IOR/R/15/2/621

The file contains correspondence about the succession to the Trucial Coast shaikhdom of Kalba, following the death of its Ruler Shaikh Said bin Hamad [Sa‘īd bin Ḥamad] on 30 April 1937, leaving a seven-year-old son, the minor Shaikh Hamad bin Said [Ḥamad bin Sa‘īd], as heir. Discussion focuses on his minority in the years 1937 to 1948, when control of Kalba affairs was exercised both by his uncle Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad al Qasami [Shaikh Khālid bin Aḥmad al-Qāsimī] as Regent and also by the latter’s nephew, Shaikh Humaid bin Abdulla [Ḥumayd bin ‘Abdullāh]. Also discussed is the decline of Shaikh Khalid, the ascendancy of his nephew Shaikh Humaid and the neglect of the minor Shaikh Hamad, culminating in 1948 in the revolt of the inhabitants of Khaur Fakkan [Khawr Fakkan, also spelled here as Khor Fakkan] against the misrule of shaikhs Khalid and Humaid and finally, British support for the expulsion of the present Regent and his replacement by Shaikh Humaid bin Mohammed [Shaikh Ḥumayd bin Muḥammad], the eldest nephew of the Shaikh of Ras-al-Khaimah [Ra’s al-Khaymah].

The majority of the correspondence consists of letters and memoranda between the Political Agent at Bahrain and the following: the Residency Agent, Sharjah; the Political Officer, Trucial Coast; and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf. A small amount of correspondence between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the India Office in London, dated 1937-38, concerns British recognition of Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad as Regent of Kalba during the minority of Shaikh Hamad bin Said, and approval for Petroleum Concessions Limited in Bahrain to approach the Regent of Kalba, in his capacity as guardian of the minor Shaikh of Kalba, for the grant of an oil concession in that territory. Another small amount of correspondence from 1944, between the Political Agent at Bahrain and Mr F J Wakelin, Director of Education in the Government of Bahrain, concerns a British proposal that the minor Shaikh of Kalba should go to school in Bahrain to receive his education.

There are several Arabic transcripts and English translations of documents, including:

• A compromise deed from 1931between the deposed Ruler of Sharjah Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad bin Sultan [Shaikh Khālid bin Aḥmad bin Sulṭān, later Regent of Kalba] and his successor Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr [Shaikh Sulṭān II bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī], who agreed to pay an allowance to the ex-ruler
• Letters from 1938, addressed by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to the Regent of Kalba and the minor Shaikh of Kalba, confirming British recognition of the regency and the grant of personal gun salutes to each
• A letter of complaint from 1948, written by the three daughters of the deceased Ruler of Kalba regarding their impoverishment at the hands of the Regent and his nephew
• A petition dated 1948, from the inhabitants of Khaur Fakkan and Naqbiyeen [al-Naqbī] tribespeople, denouncing the Regent of Kalba and demanding his removal from power.