'File E 8/V. Shaikh Faisal bin Saud's Visit to London'

This file contains correspondence between British officials at Bahrain, Bushire, Baghdad, Kuwait, the India Office and the Government of India, as well as with 'Abd al-'Azīz bin 'Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa'ūd (Ibn Sa'ūd) and his son, Fayṣal bin 'Abd al-'Azīz Āl Sa'ūd. These correspondence concern the 1919 mission of Fayṣal and Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ, the son of Shaikh Jābir al-Mubārak Āl Ṣabāḥ to London. Included within the file are details concerning the invitation of Ibn Sa'ūd to send 'a mission of [his] sons to London' dated 14 May 1919 (folios 4-5) and his response dated 16 June 1919 (folios 8-9); telegrams and letters making arrangements for Fayṣal's trip and his entourage, including Aḥmad al-Thāniyān and 'Abdullāh al-Quṣaybī (folio 53); their departure for Karachi on the RIMS Lawrence on 6 September 1929 (folio 55-56); letters informing Ibn Sa'ūd of the progress of the trip via Bombay and Port Said; and their arrival in London 13 October 1919 (folio 69). Also included are details of the reception of the mission by the King George V and Queen Mary (folio 71); various correspondence with Ibn Sa'ūd concerning the progress of the trip; their eventual return via Bombay and Bahrain, arriving 9 February 1920; 'Notes of a conversation between The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and the Arab Mission representing the Emir Ibn Saud' dated 26 November 1919 (folios 89-93); and a letter of thanks from Fayṣal (folio 98).

This file is arranged approximately in chronological order.

Archival material relating to Fayṣal bin 'Abd al-'Azīz Āl Sa'ūd's 1919 trip to London is held by the Middle East Centre Archive, St Anthony's College, Oxford, in the Harry St John Philby Collection (see http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/mec/MEChandlists/Philby-Collection.pdf [accessed 26 March 2013]) and the Foreign Office records at the National Archives of the United Kingdom (see http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C9002139 [accessed 26 March 2013]).

Unrestricted