IOR/L/PS/5/487, ff 11-58

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 26 of 1856, dated 16 April 1856. The enclosures are dated 7 October 1855-12 April 1856.

The enclosures relate to British policy towards the intended migration of the Al Ali [Āl ‘Alī] tribe, residing at Ges [Kish, also was known as Kenn, also spelled Geis in this item], to the Arabian coast in the neighbourhood of Kutiffe [Al-Qaṭīf], and British reaction to their actual migration to Demaum [Dammam]. They cover the efforts of Lieutenant Frederick Disbrowe, Assistant Resident, Persian Gulf, and Commander Felix Jones, Indian Navy, Acting Resident, Persian Gulf, to prevent a further attack on Bahrein [Bahrain] and disorder in the Gulf from disrupting British trade, and chiefly comprise their letters to or correspondence with the following:

• Mahomed ben Khuleefa, Sheikh of Bahrein [Shaikh Muḥammed bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah, also spelled Khulifa in this item]
• Commodore Richard Ethersey, Commander of the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf, and other senior Indian Navy officers and vessel commanders
• Sheikh Mahomed ben Abdullah, Sheikh of Demaum [Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh, Shaikh of Dammam], who was in dispute with the Sheikh of Bahrein over re-establishing his claim to the ‘chieftainship’ of Bahrein and who had attacked Bahrein the previous year
• Ali bin Sultan [Alī bin Sulṭān], chief of the Al Ali tribe, who had allied with the Sheikh of Demaum in the attack on Bahrein in the previous year
• The Wahabee Ameer [Wahhābī Amīr] Fysul [Fayṣal bin Turkī bin ‘Abdullāh, Āl Sa‘ūd], Ruler of Nedjid [Najd]
• The British Agent at Bahrein
• The Government of Bombay.

The papers notably cover and include:

• Disbrowe’s dissuasion of the Sheikh of Bahrein from undertaking offensive action against the Al Ali and advice to confine himself to defensive actions
• The Wahabee Ameer’s claim that he would prefer Ali bin Sultan and his Al Ali followers not to migrate to his territory, but that he would not be ‘inhospitable’ to them if they did locate in Wahabee country, and the Government of Bombay’s belief that the Ameer in reality supports hostilities against the Sheikh of Bahrein
• Warnings given: by Disbrowe to Ali bin Sultan, not to break the agreement he made with Captain Arnold Burrowes Kemball, former Resident in the Persian Gulf, to give three months’ notice of any intention to move from Ges; and by Jones to the Sheikh of Demaum that harbouring the Al Ali is a violation of his agreement with Kemball
• The belief of Disbrowe and Jones that, despite his denials, the Sheikh of Demaum instigated the migration of the Al Ali to his territory
• The instructions given by Disbrowe and Jones to commanding officers of the Naval Squadron in the Gulf regarding measures to enforce the removal of Ali bin Sultan and his followers from Demaum, including issuing warnings, ultimatums, threats and, as a last resort, capturing the Al Ali’s boats and valuables and taking them to Bassidore [Basaidu], whilst carefully restricting any actions of force to sea and ports
• The authorisation by the Honorary Board, Bombay, to Jones to assemble a sufficient naval force and use coercion to make the Al Ali leave Demaum, including permission to burn their boats.