IOR/R/15/2/670

The first part of the file (ff 2-6), containing correspondence dated 1940, chiefly from the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Station Superintendent at Bahrain, concerns the provision of armed guards as an anti-sabotage measure for BOAC aircraft on night stops at Bahrain. The correspondence includes: details of the provision of an armed guard for aircraft; a request that BOAC staff be lent a revolver by the Agency; BOAC liaison on the matter of protection with the Defence Office in the Persian Gulf (Major A C Byard); provision of guards according to the winter 1940 BOAC schedule; elimination of BOAC night stops at Bahrain.

The second part of the file (ff 7-19) contains correspondence dated 1943, chiefly from Norman Luke Penfold, Officer-in-Charge for the Bahrain branch of Cable & Wireless (C&W), who requests the provision of an armed guard for Bahrain’s new C&W office and the equipment and instruments it contains. Correspondence between Penfold and the Political Agency relates to the assessment of the nature of the function of the new office and its equipment, and if this justifies the provision of an armed guard from the Bahrain State Police. A note written by Agency staff in the file notes (ff 20-21) states that ‘the turn the war has taken has convinced all Arabs & Persians that there is no longer any possibility of German forces arriving in these parts’.