IOR/R/15/2/657

The file comprises copies of correspondence relating to the day-to-day organisation of the Bahrain Special Police, occasionally referred to as the Bahrain Defence Force, including arrangements for recruitment, training, pay, provisions, expenses, etc. The principal correspondents in the file are the Political Agent in Bahrain (Hugh Weightman); the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (Charles Dalrymple Belgrave); the Defence Officer in the Persian Gulf (Major A C Byard; Major H T Hewitt); Royal Air Force (RAF) officials at Air Headquarters Iraq, Habbaniyah, Iraq.

Subjects covered in the file include:

• in late 1939, enquiries by the Political Agent in Bahrain into the prospect of recruiting men from Baluchistan into a Special Police Force in Bahrain, with mention of the Sheikh of Bahrain’s preference for an Arab levy force;
• in October 1940, proposals to increase the numbers of the Bahrain Special Police up to circa 150 men, along with correspondence relating to additional defence measures for Bahrain in the wake of an Italian bombing raid over Bahrain and Dhahran;
• in late 1940, the recruitment of four junior Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) from the Iraq Levies, to train the Bahrain Special Police, including arrangements for payment of levies’ travel, accommodation, expenses and salaries;
• separate concerns from Belgrave: a) of the effectiveness of the Special Police with 150 men (November 1940, ff 29-35); and b) the costs of maintaining the Special Police (July 1942, ff 61-69);
• in October 1943, discontent amongst the ranks of and the threat of strike by the Special Police, who demand transport allowances and pay increases, leading to Hewitt’s concession that the Special Police are not an effective fighting force;
• from mid-1944, concerns that the numbers of men in the Special Police will drastically reduce as their four-year contracts, signed in late 1940, expire towards the end of 1944. Recommendations to solve the problem include: replacement of the Special Police by an Indian Garrison Company, rejected on the grounds of an overall lack of manpower in the Indian Army; that a one-year contract extension with pay rise be offered to Special Police officers; a transfer scheme to enable Bahrain State Police to transfer to the Special Police (copy of police order announcing the transfer scheme, ff 107-110);
• in August 1945, correspondence relating to the disbandment of the Bahrain Special Police, including confirmation from the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), dated 12 September 1945 (f 120) that the Company has no objection to the discontinuation of the Special Police.