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‘Bahrainese abroad’ [67r] (133/176)
The record is made up of 1 file (86 folios). It was created in 22 Sep 1873-1 Dec 1913. It was written in English and Turkish, Ottoman. 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.
No. 1058 (Confidential), dated Bashire, the 23rd April (received rst May) 1911.
From— Lieutenant-Colonel P. Z.Cox, C.S.I., C.LE.,
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.
,
To— The Hon’ble Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry McMahon, K.C.I.E.,
C.S.I., Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department,
Simla.
With reference to the correspondence ending with my telegram No. 319,
dated the nth April 1911, I have the honour to forward, herewith, copies of the
Despatch No. 33, dated April . s „ from correspondence noted in the margin, which
His Majesty’s Consul, B^srah. has taken place between His Majesty’s
,r0m H!S Ambassador, Constantinople, and His
Telegram No 41, dated 13th-15th April iqit, Majesty s Consul, Basrah, on the subject
Ap"ul9"Mrom of ‘he treatment oi three Bahreinese by the
His Majesty’s Consul, Basrah. Vali of Basrah,
No. 23.
Sir,
Basrah;
April nth t igi 1 .
In continuation of my despatch No. 15 of the 30th ultimo, regarding the
three Bahreinese imprisoned by the Vali, I have the honour to report that the
Alay Begi disgraced and humiliated them unnecessarily, while in confinement, by
making them sweep his room and clean his tables and furniture, abusing them
at the same time for changing their Ottoman nationality. This complaint was
brought to me by friends of the prisoners and afterwards confirmed by themselves
on their release. The object of this treatment of respectable land-owners seems
to have been to compel them in their distress to accept the Ottoman taskeres
offered them. There have been other cases in which pressure has been brought
to bear on Bahreinese at Basrah by the local authorities with the same object—
and, in some instances, they have yielded to the demands of the Turks.
On receipt of Your Excellency’s telegram No. 36 of April 3rd informing me
that instructions had been sent to the Vali on the 2nd instant to release the
prisoners on bail, I sent my dragoman on the 5th instant to His Excellency to
enquire if these instructions had been received and carried out.
As reported in my telegram Mo. 74 of April 5, the Vali said that the Consul
must be wiser than the Minister for Foreign Affairs, as he was aware it was
a criminal case and a Vali has nothing to do with Courts of Justice and, although
he had got the telegram in question, he had paid no attention to if and had
merely put it in his bag. The Vali added that the Minister for Foreign Affairs
was a fool (budala) to have given such instructions and the Ambassador should
not accept such an answer, and he thought the Minister for Foreign Affairs must
have*been laughing at the Ambassador, as the former knew that in their Consti
tutional days there could be no interference with the proceedings of Courts of Jus
tice. The Vali concluded his remarks by saying, if the dragoman had the right
to attend in such cases, the Minister of Justice should issue instructions accord
ingly.
I had already instructed a lawyer to watch proceedings on behalf of the
Bahreinese and to assist them in drawing up petitions and other Court matters.
The matter proceeded and, after examination before the Mustantiq, two of the
men were discharged on April 6th, there being no case against them. The papers
of the third, howeverj were sent to the Public Prosecutor, by whom the prisoner
was changed—I quote textually—“with a seditious attempt to induce the inhabi
tants (presumably of Hamdan) to put themselves under British protection and
with disturbing the security of the Vilayet of Basrah by this attempt ’’ There
seems to have been no evidence whatever against the prisoner and the alleged letter
asking, I am informed, some one in Bahrein for passports, is stated not to have
been in the hand-writing of the accused. The charge was a grave one coming
und^f the Supplement to Article 54 of the Penal Code, for which the maximum
penalty is death and the minimum penalty five years’ imprisonment.
About this item
- Content
The file comprises correspondence from two distinct periods. Correspondence at the beginning and end of the file is dated 1909 to 1913 (ff 2-16, ff 52-87), and discusses the British protection of Bahrainis in Ottoman Turkey, in response to Ottoman Government representatives in Constantinople [Istanbul] questioning Britain’s claim of Bahrain being under its protection, and the registration and status of the increasing numbers of Bahrainis residing in the port of Mohammerah [Khorramshahr], thanks to that port’s relative stability and affluence. Some of this correspondence deals with a specific incident occurring in March 1911 in which three Bahrainis were detained by the Basra authorities, with the latter refusing to recognise that the men were under British protection (ff 56-63). The principal correspondents in these parts of the file are: the British Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul] (Sir Gerard Augustus Lowther); the British Consul at Bussorah [Basra] (Francis Edward Crow); the Acting British Consul for Arabistan (Arnold Talbot Wilson).
The middle portion of the file (ff 17-50) comprises copies of correspondence from the Basrah [Basra] archives, dated 1873-1878, sent to the 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. at Bahrain (Major Stuart George Knox) by Wilson in December 1910 (covering letter, f 16):
- letters dated 1878 from 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Charles Ross), reporting of the destruction of Zobara [ Zubarah 18th-century town located 105 km from Doha. ] by the Shaikh of el Bidaa [Al Bidda] with ‘two or three thousand followers’, under a Turkish flag (ff 20-21);
- letters dated 1873-1874, chiefly between the British Consul at Baghdad (Colonel Charles Herbert) and the British Ambassador at Constantinople (Sir Henry George Elliot), discussing a disagreement between British and Turkish Government officials over the Turkish Government’s intention to conscript Bahrainis residing in Turkish-administered Iraq into the Ottoman army, including a copy and translation of a memorial from the ‘Bahrainees of Kerbulla [Karbalā']’ (ff 22-50).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (86 folios)
- Arrangement
The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end. The chronological ordering is, however, interrupted by a set of much earlier correspondence, which was sent as an enclosure to a letter contained within the chronological arrangement (ff 17-50).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 88; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, 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. An additional mixed foliation/pagination sequence is also present in parallel between ff 2-87; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Condition: There is considerable insect damage on some pages in the file, in the form of small holes in the paper. However the damage is not sufficient to impair the legibility of any text.
- Written in
- English and Turkish, Ottoman in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/1981
- Title
- ‘Bahrainese abroad’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:27v, 30r:47v, 51r:87v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence