'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎927] (1082/1782)

927
iVM re bd
1 in Anwl
^ ^ in tie
cesofc
^nder hi?
ura We notice of t| fs . ;
^rahwasfe '
•ions, however,
er y hot weatk^
^Vhentle^,
oti ^ in tlie Bifci
action of
to an
1 of the Turkisi 1;,
idly relations eiisti^
ffient in reply usti:
us year, adding i
n of Bahrain, and ik
ist on whict Zofe
in the Shaiiik
rupture of 1301
of the Mure of i
took a new %
etg of interest Ml
o be a cause ^
^le degree; and
C e in Bahrain ^
0j to schemeb- of
iistinction bet^
in is hencefor®'
follows, ' ::
Shaikh ■'Isa, for reasons which he did not at the time explain and has
not since divulged, thought it necessary, towards the end of 1897, to make
arrangements for the devolution of the Shaikhship after his own demise;
and, by a will written in October 1897 and attested by the seals and
signatures of a number of his principal subjects, he appointed his eldest
surviving son Hamad to be his successor. In November 1897 a visit was
paid by Hamad to Colonel Meade, the British 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. , at
Bushehr; and in February 1898, on the occasion of a visit by Colonel
Meade to Bahrain, Shaikh 'Isa approached him with a request that
Hamad's position as heir-apparent might be recognised by the British
Government. It may be mentioned that in 1890 Shaikh 'Isa had expressed
a wish that an elder son of his, Salman, should be officially recognised
as his successor; but up to the death of Salman, which occurred in
November 1893 in the neighbourhood of Riyadh as he was returning
from a pilgrimage to Makkah, no steps were taken by the Shaikh
in the matter. The recognition of Hamad, as it might have the effect
of averting a dynastic struggle on the death of Shaikh Isa, was
recommended by the Government of India, and was sanctioned by H er
Majesty's Government at the end of 1898 ; but the announcement of the
decision was postponed by the Resident, to whom discretion in the matter
had been given, chiefly because efforts were being made at the time
to induce the Shaikh to reform his customs arrangements and he had
shown no disposition to conform to advice. Eventually, notwith
standing the continued obstinacy of the Shaikh in the matter of the
customs, the communication was made to him on the 12th of February
1901. It was reported to have been received by Shaikh 'Isa with tears
of emotion and to have given satisfaction to the ruling family and to
the people of Bahrain.
In 1899 differences between Shaikh 'Isa and his nephew 'Ali-bin-
Ahmad came to light, and supplied a probable explanation of the anxiety
shown by the Shaikh in the previous year in regard to the succession of
his son Hamad. The relationship of the parties was somewhat compli
cated, inasmuch as 'Ali's mother, after being divorced by Ahmad, had
married Shaikh 'Isa and borne Hamad; thus 'Ali and Hamad were
half-brothers, as well as cousins and rivals. Ahmad, the father of Ali
and the younger brother of Shaikh Isa, had in his lifetime, as we
have seen, enjoyed half the revenues of Bahrain j he had, by anangement
with 'Isa, assisted in the administration ; and his house was an imposing
edifice in Manamah town, known as the Bait-ash-Shuyukh, which
through his occupation of it had become associated in the general mind
Regulation of
the succession
to the
Shaikhship
and domestic
affairs of the
ruling
family,
1897-1904,