IOR/R/15/1/231

The volume contains correspondence related to two specific incidents of Arab slaves absconding to the Persian territory of Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām]. The first incident took place in March 1930, when four slaves absconded from Umm al Qaiwain to Jazīreh-ye Hengām, pursued by a group of armed Arabs. The majority of the correspondence in the volume deals with a second incident occurring in June 1931, in which four slaves absconded from Sharjah to Henjam on a stolen dhow. The four men sought sanctuary at the telegraph station on the island, before taking the opportunity to board the British ship HMS Folkstone.

The incident was met by protestations from the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mirza Mohamed Ali Khan Feroughi) to His Majesty's HM Chargé d'Affaires in Persia (Herbert Lacy Baggally), who insisted that British staff at the telegraph station acted incorrectly in giving the slaves refuge, and that the slaves should have been handed over to the Persian authorities instead of being allowed to board a British vessel. In response, British authorities (coordinated by the Persian Gulf Political Resident Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle, the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf Lewis Crabbe, and the British Legation in Tehran) responded by insisting that the slaves were free to do what they liked, including boarding their ship and seeking manumission papers. Much of the correspondence between British officials revolves around efforts made to ascertain whether those British subjects at the telegraph station and on board British vessels who were involved in the incident acted correctly and according to official policy. These enquiries culminated in a report from Crabbe that gave a full account of the incident, including copies of all telegram messages sent at the time (folios 102-12). By the end of 1931 the incident had escalated to a higher political level, with official British responses to complaints from the Persian Government being sent from the Foreign Office in London.