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Coll 6/4(1) 'Asir: Assumption by Ibn Saud of control of internal administration of Asir.' [‎362r] (730/1104)

The record is made up of 1 volume (548 folios). It was created in 17 Nov 1930-12 Oct 1933. 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. .

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SB
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
X
EASTERN (Arabia). />\ . >
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 5141/1600/25]
ctober 13, 1931.
Section 2.
No. 1.
Mr. Hope-Gill to the Marquess of Reading. — (Received October 13.)
My Lord/ Jedda, September 30, 1931.
^ 1 HAVE the honour to report that Mr. Philby, or rather Hajji Abdullah
St. John Philby, has returned unexpectedly from Riadh, and in the course of
several conversations has given me some interesting sidelights on the internal
situation in this country.
2. There seems little doubt but that Ibn Saud and he get badly on each
other’s nerves. He left with all his baggage and instruments in two cars running
on a three-quarter paraffin mixture. In full desert they ran out ol
even this modest admixture of benzine, and Mr. Philby subsisted on
dates and insufficient water until relief came from Taif. Arrived there, he
learned of the misappropriation of the whole of the Standard Oil Company s
benzine stock at Jedda, for which he is agent. Although he pretended on his
arrival here that the seizure was the result of previous arrangement by mm
with the Director-General of Finance, he confessed to me last night that he had
been faced with a fait accompli and that all he could do was to write it up with
the other debts owing to him by the Hejazi Government Ihese, he said now
amount to some £50,000, £12,000 of which represent the value of this and
previous consignments from Standard Oil. He holds no drafts on customs nor
even promissory notes. If the Government swims he hopes eventual y ^ be paid^
If it sinks, he fears that he must sink with it. He has staked his all on 1
StlUd 3 This makes it all the more striking that he should criticise him so
unfavourably to a third person. He describes the King as d ‘shea rt ened in sp^
disillusioned in mind, and approaching impotence m body. ret “ en t
seems to poison his whole outlook, so that he him become
withdrawing himself for the greater part of e ay \ . *1 • i. w jf,h one
Riadh, where he keeps his slaves and concubines, spend g g S company
or other of his wives, and only finding relaxation between whdesm “mpa^
of a few Bedouin cronies where the talk is of women and can e _ h
used even in Riadh to devote anything up to tc "Vf/ u f Y C a U ™m^nLbout
seems now to have lost all interest m them and Sheikh ^ . “jirate to Mr PhUby
that Ibn'saud^n^he^fty^rst'yelir^of^a strenn^us’^^’^ e^eer, has reached a
to him, not out of malice, he thmkb U - instances the misappropriation
he no longer holds a strict regard for tr ^Lh? Wl was fully ^nversant. As
of his benzine, with ^ hich jLld him that M. Boucicault had com-
another instance, he states that I bn pau m0 vin°- on to the next,
pleted one wireless station north M ^ ma an " ^^“fently, again been
Mr. Philby now learns that M. Boucica > . ^ w j ience he had been
held up by lack of benzine for his convoy ^ was "only now able to move on to
insistently telegraphing S «PP b The Marconi' payments, incidentally,
Tabuk to begin work on the nrst statio
are four months in arrear Yptyipti trouble are illuminating. He
5. Mr. Philby’s sidelights on J^ews of I>namic encroachment was
was with the King and Yusuf Yasm w philby pointed out that
received. They pored over large-scale ma P s ““ on tlie Yemen side of the
Arwa, the village reported as cwcumed apt ^ Qf it and for xme days
Jebel Razih watershed Ihn >, ai , d j ans for a sweeping desert attack,
while waiting for further Itew pidlbv was doin" his best to show that there
on Sana from the north-east. r Pb^'^^that Ibn Saud was intending
was no casus belli, but^e game providential means, he added, of employing a
to attack the Imam at ail cost. |
[273 n-
-21

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Content

This volume mostly contains copies of Foreign Office correspondence (forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India) relating to the assumption by Ibn Sa'ud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] of control of the internal administration of Asir in November 1930, and its impact on his relations with the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn].

Some of the Foreign Office correspondence refers to the Treaty of Mecca (1926), between Ibn Sa'ud and the Idrisi Ruler of Asir, As Sayyid Al-Hasan-al-Idrisi [Sayyid Āl Ḥasan al-Idrīsī], in which the latter handed over control of his foreign relations, whilst retaining control of his territory's internal affairs. The correspondence discusses the impact that the recent annexation of Asir is likely to have on 1) the present status of Asir, and 2) the Treaty of 1917 between Britain and the Idrisi.

Also discussed are the following:

The volume also includes copies of translated correspondence between Ibn Sa'ud and the Imam of Yemen dating from 1930 to 1931, and a copy of a translation of a treaty of friendship between the Hejaz-Nejd and Yemen, signed on 15 December 1931.

The volume's principal correspondents are the following:

  • His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires, Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill, succeeded by Albert Spencer Calvert);
  • British Minister at Jedda (Andrew Ryan);
  • Foreign Office;
  • Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir John Simon);
  • Secretary of State for the Colonies;
  • Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia) [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd];
  • His Majesty's Ambassador to Italy (Ronald William Graham);
  • Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
  • Ibn Sa'ud;
  • Imam of Yemen.

The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (548 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first flyleaf with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 549; 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. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 226-546 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front cover.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 6/4(1) 'Asir: Assumption by Ibn Saud of control of internal administration of Asir.' [‎362r] (730/1104), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2064, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100056677917.0x000083> [accessed 4 January 2025]

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