IOR/R/15/2/941

The file comprises correspondence relating to affairs on the Trucial Coast in 1951, chiefly the assassination of the Ruler of Kalba, Hamad bin Sa’id [Ḥamad bin Sa’id Āl Qāsimī] by Saqr bin Sultan bin Salim [Ṣaqr bin Sultan bin Salim Āl Qāsimī], son of the former ruler of Ra’s al-Khaymah, Sheikh Sultan bin Salim Āl Qāsimī. The principal correspondents in the file are: the Political Officer on the Trucial Coast (Arthur John Wilton); the Political Agent at Bahrain (William Scott Laver; Cornelius James Pelly; Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Alexander Gordon Pinhey); and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel William Rupert Hay).

Correspondence relating to the assassination of Hamad bin Sa’id, which took place in early July 1951, includes: Wilton’s initial reports of the incident (ff 46-47, ff 42-45); his trip to Kalba and his meeting with Saqr bin Sultan (ff 34-37); Wilton’s recommendations over actions to be taken against Saqr bin Sultan and his suggested candidates for ruler of Kalba (ff 10-13); discussion between British officials over the relative merits and demerits of political or forcible removal of Saqr bin Sultan; Wilton’s proposals for decisive action (ff 7-8), being of the opinion that the British Government should not condone the incident, and recommending that a Trucial Council be convened to encourage the rulers of the Trucial Coast to cooperate in removing Saqr bin Sultan (ff 30-33); Pelly and Hay’s preference for political pressure rather than direct action, and their disinclination to involve the other Trucial Coast rulers by convening a Trucial Council (ff 23-25).

Other correspondence in the file relates to: the Ruler of Kalba’s proposal, in May 1951, to erect a tower on the edges of his territory (ff 55-59); the transfer in July 1951 of financial rights (tribute, or zakkat) of the village of Dhaid, between members of the Āl Qāsimī (ff 50-54).