IOR/L/PS/10/1245

The volume concerns the attempts of the British Government to mediate a settlement of the differences between the Shaikh of Kuwait (also referred to as Koweit), Sir Ahmad al-Jabir as-Subah [Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], and Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], King of Hejaz and Nejd (usually referred to as Nejd). The matters at issue between the two rulers included (1) the dispute over the Kuwait-Nejd-Iraq frontier; (2) a customs dispute; (3) raids by the Akhwan [Ikhwan] in Kuwait, and inter-tribal conflict in Nejd.

In addition to India Office correspondence and memoranda, the volume includes correspondence from: the High Commissioner for Iraq; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Cyril Charles Johnson Barrett, later Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Vincent Biscoe); the Political Agent, Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson); HM Minister, Jeddah (Sir Andrew Ryan); the Colonial Office; the Foreign Office; the Government of India; and the two rulers concerned.

The papers cover: India Office confidential print entitled 'Koweit, 1908-1928', containing background information on the dispute between the Shaikh of Kuwait and Ibn Saud, 1928; discussion of the chief grievances of the Shaikh of Kuwait toward Ibn Saud, with sketch map showing tribal divisions on the Kuwait border, folios 388-390; a statement by the Shaikh of Kuwait of Akhwan raids, including numbers of persons killed and numbers of animals stolen, with proposals by the Shaikh for the settlement of his disputes with Ibn Saud (folios 377-387); Ibn Saud's blockade of Kuwait; discussion by British officials of inter-tribal conflict; discussion by British officials of the customs and frontier disputes; draft of an agreement between Kuwait and Nejd (folios 220-228); the activities of Ibn Saud's agents, including Ibrahim bin Arfaj; The Colonial Office's view that Kuwait should be maintained as a British-protected state, independent of both Iraq and Nejd (folios 147-148); Ibn Saud's refusal to meet Lieutenant-Colonel Biscoe to discuss matters; a British suggestion that the dispute between the two rulers might be settled on less formal lines, and the proposal to employ the tribal system known as Arafa to settle claims, November 1930-February 1931; £10,000 compensation paid by Ibn Saud, to be divided between Iraq and Kuwait, March 1931; and details of the claims for compensation made by the Shaikh of Kuwait against Ibn Saud, arising from Akhwan raids and the blockade of Kuwait, May-June 1931.

The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.