IOR/L/PS/12/2102

This volume, which largely consists of copies of Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence, concerns affairs on the Nejd-Transjordan frontier and relations between Hejaz-Nejd (later Saudi Arabia) and Transjordan generally.

The beginning of the volume's correspondence follows on from IOR/L/PS/12/2096, documenting the British Government's response to a revolt against Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] in the northern part of the Hejaz, led by Ibn Rifada [Shaikh Hamid Ibn Rifadah].

The correspondence includes discussion of the following:

• Reports of tribesmen crossing the frontier from Transjordan into the Hejaz.
• Accounts of meetings between the High Commissioner for Transjordan (Arthur Grenfell Wauchope) and Amir Abdullah [ʿAbdullāh bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī].
• Suspicions that Amir Abdullah could be assisting the revolt.
• Reports of the death of Ibn Rifada and his two sons.
• Reports of an alleged conspiracy against Ibn Saud, attributed to Hussein ad-Dabbagh.
• The likelihood of an agreement being concluded between Hejaz-Nejd and Transjordan, possibly along similar lines to a recent agreement between the Hejaz-Nejd and Iraq governments.
• King Feisal of Iraq's proposal to intervene to improve relations between Ibn Saud and Amir Abdullah.
• Plans for the expulsion of Beni Atiya [Beni ‘Atīyah] tribesmen from Transjordan into Saudi Arabia.

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

In addition to correspondence, the volume contains the following:

• Copies of the minutes of interdepartmental meetings (featuring representatives of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the India Office, and in one instance, the Air Ministry) on the subject of relations between Transjordan and Saudi Arabia.
• A copy of a memorandum by Sir Andrew Ryan, which discusses the possible connection of Amir Abdullah and/or his entourage to recent attempts to undermine Ibn Saud.
• A copy of a memorandum by Captain John Bagot Glubb, Acting Commanding Officer of the Arab Legion, entitled 'Memorandum on the Beni Atiya Situation'.

The French material in this volume consists of one newspaper cutting.

The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.