IOR/L/PS/12/2978

Correspondence, notes, and minutes regarding the appointment of Reginald George Evelyn William Alban as Financial Adviser to the Muscat State and Commandant of the Muscat Levy Corps, and his successor as Commandant. The correspondence concerns the following matters:

• the initial appointment of Reginald Alban in 1931 and the proposal to combine the two roles
• the search for a successor after Alban's return to England due to poor health
• the effort to employ Alban's brother
• suggestions for candidates from the Foreign, Colonial, and War Offices
• references, applications, invitations for interview, discussion of candidates, and rejection letters
• negotiation of terms of service with the Sultan
• the final appointment of Captain Arthur Charles Byard in October 1935, arrangements for his travel, and a report on his early progress by Ralph Ponsonby Watts, Political Agent at Muscat (folios 8-9)

The principal correspondents include officials at the Political Agency in Muscat, Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Government of India (Foreign and Political Department), India Office, and the Sultan of Muscat, Said bin Taimur [Sa‘īd ibn Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd].

Also contained within the file is correspondence between the Foreign Office and a Mrs E F Cree regarding a motor accident involving Reginald Alban in 1935 and the effort to find friends and relatives to visit him in hospital.