IOR/R/15/6/385

This volume contains correspondence between British officials concering military arrangements for the defence of Muscat.

Specifically, the correspondence in the volume contains discussions regarding the following: Britain's provision of arms, ammunition and other military supplies to the Muscat Levy Corps; the formation of a Muscat Defence Plan; and the stance of the Sultan of Muscat and Oman towards Britain's war efforts (following the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939). It also contains a limited amount of correspondence regarding arms purchases from France made by the Sultan.

The majority of the correspondence in the volume is between the Political Agency in Muscat, the Political Residency in Bushire and the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, Said bin Taimur [Sa‘īd bin Taymūr]. Most of the correspondence with the Sultan is in Arabic accompanied by English translations.

In addition to this correspondence, the volume also contains the following related documents:

• 'Note on the possible re-organisation of the Levies' (folios 5-6)
• 'List of arms and ammunition in possession of the Muscat Levy at Bait-al-Falaj' (folio 14)
• A memorandum about the Muscat Levy Corps prepared by the Muscat Political Agency (folios 28-32)
• 'Copy of a note by the Chief of the General Staff in India on the subject of the Defence schemes prepared by the Air Officer Commanding, Iraq, for the Arab Gulf States' (folio 37)
• 'Muscat Defence Plan. Force Available' (folios 90-100).