IOR/R/15/2/622

The file begins with a letter in March 1948, from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in London, requesting British recognition of Shaikh Saqr bin Muhammad bin Salim [Shaikh Ṣaqr bin Muḥammad bin Sālim al-Qāsimī] as the new Ruler of Ras al Khaimah [Ra’s al-Khaymah], and Shaikh Humaid bin Muhammad [Shaikh Ḥumayd bin Muḥammad] as the new Regent of Kalba during the minority of Shaikh Hamad bin Said [Shaikh Ḥamad bin Sa‘īd]. The letter includes an account of the unstable political situation in these two Trucial Coast shaikhdoms and argues the necessity for a change in respective rulers. This is followed by Arabic and English copies of two petitions from the Naqbiyyin [al-Naqbī] tribe and the notables of Kalba and Khor Fakkan [Khawr Fakkan] asking the British to appoint Shaikh Humaid bin Muhammad as Regent of Kalba in place of Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad [Shaikh Khālid bin Aḥmad al-Qāsimī]. There is also a letter from the Political Agent at Bahrain to Shaikh Humaid bin Muhammad offering him the Regency of Kalba on the agreed terms and conditions and the latter’s letter of acceptance in May 1948, a plan which is overturned by subsequent events.

There follows numerous letters and telegrams, mainly between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the Political Agent at Bahrain, the Residency Agent at Sharjah and the Political Officer on the Trucial Coast, dated 1948-50. These discuss the recapture of Khor Fakkan by Shaikh Humaid bin Abdullah [Shaikh Ḥumayd bin ‘Abdullāh], nephew of Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad, and the refusal of both to leave Kalba and hand over authority to a new regent. Included are two accounts of the changing situation in Kalba, called ‘Note on Kalba Situation’ and ‘Note on Kalba Affairs’, written in 1948 and 1950 respectively.

The remaining correspondence focuses on minor Shaikh Hamad bin Said, described as being about nineteen years old in 1949 and who, following the death of Shaikh Humaid bin Abdullah on 8 February 1950 and with popular support, declares his desire to be recognised as Ruler. Included are letters from the Political Agent at Bahrain to Shaikh Hamad bin Said, confirming that the British Government recognises him as Ruler of Kalba on the agreed terms and conditions and the latter’s letter of acceptance. There is also a letter and telegram from the Political Officer on the Trucial Coast to the Political Agent at Bahrain reporting on the formalities of recognition on 19 May 1950.

There are very few documents in the file dated earlier than 1948. The earliest is an undertaking in 1922 by the Shaikh of Sharjah not to grant an oil concession in Kalba to foreigners without British approval. Others include a letter of agreement in 1945 signed by Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad as Regent of Kalba, recognising British jurisdiction over British and other foreign subjects in Kalba territory and a report called ‘Notes of the boundaries claimed by Kalba’ written by Abdur Razzak [‘Abd al-Razzāq], the Residency Agent at Sharjah in 1937.