IOR/L/PS/12/2096

This volume concerns the British Government's response to the presence of anti-Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] rebels in northern part of the Hejaz during May-July 1932, reportedly led by Sheikh Hamid Ibn Rafadah [Shaikh Hamid Ibn Rifadah].

The volume mostly consists of copies of Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence (a large amount of which has been forwarded by the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East) discussing the following:

• Reports of an anti-Ibn Saud movement, allegedly organised by a society named Hizb-Al-Hejazi, based in Cairo, with additional members in Transjordan and Mecca.
• Reports of rebels from the Hejaz entering Transjordan.
• The decision taken by the British Government to send HMS Penzance to Akaba [Aqaba], in the hope that it will have a 'restraining effect' if anti-Ibn Saud rebels retreat through Akaba.
• Rumours that the Egyptian Government is lending assistance to the movement.
• Suspicions that Amir Abdullah [ʿAbdullāh bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] could be assisting the revolt.
• The possibility of closing the Transjordan frontier.
• Reports of an alleged plot to assassinate Emir Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] during his forthcoming visit to Iraq.
• Measures taken by the Egyptian Government to prevent supplies and munitions from being sent by sea to rebels in the Hejaz.
• British concerns over the timing of the proposed visit of King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] to Transjordan.
• Whether the British should make attempts to persuade Amir Abdullah to conclude a treaty of friendship with Ibn Saud.

The volume features the following principal correspondents: the High Commissioner for Egypt (Sir Percy Loraine); the High Commissioner for Transjordan (Arthur Grenfell Wauchope); the High Commissioner for Iraq (Francis Henry Humphrys); the British Resident, Transjordan (Charles Henry Fortnom Cox); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires to Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill); the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Philip Cunliffe-Lister); the Senior Officer of the Red Sea Sloops; officials of the Foreign Office and Colonial Office.

In addition to correspondence the volume contains a copy of the minutes of a meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, dated 9 June 1932.

The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.