The file primarily contains correspondence between the Shaikh of Kuwait (Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ), the Political Agent at Kuwait (Harold Dickson and Gerald Simpson DeGaury), the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Trenchard Craven Fowle and Percy Gordon Loch), the India Office (John Charles Walton, Gilbert Laithwaite and Maurice Clausen) and the Kuwait Oil Company (abbreviated as KOC).Correspondence discusses the commencement of oil drilling operations in Kuwait following the signing of the Kuwait Oil Concession, in particular the appointment of Harold Dickson as Chief Local Officer, the need for a Customs and Passport Post, and the decision to move drilling operations from Bahra to the South of Kuwait due to the former having insufficient quantities of oil for production.Also discussed in the file is clause three of the political agreement between KOC and His Majesty's Government which relates to the appointment of non British or Kuwaiti personnel in Kuwait. Matters discussed include the process of applying for special permission for such individuals and applications for two specialist American personnel to be employed there. Further correspondence relates to the KOC's wish to send a team of sixteen American geophysical surveyors to Kuwait for six months to undertake Seismic, Magnetic and Gravimetric surveys.The file also contains correspondence between HM's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan), Foreign Office (Sir John Simon, George Rendel), India Office (Gilbert Laithwaite) and the Arabian Development Syndicate (Rex Jansen, Mr Ydlibi) on the question of the Kuwait-Nejd neutral zone and the two companies vying for the Saudi Arabian share of it, the Standard Oil Company of California and the Arabian Development Syndicate.Other correspondence of note in the file includes:A request by Paul Heath Boots, head of the geophysical survey for the KOC, to undertake terrestrial magnetic observations in Kuwait, Bahrain and surrounding countries as the last observations in these areas were made in 1909-1910. The correspondence includes detailed descriptions of the observations to be taken, the instruments to be used and how they hope to re-observe the magnitude and direction of the earth's magnetic field in order to determine in what way and direction the magnetic field had varied since the last observations were completed (Folios 166-167, 202-203);A letter from Traders Ltd to the Shaikh of Kuwait informing him that they are not willing to accept his decision to sign with the KOC and that they were referring the matter to their legal adviser;A request from the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company) for special authorisation to land their planes at Kuwait and undertake aerial surveys there;A request by the KOC to use part of the land at the Shuwaikh site, which had previously been earmarked by the RAF as a potential future airbase site, and the British Government's decision that the site was no longer required by them;The lighting of the oil derrick at Bahra for night-time work and the need to inform Imperial Airways and the Port Director at Basra as the derrick was under the air route and near the sea;Arrangements for accommodation of European women in Bahrain and Kuwait and reminders that no European women were permitted in Qatar or the Trucial coast;Assurances from the Shaikh of Kuwait to His Majesty's Government in regards to the granting of future oil concessions, following his dealings with Traders Ltd;A discussion of the use of private wireless stations by the KOC, whether these contravened international conventions and whether they would impact future post office services in Kuwait. Further correspondence relates to the need to register the wireless stations and obtain Indian telegraph service call signs for them;A request by the KOC to place temporary buoys in the Ras Khadama [Ra’s Kāz̧imah] channel and costs involved for the Port Director at Basra to arrange for the work to be done.The correspondence from the Shaikh of Kuwait is in Arabic, with English translations, and the correspondence from the Anglo-Persian Oil Company includes letterheads in Persian and English.1 file (240 folios)There is an index to the volume at folio 2 which arranges the contents by topic discussed.Folios 219-229 are notes recording each item of correspondence within the volume, and include page numbers in pencil in the margins which enable the notes to be used as a further index.Foliation: The foliation sequence commences on the title page with 1 and terminated on the last folio with 232. The numbers used for this sequence are located in the top right hand corner of the recto of each folio and are indicated by a pencil number enclosed in a circle. Folio 180 has been omitted from the sequence.Foliation anomalies: 1A, 1B, 18A, 115A, 174AThe following folios need to be folded out to be read: 4, 6A former referencing system, using red crayon numbers enclosed in a circle can also be found throughout the file.
