IOR/R/15/1/205

The volume contains correspondence relating to fifty-one manumission cases, heard at the Political Agency in Bahrain. Most cases are straightforward, in that the Political Resident approved the Bahrain Political Agent’s recommendation that the slave in question be given a manumission certificate. These cases follow a typical set pattern: first a letter to the Political Resident (Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Biscoe until May 1931, Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle from May 1931) from the Political Agent in Bahrain (Captain Geoffrey Prior until Nov 1932, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Loch after Nov 1932), with manumission statement(s) enclosed. In the accompanying letter the Political Agent stated the ethnic appearance and mother tongue of the slave, as a means of ascertaining his or her likely origins and whether they were a recent import into the region. The Agent also made his own recommendation as to whether a manumission certificate should be granted or not. The manumission statement follows, after which is a copy of the letter from the Political Residency, granting permission to manumit the slave(s). At the end of each subject are office notes, used internally between staff in the Residency. Here, the pertinent features of each case were noted, as were previous cases similar to the present one, kept in the Residency archive, and deemed useful as a guidance. In cases where a slave had absconded from the Trucial Coast (usually Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah), the case was referred to the Residency Agent at Sharjah (‘Īsá bin ‘Abd al-Latif) for verification of the slave’s statement.

A few of the manumission subjects were less straightforward:

• Subject 6 (beginning folio 37), 1930: two slaves made allegations of ill-treatment and imprisonment against the Residency Agent at Sharjah, ‘Īsá bin ‘Abd al-Latif. Biscoe instructed ‘Īsá to issue the two slaves (who had since travelled to Dubai) with manumission certificates. In his return correspondence, ‘Īsá put forward his own side of events, stating that one of the slaves was a diver who had absconded to Bahrain while investigations were ongoing as to whether he had debts to honour. Latif described the slave in question as “a light-headed man [who] cannot understand what bad things he is doing”;
• Subject 8, August 1930 in which Loch reported that Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī, ruler of Qatar, has helped deliver a young Persian boy from slavery. Biscoe wrote to Shaikh ‘Abdullāh, expressing his gratitude for this action, and taking the opportunity to arrange his first visit as Resident to Doha to meet the shaikh in person;
• In the office notes for subject 31 (1932) the Secretary to the Political Resident noteds that ‘muwallid’ (domestic/born slaves) had not, according to the manumission guidelines, been generally given manumission certificates. However, this “practice has been relaxed […] where a Muwallid case was dealt with by Major Fowle and finally a manumission certificate was published.”