IOR/R/15/5/293

The file is concerned with the introduction of the Kuwait Order in Council (1925) and the subsequent issue of supporting King‘s Regulations by the Persian Gulf Political Resident: The Indian Pilgrim Ships Regulation (1926) and Indian Succession Regulation (1927). It therefore contains drafts proposals and correspondence between British officials concerning proposed revisions, and the extent to which it should be based on the Orders in Council for Bahrain and Muscat.

The file also contains correspondence debating whether a separate Order in Council for Kuwait is required, and if so how urgent this requirement is. This debate is undertaken in the context of proposals for a single Order in Council for the entire Persian Gulf, and the possibility that Kuwait may come under the authority of Mesopotamia as part of the post-war settlement. The extent that Britain is able to assume authority over non-British and non-Muslim subjects (e.g. Americans and Europeans) is also discussed within the file.

The main correspondents are as follows: the Kuwait Political Agent (Daniel McCollum and James Carmichael More); the Persian Gulf Political Resident (Arthur Trevor and Francis Beville Prideaux); the High Commissioner for Iraq (Sir Percy Cox); the Foreign Department of the Government of India; and officials of the Colonial Office, the India Office, and the Foreign Office.

The Arabic content in the file consists of an exchange (see folios 113-127) between the Kuwait Political Agent and the Shaikh of Kuwait, Shaikh Ahmad al-Jabir as-Subah [Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ]. This correspondence is dated 24 October and 3 November 1925; it concerns the publication of the Kuwait Order in Council and queries from the Shaikh as to the extent of British authority over foreigners; it includes English translations.

Draft copies of the Kuwait Order in Council can be found on folios 83-92, while copies of the published version can be found on folios 96-102 and 139-52. A draft of the The Indian Pilgrim Ships Regulation may be found on folios 158-59, and the final version can be found on folio 163. A copy of the final Indian Succession Regulation can be found on folio 187.

A wax seal — possibly a Foreign Office seal — is affixed to folio 136.