The file contains correspondence relating to several complaint cases investigated by the Political Agent, Bahrain. They include: the desertion of his wife by a Kuwaiti subject in 1930; the recovery of money owing to a divorced wife by her ex-husband in 1931; the alleged seizure of goods from the vessel of a Kuwaiti Nakhoda [captain or master] who had run aground in Qatar in 1934; the non-payment of a business debt to a British Indian merchant of Kuwait, by a Bahrain merchant in 1936; and the release from imprisonment in Bahrain of a convicted Government of India employee, in 1949.The correspondence also includes copies of the printed annual statement of accounts for Kuwait Municipality for the period 1936-1939, which are in Arabic.The correspondence is mainly between the Political Agents for Kuwait and Bahrain and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.There are also several petitions and witness statements made by the claimants and their representatives, including several in Arabic and one in Persian. There are also several letters in Arabic from the Ruler of Kuwait to the Political Agent, Kuwait about some of the complaints under investigation.1 file (100 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 102; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 4-101 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
This volume contains correspondence and contractual agreements signed between 1924 and 1926 on oil exploration and export rights in Kuwait, and to a lesser extent, other Gulf territories. The correspondence is primarily between the Anglo-Persian Oil Company based in Abadan, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the Political Agent in Kuwait, the Eastern and General Syndicate Limited, and the Ruler of Kuwait. The file contains one foldout map of Kuwait's territory drawn for oil exploration at folio 157. The file contains Arabic documents that are primarily letters to the Ruler of Kuwait from the Political Agent in Kuwait, as well as a multi-language pamphlet outlining the history of the Anglo Persian Oil Company in French, Persian, and English.1 Volume (379 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 381; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
The file discusses the granting of oil concessions in Kuwait and within the Kuwait-Nejd [Najd] neutral zone (herein referred to as the neutral zone), and contains correspondence and reports from the Political Agent, Kuwait; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the India Office; the Foreign Office; the Petroleum Department; the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (A.P.O.C.); the Standard Oil Company; the Eastern and General Syndicate Limited; the Kuwait Company and the Arabian Development Syndicate.The reports in the file provide background information on the various oil companies interested in the concessions, and their various attempts to secure these concessions as well as any involvement they have previously had with concessions in Bahrain and Kuwait. Also included in the reports are opinions on the granting of concessions in Nejd by Bin Saud (also given as Ibn Saud) [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] who held an equal right to any potential concession being granted in the Kuwait-Nejd neutral zone.From folio 34 onwards the correspondence centres primarily on the formation of the Kuwait Oil Company, which is formed by A.P.O.C. and the Gulf Oil Company in an attempt to secure their oil interests in Kuwait and includes draft copies of both their proposed commercial agreement for a concession with the Shaikh of Kuwait (Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ) (folios 109-119, 265-275, 303-314), and of their proposed political agreement with His Majesty's Government. Minutes of meetings held at the India Office December 1933-February 1934 to discuss the proposed agreements and potential amendments to the clauses within them are also included. Some of the correspondence from A.P.O.C. is written on the company paper, the letterhead for which gives the company's contact information in both English and Persian.Also included in the file are discussions on the formation of another new group, the Arabian Development Syndicate, which includes Abdulgani Ydlibi (also given as Abdul Ghani Adlibi), a Syrian from Manchester who secures authorisation from Ibn Saud to deal with oil and mineral rights within Nejd territory and who are interested in securing the concession for the neutral zone. There are also reports on this company from the British Consul in Jedda.The file also contains expressions of the British Government's attitude towards, and opinions of, Major Frank Holmes, who had formally been the Chief Local Representative for the Bahrain Petroleum Company and was being proposed as a negotiator for the new Kuwait Oil Company, but who was not considered 'persona grata' by the British Government. Folio 346, within the office notes. contains notes written by the Political Resident relating to Major Holmes, dated 18-23 November 1923, and expressing his opinion that Holmes would at some point return to the Gulf.1 file (359 folios)The contents of this volume have been arranged in chronological order.Foliation: The file is foliated with a pencil number enclosed in a circle located in the top right recto of each folio. The foliation starts on the first folio with numbering starting with 1A, 1B, 1c, 1D and runs through to 351 on the last folio with writing.There is also a second incomplete sequence, written in pencil, in the top right corner, starting with 1A on folio 1 and ending with 342 on folio 343.
The volume consists mainly of six bound compilations of treaties and undertakings, together with related correspondence and other supplementary material, made between the British Government and the British Protectorates of the Persian Gulf, 1820-1919. These treaty compilations were published by the Government of India in 1919 and comprise: the Trucial Treaties to January 1906, Treaties with Rulers of Kuwait from 1841 to 1913, Treaties with the Sultan of Oman and Muscat from 1845 to 1914, Undertakings with the Trucial Chiefs of Oman from 1911 to 1912, Treaties with the Shaikh of Mohammerah from 1899 to 1919 and Treaties with the Rulers of Bahrain from 1820 to 1914. In addition, there is a separate Foreign Office ‘Memorandum on British Commitments (During the War) to the Gulf Chiefs’ made in 1916, which contains at Appendix A, the English text of the treaty made with the Ruler of Qatar in 1916. The treaty compilations are published in English and Arabic, except for the treaties with the Shaikh of Mohammerah, which are published in English and Persian.1 volume (222 folios)The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 2902 (Treaties and Engagements between the British Government and the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast of the Persian Gulf) consists of one volume.Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 216; these numbers are written in pencil, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and ending flyleaves. A previous foliation sequence has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
The file contains case correspondence, including several witness statements and a few Kuwait Political Agency court proceedings, relating to the investigation and prosecution of several criminal offences. These are mainly cases of assault and theft committed in Kuwait against Indian and Persian foreign residents and reported by the victims to the Political Agent. Both the perpetrators and victims of these crimes include Government of India staff employed at the Kuwait Political Agency and the Kuwait Post Office. The main correspondents are Major James Carmichale More, Political Agent, Kuwait and Shaikh Salim ab-Subah [Āl Ṣabāḥ, Shaikh Sālim bin Mubārak], Emir of Kuwait, whose letter exchanges are in Arabic, together with English translations. Some of the petitions and letters of complaint submitted by the victims to the Political Agent, are written in Arabic and in a very few cases, in Persian.1 file (209 folios)Files papers are arranged more or less chronologically.Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 211; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 1-210; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.