IOR/R/15/1/557

The volume consists of letters, telegrams, memoranda, reports, and intelligence reports concerning Ibn Sa'ud and Najd affairs. The bulk of the correspondence is between: Harold Dickson, the Political Agent in Bahrain; Arnold Wilson, the Civil Commissioner in Baghdad; Ibn Sa'ud; King Hussein of the Hijaz; his son, Amir Faisal; the Government of India; the India Office, in London; the Foreign Office, in London; Edmund Allenby, the High Commissioner in Cairo; Arthur Trevor, the Political Resident in Bushire; Siddiq Hassan, the Indian assistant in Bahrain; Colonel Vickery, British Agent in Jeddah; and the Political Agencies in Kuwait and Muscat.

The main subject covered by the volume is the dispute between Ibn Saud and King Hussein over territory (the Khurma/Turaba dispute), Bedouin raids near Taif, and the freedom for Najdis to perform the Hajj. Also contained in the volume are reports, memoranda, and letters concerning Siddiq Hassan's mission to Mecca to perform the Hajj and to witness talks between King Hussein and Ibn Sa'ud's deputy, Thanaiyan bin Sa'ud.

Other prominent subjects covered by the volume are:

• intelligence reports and correspondence relating to Ibn Sa'ud and the Ikhwan movement in relation to other tribes and chieftaincies of the Arabian Peninsula, especially al-Rashid (Shammar) and including Ajman and Oman;
• the border disputes with Kuwait;
• the spread of Arab Nationalism and socialist thought in Syria and Iraq, including commentary on the 1920 Iraqi Revolt.

Other issues covered mainly by correspondence are the appointment of a doctor for Ibn Sa'ud, jurisdiction over Najdi subjects in Bahrain, the subsidy paid to Ibn Sa'ud by the British, the Idrisi statelet in the 'Asir Mountains, Ibn Sa'ud's gift of two oryxes to King George V, and the organisation of a meeting between Percy Cox and Ibn Sa'ud.