IOR/R/15/2/17

The letters and office notes in the file relate to the oyster shell export market in Bahrain. The principal correspondents in the file are the British Vice-Consul at Bushire, Herbert Chick, and the Political Agent in Bahrain, Captain Francis Beville Prideaux.

In a letter dated 27 April 1907, Chick wrote to Prideaux, informing him that he had received news from Lynch Brothers of Basra, that the German firm Wonckhaus & Company had monopolised the oyster shell export market at Bahrain, diverting the European market for the product (from which mother of pearl was derived) from London to Hamburg. Chick requested Prideaux to furnish him with a report on the industry, and the prospects for British commercial involvement at Bahrain. Prideaux’s reply to Chick, a typewritten report dated 3 June 1907 (folios 6-8, with preparatory notes on folios 3-5) describes the market at Bahrain, including volumes exported, the split between British, German and native traders, the prospects for future demand, and the reasons for German advantage in the market, including increased domestic demand and higher offer prices. Further correspondence between the two men in 1908 discusses the possibility of a duty payable to pearling ships for each bag of shells received, as a measure to thwart German dominance (folios 11-12, 13-14).

The final item of correspondence in the file (folios 18-19) is a request from a T. Southwell of the Government of India in Calcutta, dated 8 October 1918, for a large amount of shells currently being held by the Agency in Bahrain, formerly owned by Wonckhaus and seized by the British after the start of the War. The shells are urgently required to cover an acute shortage in India, where they are used to make Bengal buttons for the Munitions Board.