Coll 6/16 'Future of: Royal Family. Probable happenings on the death of Ibn Saud.' [118r] (236/440)
The record is made up of 1 file (218 folios). It was created in 30 Sep 1931-7 Oct 1949. It was written in English and Arabic. 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.
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia).
June 11, 1935.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 4.
[E 3604/7/25]
(No. 149.)
Sir,
Sir A. Ryan to Sir John Simon.—(Received June 11.)
Jedda> May 15, 1935.
WITH reference to my despatch No. 108 of the 5th April, I have the honour
to state that the Umm-al-Qura of the 3rd May published a fairly long report,
dated the 26th April, by the special commission appointed by the King of the
Yemen to enquire into the circumstances of the attempt on Ibn Saud’s life on
the 15th March last, together with a short formal letter of the 29th April, in
which the Yemeni Minister for Foreign Affairs forwarded the report to Fuad
Bey Hamza. These documents are not worth submitting to you in full.
2. The Yemeni Commission stated that they had investigated the ante
cedents of the persons implicated in the outrage and named in the second
communique enclosed in my despatch No. 86 of the 22nd March. One, Ali-bin-
Ali-al-Hadhri, proved to be a subordinate officer in the Yemeni army, of good
previous character, who had got leave to make the pilgrimage. His brother Salih
had returned to the Yemen last year after two protracted absences separated by
a short interval, the first in unnamed foreign countries, the second in Abyssinia.
He had taken out a passport and accompanied Ali on the Haj. The third,
Mabkhut-bin-Mabkhut, was a soldier, belonging to the same village, Beyt Hadhr,
as Ali and Salih. He had set forth on the pilgrimage without leave, and there
fore counted as a deserter. The commission could find no trace of any person
corresponding to the passport in the name of Mes’ad-bin-Mes’ad (or some similar
name, for variants are mentioned) which was found among the effects of
Ibn Saud’s assailants.
3. The commission confessed their complete failure to discover anything
about the proceedings of the three or four men, their connexions with other people,
or any plot. They surmised that the passport of Mes’ad, or whatever his name
was, had been taken out in a false name by someone not belonging to the Yemen,
who might have escaped after the outrage. They noted darkly the absences of
Salih from the Yemen and hinted that the clue might be found in the countries he
had visited, but observed plaintively that they had no means of investigating his
activities abroad.
4. The Umm-al-Qura published this inept document without comment. It
is increasingly evident that the Saudi Government have no intention of
magnifying the affair into a cause of open quarrel with the Yemen. The Yemeni
authorities, though compelled to admit that the assailants killed at the Haram
were Yemenis, cling fondly to the suggestion that they must have been egged on
by outside instigators.
5. I am sending copies of this despatch to the Government of India, Bagdad,
Jerusalem, Bushire, Aden and Cairo.
I have, &c.
ANDREW RYAN.
[431 1—4]
About this item
- Content
This file relates to Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and the future of Arabia in the event of his death.
The file largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence, which have been forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India. Also included are copies of correspondence addressed to 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. and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department by 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 Trenchard Craven William Fowle, succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior).
The correspondence begins with 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. 's response to the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India's remark that British influence in the Middle East seems largely to depend on the life of one man: Ibn Saud.
Related matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:
- The effect that Ibn Saud's death, or fall from power, might have on Kuwait.
- The designation of Amir Saud [Sa‘ūd bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] as Ibn Saud's heir apparent in 1933.
- Rumours of tense relations between Amir Saud and his brother Feisal [Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Sa'ud].
- Arab public opinion on Ibn Saud, following the Saudi-Yemeni war.
- Reports of Ibn Saud and Amir Saud having been attacked by would-be assassins in Mecca in 1935.
- Amir Saud's visit to India for medical treatment in 1940.
- Reports of the arrest of ninety persons suspected of being involved in a plot to assassinate Ibn Saud in 1940.
Other prominent correspondents include the following: 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. , Kuwait (Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, succeeded by Gerald Simpson de Gaury); 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. , Bahrain (Hugh Weightman); the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan; Sir Reader William Bullard; Hugh Stonehewer Bird); His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires, Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); officials of 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. , the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, and the Government of India's External Affairs Department.
In addition to correspondence the file includes the following:
- A report by 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. entitled 'The Future of Arabia', which discusses the present position of Ibn Saud and how Arabia might look without him.
- Extracts from Kuwait intelligence summaries.
- A copy of a report produced in 1937 by 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 Kuwait, Gerald Simpson de Gaury, on the history of the Shammar tribe and the Ibn Rashid [Āl Rashīd] family, which includes as enclosures a table of the Shammar confederation and a genealogical table of the Al Rashid family, both of which are printed in Arabic and English.
- A copy of a report, produced in 1938 by de Gaury, on the 'Anaza [‘Aniza] tribe, which includes a tribal table of the tribe.
The file includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (218 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 inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 219; 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 external leather cover wraps around the documents and the front inside of this cover has been foliated as folio 1. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 2-218 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2082
- Title
- Coll 6/16 'Future of: Royal Family. Probable happenings on the death of Ibn Saud.'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:115v, 117r:124v, 126r:130v, 137r:140v, 142r:172v, 174r:179v, 181r:181v, 183r:219v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
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- Open Government Licence
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