IOR/R/15/1/564

The volume consists of letters, telegrams, and memoranda relating to relations between Najd and the Hejaz. The majority of the correspondence is between Reader Bullard, the British Agent in Jeddah, the Political Residency in Bushire, the Political Agency in Bahrain, the Political Agency in Kuwait, the High Commissioner in Baghdad, the Colonial and Foreign Offices, both in London, the High Commissioner in Jerusalem, the Government of India, and Ibn Sa'ud himself, or his representatives.

Most of the volume covers events leading up to, and immediately after, the Ikhwan's capture of Taif, including Hussein ibn 'Ali's abdication and his son 'Ali's attempts to retain control of the Hejaz. There is a detailed report of the capture of Taif by Bullard (folios 186-201, 273-281). The documents reflect British concern with the reaction of Indian Muslims, with duplicates of correspondence regularly forwarded to numerous offices back in India. Some papers are about the effort to evacuate British Indian refugees and pilgrims from the region.

Other subjects covered in the volume are:

• the build-up to and ultimate failure of the Kuwait Conference of 1923-24;
• King Fuad of Egypt's suspected financial backing of Ibn Sa'ud's takeover of the Hejaz;
• the defining of the Hejaz-Trans-Jordan border;
• the motivations and movements of St John Philby and Rosita Forbes, both of whom were thought to be trying to gain entryinto Central Arabia.

Notable in the volume are a newspaper cutting from The Times of Mesopotamia, dated 13 July 1923, regarding treaty negotiations between Britain and King Hussein (folio 4), and extracts of letters from Ameen Rihani to Ibn Sa'ud that had been intercepted by the British and which offer advice on foreign policy.