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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎383r] (776/792)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (388 folios). It was created in 27 Dec 1924-28 Oct 1929. It was written in English and French. 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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137
2. The Hedjaz-Yemen treaty had, as we thought, not got so far as the Egyptian
Consul was given to understand, It has not been ratified by the Imam.
3. Seventy-seven natives of Palestine and Trans-Jordania, released from ser
vice in the Hejaz army, left for Akaba on the Hejaz Government steamer " Rushdi
on July 14th. According to a written statement sent to me by the Foreign Secre
tary each of the men had enough food to take him to Ma’an, three majidiyahs (Rs. 5)
in money, and an order on the Manager of the Hejaz Railway at Ma’an for the balanc
of his pay. The balance in each case would be about £18. They will probablye
never collect that, but they are lucky to get away on any terms. Many others want
to go as soon as the Hejaz Government can provide a ship to send them to Akaba.
4. As a footnote to the preceding report it is necessary to add that when the
pilgrim S. S. " Jehangir ” made for the entrance to Rabigh harbour the smaller
Hejaz Government steamer, the "" Rushdi”, which was on guard with the " Tawil”,
fired three shots across her bows. The captain of the " Jehangir", however, preferred
to fall foul of the Hejaz Government rather than of a shipload of Turkestani,
Afghan and Bengali pilgrims. He therefore steamed straight ahead and the Hejaz
steamers did nothing.
5. Bin Saud claims that 60,000 Nejdis were present at Arafat for the Haj.
This figure may be an exaggeration, but all the pilgrims who have reached Jeddah
say that the Nejdis were very numerous : " the plain was full of them.” There
were of course few pilgrims from overseas : they consisted mainly of about 2,500
who came from or vid India through Rabigh, a few hundred from Syria, Turkey,
West Africa, etc., who travelled via Musawwa’ and Kunfida, and an unknown but
not large number of Sudanese and Nigerians who sailed from Musawwa’ and other
ports to Kunfida.
All reports indicate that the pilgrimage was very healthy and that there Was no
epidemic of any kind.
6. The pilgrims from India who travelled to Mecca via Rabigh took five das
on the road but arrived safe. The charge for camels was low, and no extortion
was practised by the camel-drivers.
7. The Hejaz Government agreed to allow pilgrims returning from the Hay
to come to Jeddah to embark. In order to give the Caliphate Committee no ground
for criticism I informed Bin Saud that while'the Jeddah route was open for pilgrims
bound for India, they could, if they liked, e.g., if they had left baggage at Rabigh,
travel back by the way they came ; but I asked that other British pilgrims should
come to Jeddah. Bin Saud replied that the Indian pilgrims wanted to go to Rabigh,
and the Malays too. A document purporting to be a petition from British Malays,
asking for steamers to be sent to Rabigh, was enclosed. Most of the signatures
were in the same hand, and the petition began with the untrue statement that the
Hejaz Government had prevented the signatories from travelling to Mecca via
Jeddah. All the Far Eastern pilgrims in Mecca for this Haj, except perhaps a
dozen or so, were people who had been there a year or more, and the absence of fresh
pilgrims was due to the fact that at the time when the Far Eastern pilgrims usually
travel, Jeddah was closely besieged, and not to any opposition on the part of the
Hejaz Government. The petition was of course concocted by the people who used to
forge similar documents in Hussein’s time, with the object of supporting Bin Saud’s
plan to divert all the pilgrim trade to Rabigh. But this plan is not possible, and
both the Netherlands Consul and I were obliged to explain to Bin Saud that for
several reasons it was necessary that the Far Eastern pilgrims should come to Jeddah
rather than Rabigh. The Blue Funnel and Dutch lines will not send their big stea
mers to an unknown port; there is no means of telegraphic communication and no
shipping agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. at Rabigh whereby arrangements can be made for such ships, which
make a call at Jeddah as an incident in their voyage to the East and do not make
special pilgrim voyages as the Indian ships do, to call at a given hour for a given
number of pilgrims ; and, finally, many British Malays and all Javanese are regis
tered at their respective consulates in Jeddah and have to call here for their tickets
or for some formality or other. Bin Saud’s reply was rather curt, but the Malays
and Javanese were duly sent to Jeddah. It is quite clear that none of them had
wanted to make the five-day journey to Rabigh or took the least interest in the
Indian delegation’s efforts to make Rabigh the pilgrim port.
MC480FD

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Content

This volume mainly relates to British policy in Arabia, and specifically concerns British relations with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd, also referred to in the correspondence as Bin Saud]. The papers cover the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25 and political affairs in Ibn Saud's Kingdom of Hejaz and Sultanate of Nejd [Najd] (or the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, as it became in 1927).

The volume mainly consists of compiled sections of printed correspondence, with each section closing with a report from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah. The most prominently featured correspondents are as follows: the British Agent and Consul, Jeddah; the Secretary of State for India; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; 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. , Aden; the High Commissioner, Egypt; the High Commissioner, Iraq; the High Commissioner, Palestine; officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, 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 Government of India's Foreign and Political Department. Also featured as correspondents are Ibn Saud, King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī], and British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.

Matters covered in the correspondence include the following:

  • Diplomatic relations between Ibn Saud and Britain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Persia [Iran]
  • Information on developments in the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25, mainly in the form of telegrams and letters from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah, and British policy regarding the conflict
  • British policy in relation to the fate of the ex-King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī]
  • Reports of Wahabi forces having damaged or destroyed holy sites in Mecca and Medina
  • The efforts of King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] to raise money in Jeddah
  • Details of the Hadda Agreement and the Bahra Agreement, concluded between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud in late 1925
  • Details of King Ali's surrender and abdication on 19 December 1925, and arrangements for his passage out of Jeddah
  • Britain's recognition of Ibn Saud as King of the Hejaz in February 1926
  • British concerns regarding the spread of anti-British opinion in the Hejaz
  • Public outrage in the wider Muslim world regarding the desecration of holy sites by the Wahabis, and the British Government's refusal to become involved, owing to its stated policy of non-intervention in Muslim religious affairs
  • British efforts to ensure the Government of Hejaz's participation in the International Sanitary Convention of 1926
  • Arrangements for a private visit to London by Ibn Saud's son Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] in September 1926
  • British concerns regarding Ibn Saud's diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR]
  • A change to Ibn Saud's title in 1927, from 'King of Hejaz and Sultan of Nejd' to 'King of Hejaz and Nejd'
  • The conclusion of the Treaty of Jeddah in June 1927
  • Relations between Ibn Saud and the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn], and the former's suspicions that the Italian Government has been supplying the Imam with arms
  • Profiles of prominent figures in the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
  • The number of pilgrims arriving each year for Hajj
  • Tense relations between Ibn Saud and the Iraqi Government, particularly concerning the Uqair Protocol.

Also included with the correspondence are the following: minutes of an interdepartmental conference held at the Colonial Office on 20 May 1926, to discuss matters arising out of Clayton's Mission to Ibn Saud (ff 178-179); a Colonial Office memorandum entitled 'British Interests in Arabia', dated 8 December 1926 (ff 111-113).

The volume includes a small amount of correspondence written in French.

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (f 1).

Extent and format
1 volume (388 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 (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 388; 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 between ff 118-388, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.

Pagination: each of the various sections of printed correspondence has its own printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎383r] (776/792), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/1155, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100145454965.0x0000b1> [accessed 6 October 2024]

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