IOR/L/PS/10/599/1

Part 3 consists of telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, and notes, relating to the British-backed revolt of the Sherif of Mecca against Turkish rule during the course of the First World War. The papers tell of the British response to the situation covering the following matters:

• the pledge given by the Entente Powers in regard to the Holy Places
• British bombardment of Ottoman forces in Jeddah at the request of the Sherif of Mecca (Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī)
• the Government of India's wish that news of the British naval activity off Jeddah be suppressed
• British military support and provision of food supplies
• publication of news of the Turkish bombardment of the Ka'aba
• the effect of the news of conflict in the Holy Places on Muslim opinion in India, Afghanistan, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Singapore, the Malay States, and Java

The discussion over such matters is mostly between the Foreign Office, India Office, War Office, and the Government of India.

Included (ff 323-335) is a memorandum on the situation by Major-General Charles Herbert Powell with commentary by Professor David Samuel Margoliouth, University of Oxford, and with further comments from Douglas Carruthers, Royal Geographical Society.