IOR/R/15/2/929

The file contains an exchange of confidential correspondence, following Arab press reports of a new friendship treaty between the Sheikhs of Bahrain and the British Government. The correspondence is mainly between Meredith Worth (Officiating Political Agent, Bahrain), Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch (Acting Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire) and Charles Dalrymple Belgrave (Adviser to the Government of Bahrain).

The correspondence discusses claims made in 1934 by Bahraini subject Ali bin Salim that Britain and Bahrain were negotiating a new 25 year treaty which would recognise the independence of Bahrain under the sovereignty of the existing ruling family, the Al Khalifah Sheikhs of Bahrain. The Baghdad newspapers Al Akha and Al-Iraq published both Ali bin Salim’s treaty claims and a repudiation by Sheikh ‘Abdullah bin ‘Isa al-Khalifah, brother of the ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad. Ali bin Salim was later identified as Ali bin Hussain al Khalfan, Secretary of the Manama Municipal Council.

The correspondence also discusses the subsequent fraud investigation against Ali bin Hussain al Khalfan, including an examination of import records obtained from the Director of Customs and Port Officer, Bahrain as evidence; his conviction for misappropriation of public funds by Sheikh Sulman in the Bahrain Court; his six months’ imprisonment and subsequent release.

The file also includes English translations of the following items in Arabic: a letter from Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al Khalifah (Ruler of Bahrain) to his brother Sheikh Muhammad (President of the Manama Municipal Council) dismissing Ali bin Hussain al Khalfan from his post as Secretary to the Council (f.17); an independent valuation of imported goods that Ali bin Hussain al Khalfan had purchased with public funds (f.34); three Arabic newspaper articles (ff.2, 4, 12).