IOR/R/15/1/207

The volume is comprised of manumission requests made by slaves seeking refuge at the Political Agencies in Bahrain, Sharjah and Kuwait. Cases heard at Bahrain and Sharjah were covered by treaties signed between the British Government and coastal shaikhdoms, which meant that the assessment of manumission was a straightforward process. The correspondence in these cases follows a similar pattern. The Political Agency sends the slave’s manumission statement to the Political Residency in Bushire, along with a covering letter. In most cases these are followed by a return letter from the Political Residency to the Agent, authorising manumission. In a number of cases, an internal office notes sheet follows at the end of the case, recording the Political Resident’s decision. Reference is frequently made in these office notes to previous cases of a similar nature, with details of the subject file where the earlier case can be found.

Manumission cases from Kuwait were more complex, because no formal treaty had been signed with the state. The consequence of this lack of treaty meant that determining a slave’s right to manumission was more complicated, and rested primarily on whether it could be ascertained that the slave had been born a British subject or not (i.e. in a British colony, mandate or protectorate). This is illustrated by one case included in the file (folios 113-20), where correspondence between the Political Resident and Political Agent in Kuwait revolved around trying to establish if a female slave from Sudan was born before or after 18 January 1899, this being the date that Britain established joint sovereignty (with Egypt) over Sudan. If the woman was born after this date she would be considered a British subject, and automatically entitled to manumission.