Residency Agency, Trucial Coast

IOR/R/15/4

Residency Agency, Trucial Coast

1930-1951

Very few files have survived from the Residency Agency, probably because there was little methodical record keeping before the appointment of the British Political Officer in 1939. The series contains only seventeen files dating from 1930 to 1951. Subjects covered include boundaries, Sharjah Air Agreement, banking, oil concessions, imports and exports, and local affairs. Nevertheless there is plenty of material relating to the Trucial Coast among the files of the Bushire Residency and the Bahrain Agency.

The files in the series are arranged by subject. Each file is given an original subject file number, for example, 0255 (Boundaries). The numerical order of subject references has only partial bearing on the present arrangement of the files. In some cases, where the subject file has been divided into part files, the original subject reference is given followed by an oblique stroke and a part number, in numerical order. For example, 0436/2, where 0436 is the subject (Sharjah Air Agreement) and 2 denotes the second part of the subject file. Significant gaps in both the subject number sequence and the part file sequences indicate that many files and part files have not survived.

From 1823 to 1934, reports from the Residency Agent and his correspondence with Trucial Coast rulers, mostly in Arabic, will be found in the Bushire Residency records: IOR/R/15/1. For the early years, they are usually in the volumes known as 'Translation Books' or 'Native Letters' with copies/translations in the general correspondence volumes. For the later period Trucial Coast correspondence is to be found under the relevant subject: e.g. IOR/R/15/1/239-94, File 14: Arab Coast and Islands, and so on. With the transfer of responsibility for the Trucial Coast to the Political Agent Bahrain, the Bushire files contain copy correspondence forwarded from Bahrain, and additional related correspondence initiated at Bushire, but the main bulk of material will be found in the relevant Bahrain subject files: e.g. IOR/R/15/2/616-25, File 22: Trucial Coast; or in the Bahrain Agency Vernacular Office Files: e.g. IOR/R/15/2/1865.

Public Record(s)

Arabic; English

17 files (1878 folios)

Unrestricted

In 1819, a naval and military expedition under Sir William Grant Keir was sent to the Trucial Coast with instructions to destroy all piratical vessels which threatened the safety of the East India Company's trade and property in that area, and to occupy Ras-al-Khaimah. The subsequent General Treaty of 1820 (the first to impose British imperial obligations on any part of Arabia) laid down that no piracy should be committed against British shipping. After the expedition of 1820, the Government of Bombay intended to establish a permanent British naval and military station in a central position in the Gulf, from which they would be able to exercise more immediate influence over the sea than they could from Bushire or Basra. In July 1820, therefore, the troops stationed at Ras-al-Khaimah were transferred to Qishm and their commander was designated 'Political Agent for the Lower Gulf'. However, because of the unhealthy climate, the troops were removed in 1823 and replaced by a system of 'maritime control' carried out by six cruisers based in the Gulf continually policing the Pirate Coast. At the same time, the Political Agency was withdrawn and the responsibility for supervision of the Coast transferred to the Resident at Bushire. The Resident proposed the establishment of a Native Agency at Sharjah to maintain a channel of communication with the Pirate Ports and soon afterwards an Arab Residency Agent was appointed. The successive Native (Arab) Agents maintained a sometimes uneven relationship with the Shaikh, reported with reasonable regularity to the Resident, and by the 1850s were well established as the means of communication between the Resident and the Trucial Shaiks. In addition, the Resident himself made an annual tour of the Arabian side of the Gulf from the 1820s onwards.In 1892 the Rulers of the Trucial States entered into a formal 'Exclusive Agreement' not to undertake any arrangement or correspondence with any power other than Britain, not to accept within their territories an agent of another government and not to sell, cede, mortgage or dispose of any part of their territory to any other power. In 1901 the Government of India discussed the possibility of a formal protectorate of the Trucial States but the idea was abandoned as the existing system was described as satisfactory, and the system of reporting by an Arab Residency Agent continued. By 1934, the Political Resident at Bushire was no longer able to cope with the increased workload created by the development of air communications and oil concession negotiations, and responsibility for the Trucial Coast was transferred to the Political Agent, Bahrain, who was placed in a more convenient location for visiting the area. Financial control was transferred to Bahrain in 1938. The Political Agent, and Assistant Political Agent, Bahrain then made periodic tours of the Trucial States and also visited when the Residency Agent needed help on specific issues. In 1939, the outbreak of the war emphasised the strategic importance of the Coast, and a British officer subordinate to the Political Agent, Bahrain, was posted to Sharjah. The appointment was on a temporary basis only and successive holders of the post were present on the Coast only intermittently. In 1948, after the transfer of power in India, a British Political Officer was appointed permanently and in 1949 the post of Residency Agent was abolished. The status of the post was finally raised to that of a Political Agency in 1953 and in 1954 it moved to Dubai. Before 1934, the Residency Agent corresponded solely with the Political Resident at Bushire, sometimes simply forwarding letters between the Resident and the Shaikhs. After 1934, the Political Agent, Bahrain, became the main channel of correspondence between the British Government and the Trucial States. The Residency Agent continued to act as the intermediary between the Political Agent and the local rulers with whom, and with whose officials, he increasingly corresponded in his own right.