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'File A/2 I Slave Trade. Correspondence with Bushire regarding slaves and their manumission certificates and applications' [217r] (439/686)
The record is made up of 1 file (343 folios). It was created in 18 Jan 1932-27 Sep 1939. 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.
Statement of Slave Hamdan bin Mubarak,aged about tv/enty years,
recorded in the Political
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
, Bahrain.
I v/as born in Saya, a village near Mecca. While at play
with children outside the village, I along with two others was
kidnapped by bedouins and taken to Najd. Prom there they
brought me to Bahrain and sold to Fatimah bint Abdullah al
Ghatam of Pastern Rafa(Bahrain) for a sum of Hs.900/-. She took
me to Qatar where her husband udimad bin 'Isa al Ghatam used to
stay for the winter. In sunnier I used to go a-diving for her
and in winter serve in her household, bringing water,wood and
grass. Six years ago I was married to a slave girl of hers,
Hasina bint Ibrahim by name, and have a daughter four months
old by her.
In the last winter my mistress Fatimah was divorced by
her husband and she came to live in a separate house which she
rented. In the beginnig of the month of Muharram she turned me
oilt, and, although I insisted upon knowing the reason why she
was actuated to do so, she did not give me any, as also di£
she refuse to give me a Barwa of freedom. Similarly, ray
entreaties to allow my flrife and daughter to come along with me
met with flat refusal on the score that the former was bought
by her for Rs.700/- and as such I had no claim to her. Then
I went to the Amir of Rafa f in quest of the Manumission
Certificate and he directed me to the High Government's
Political
Agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
.
I request that I may kindly be granted a Manumission
Certificate as well as my wife be graciously sent for a.nd her
statement taken. In her heart she was quite willing to come
with me but v/as afraid of Fatimah who beat her and threatened
her with still more severe punishment if she shov/ed the
slightest inclination to me. In case my wide evinces her desire
to live with me, I am quite willing to take her care.
Recorded before me this the Aoth day of May 1934.
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.
About this item
- Content
The file contains correspondence related to around sixty cases, involving slaves who have applied for manumission at the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. in Bahrain. Copies of correspondence relating to many of these cases can also be found in the following Bushire Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. files: 'File 5/161 IV Manumission of slaves at Bahrain: individual cases' (IOR/R/15/1/205), 'File 5/161 V Manumission of slaves at Bahrain: individual cases' (IOR/R/15/1/206), and 'File 5/168 V Manumission of slaves on Arab Coast: individual cases' (IOR/R/15/1/209).
Many of the items in the file relate to the financial difficulties caused by Gulf's dwindling pearling industry, and the effects this had on the status of region's slaves. The file includes numerous applications made by pearl divers for barwa – documents freeing them of their contractual obligations to their nākhud ā (boat captain). Copies of barwas are included throughout the file. Other correspondence (folios 98-99) raises the issue of pearl divers with debts fleeing from the pearling towns on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. to Bahrain.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (343 folios)
- Arrangement
The correspondence and other papers included in the file are arranged in a rough chronological order, as they were received and filed by staff at the Bahrain Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . This means that the papers are not arranged on a manumission case-by-case basis, the result being that correspondence related to specific cases is scattered through the file. Office notes at the end of the file (ff 284-339) mirror the chronological order of the correspondence.
- 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 340; 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 foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 286-338; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. The file contains five foliation anomalies, including f 1a, f 1b, f 1c and f 82a, and missing out f 14.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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'File A/2 I Slave Trade. Correspondence with Bushire regarding slaves and their manumission certificates and applications' [217r] (439/686), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/1825, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100083766365.0x000028> [accessed 29 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/1825
- Title
- 'File A/2 I Slave Trade. Correspondence with Bushire regarding slaves and their manumission certificates and applications'
- Pages
- 1r:1v, 1ar, 1bv:1cv, 2r:9v, 11r:52v, 54r:82v, 82ar:82av, 83r:87v, 89r:97v, 98v:125v, 127r:129v, 132r:147v, 149r:164v, 166r:228v, 300r:340v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence