IOR/R/15/2/942

The file comprises correspondence relating to discussion amongst British officials over the fate of the Sheikhdom of Kalba in the wake of the assassination of its ruler, Ḥamad bin Sa’id Āl Qāsimī. The file is a direct chronological continuation of ‘File 22/6 I Kalba’ (IOR/R/15/2/941). The principal correspondents in the file are: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel William Rupert Hay); the Political Agent at Bahrain (William Scott Laver); and the British Agent at Sharjah, also referred to as the Political Officer on the Trucial Coast (Arthur John Wilton).

Correspondence includes: Wilton’s description of the negotiations taking place amongst the Jawasim [Āl Qāsimī] in Sharjah, over whether Sultain bin Salim should be installed as Ruler of Kalba (ff 12-15), a decision which Foreign Office officials are doubtful that they could approve (f 19); Hay’s proposals to allow Kalba to revert to Sharjah, in light of the fact that the deceased ruler, Ḥamad bin Sa’id, had no legitimate heirs (f 18); Hay’s note on the Sheikhdom of Kalba, dated 26 November 1951 (f 10). Correspondence also refers to the continued concession payments being made by Petroleum Concessions Limited (PCL) to Sheikh Khalid bin Aḥmad Āl Qāsimī, former Regent of Kalba, and proposals to blockade Wadi al Quar [Khawr] as a means of removing Saqr bin Sultan bin Salim from Kalba (ff 16-17).

The first item of correspondence in the file is not directly related to the Kalba negotiations: a letter from J Gethin of the British Consulate in Muscat, to the Political Resident, dated 10 December 1951, informing the Resident that the ruler of Kalba has moved the aperture in the frontier wall separating Kalba from Oman (f 3).