IOR/R/15/2/272

The file’s correspondence concerns an agreement to exempt customs duty on imports (particularly of oil and petrol) to the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Muharraq in Bahrain. The key correspondents in the file are the Political Agent at Bahrain (Hugh Weightman, from October 1937 to October 1940, Major Reginald George Evelin Alban from October 1940 to January 1942, Edward Birkbeck Wakefield thereafter), the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (Charles Dalrymple Belgrave), and representatives of the RAF and Air Headquarters in Iraq.

An initial agreement to exempt customs duty on the import of oil and petrol, as well as building materials, food and drink, to the RAF base at Muharraq, was proposed in 1938, and agreed in principle by Belgrave, acting on behalf of the ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah. The file’s contents track the finer details and negotiations of this agreement, based on the principle that the goods imported were used towards Bahrain’s wartime defence. Included in the file are details of the imports of oil and petrol into Bahrain during 1942, including the amount of customs duty paid (folios 40-41).