saud in 1927).
- Requests from the Italian Government for information regarding Fuad Bey Hamza's visit to London.
The volume features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Agent and Consul at Jedda, a position that was raised to His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires to Jedda in late 1929 (Hugh Stonehewer Bird, William Linskill Bond, Cecil Gervase Hope Gill, and Albert Spencer Calvert successively); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); His Majesty's Ambassador in Rome (Ronald William Graham); Ibn Saud; Amir Faisal; officials of the Hejazi/Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, and the 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. .
In addition to correspondence, the volume contains a copy of the minutes of a meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East. The meeting, which took place in London on 8 November 1934, was primarily concerned with the settlement of the 'blue line' issue, the Saudi- Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan frontier, and the Kuwait blockade.
The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (453 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 449; these numbers are written in pencil and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The front and back covers, along with the two leading and two ending flyleaves, have not been foliated.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 6/21(1) 'Hejaz-Nejd: Relations with H.M.G.: Hejaz Legation in London and British Minister in Jeddah.' [144v] (299/914), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2087, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100066378256.0x000064> [accessed 6 April 2025]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2087
- Title
- Coll 6/21(1) 'Hejaz-Nejd: Relations with H.M.G.: Hejaz Legation in London and British Minister in Jeddah.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:iv-v, 3r:78v, 80r:96v, 100r:151v, 153r:218v, 220r:227v, 229r:238v, 240r:240v, 242r:242v, 244r:247v, 249r:255v, 258r:286v, 288r:293v, 298r:316v, 320r:362v, 364r:366v, 370r:371v, 373r:406v, 409r:422v, 424r:426v, 428r:448v, v-r:vi-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence