'File 28/4 Trading with the enemy'

The file comprises copies of printed circulars and notices issued by the British Government, memoranda and letters issued by the Government of India, and copies of correspondence to and from the Political Agency in Bahrain, relating to trade with countries and territories regarded as the enemy, or the trade in goods from countries regarded as the enemy, during the Second World War. The British Government circulars and notices include: multiple copies of the Statutory Rules and Orders booklet, produced by the Board of Trade, entitled Trading with the Enemy: Specified Persons, each copy being an expanded and updated version of its predecessor; the escalating nature of war in Europe throughout 1940 meaning the list of countries regarded as being the enemy (either through joining the war as an Axis power or by being occupied by an Axis power) was continually in need of update. The booklets list, alphabetically by country and by name, those persons (or companies) and their address, regarded as being an enemy. Some booklets record amendments to the list, under the headings of additions, deletions and modifications. The last copy of the booklet in the volume (ff 379-416) details seventy-five pages of companies deemed by the Trading with the Enemy Act (1939) as an enemy (ff 15-17, 71-77, 258); circulars from the Ministry of Economic Warfare, relating to Statutory, Black List and Suspect List policy; a circular from the Ministry of Warfare, February 1940, concerning the Trading with the Enemy Act (1939) in relation to insurance, insurance with enemy companies, and including a list of enemy marine insurance companies (ff 428-438). Government of India memoranda and correspondence includes: an order, dated 17 June 1940, for the detention of ships bound for ports in the Red Sea (f 144); a notice, dated 21 June 1940, on exports to the Dutch East Indies (f 147); a prohibition, dated 30 June 1940, on all exports to French territory (f 169); a notice, dated 17 April 1940, that goods from Denmark be regarded as of enemy origin (f 175); a warning, dated 21 June 1940, on possible channels used to transport goods to Germany, in particular raw materials, including through the Persian Gulf (ff 177-179); a memorandum, dated 4 July 1941, announcing the creation of the Persian Gulf War Trade Bureau, attached to the Commerce Department of the Government of India (ff 480-481). Correspondence to and from the Political Agency in Bahrain includes: a letter from the Political Agent to the Ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Ḥamad bin 'Īsá Āl Khalīfah, dated 13 December 1939, announcing the prohibition in Bahrain of trade with German companies or German goods (ff 10-11); the appointment of the Political Agent at Bahrain, in December 1939, as Custodian of Enemy Property, under the Bahrain Order in Council of 1913 (ff 14, 24); a printed copy of a notice by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior, dated 16 November 1939, entitled Trading with the Enemy Regulations made under the Persian Gulf States (Emergency) Order in Council 1939 (ff 41-42); in April 1940, correspondence and official notices concerning trade with Denmark or in Danish goods (ff 80-85, 91-94, 110); in June 1940, correspondence and official notices concerning trade with Italy or in Italian goods (ff 139-140, 148); letters from several merchants in Bahrain, enquiring after the status and whereabouts of Italian goods ordered before Italy's entry into the war; correspondence and notices relating to trade with French Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Rumania [Romania], Bulgaria, Hungary and Greece; and general enquiries relating to trade at Bahrain, made by the Political Agent to the Director of Customs at Bahrain, Claud Cranbrook Lewis deGrenier.

The volume's contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end. The file notes at the end of the volume (ff 482-496) mirror the chronological arrangement.

Unrestricted