IOR/R/15/2/597

The file comprises correspondence and papers relating to visits to the Persian Gulf by foreign dignitaries. Correspondents in the file include the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and the Political Agents at Bahrain and Kuwait.

The file includes:

• correspondence relating to the visit to Bahrain in December 1937 of Amir Sa‘ūd bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd from Saudi Arabia, including: discussion amongst British Government officials who take a positive view of the proposed visit; a letter from the Political Agent in Bahrain (Captain Tom Hickinbotham) to the Ruler of Bahrain (Sheikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah), dated 7 October 1937, insisting that he be present during any political discussions (ff 24-25); reports in late December 1937 of the visit, written by the Political Agent Hugh Weightman (ff 43-48) and an unknown author (ff 50-53). Both reports include details of: the visiting dignitaries, receptions and dinners; the large quantities of gold sovereigns brought up by the Saudi party in the Bahrain bazaars, to be used to purchase Maria Theresa dollars in Saudi Arabia; rumours amongst the Bahrain bazaars of the purposes of the trip;
• correspondence relating to the Sheikh of Kuwait’s (Sheikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ) proposed visit to Bahrain, his intention being to meet the Ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah, and offer mediation over the Bahrain-Qatar (Zubarah) dispute (ff 26-30);
• a proposed trip in 1936 by the Iraqi statesman Nuri Pasha to Bombay, stopping off at Kuwait, Bahrain and Muscat, and the consequent postponement of this trip due to unforeseen circumstances (ff 2-10). Correspondence relating to Nuri Pasha’s later trip to Riyadh via Bahrain in April 1940 is also included in the file (ff 57-63);
• the return of the Egyptian Chargé d'Affaires, Abdul Hamid Munir, to Egypt from Riyadh via Bahrain in 1944 (ff 72-76);
• wartime and post-war various visits by United States dignitaries and legations, including: a US legation at Bahrain in 1942 (ff 65-66); Colonel Hoskins, Personal Envoy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1943 (68, 70-71); and US senators in 1943 and 1944-45 (ff 69 77-79);