King ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz and The English Connection:

Captain William Shakespear and His Successors

H. St. J. B. Armitage

When King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman Ibn Faisal al-Sa’ud – Ibn Sa’ud – spoke of the English he often mentioned the first Englishman he had met, Captain William Shakespear, the Political Agent in Kuwait, and sometimes told the story of their remarkable friendship and Shakespear’s death. Their relationship was one that benefited not only those Englishmen who followed Shakespear to Riyadh and to friendship with Ibn Sa’ud, but also British interests in general.

Eighty-four years ago (eighty-seven by the hijra year), on 4 February 1915 [Rabia ‘l-awwal 1333 H.], Ibn Sa’ud wrote to Sir Percy Cox, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushehr:

Our declaration of war against bin Rashid, and our severance of relations with him, have already been communicated to you. We have fought against him on the [?] 1333 at a place called Al Artawi [Artawiyyah], and a great battle ensued. They were slaughtered and defeated; but it is a source of regret that our beloved friend and rare well-wisher, Captain Shakespear, was hit from a distance by one of the enemy’s shots and died. I offer my condolences on his death.

I request you to advise HM’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and offer the exalted government my sorrow and condolences for the death of our friend. We had pressed him to leave us before the incident; but he persisted in refusing to do so and in being present with us. Amongst other remarks, he said, ‘I have been ordered to be with you. If I leave you now it will be a blemish to my honour, and the honour of my country. Therefore excuse me. I must certainly be with you.’ Accordingly we allowed him [to come] with us.

Now I request you to advise the Secretary of State to acquaint them [the Government], in detail, with all that we told him [Shakespear] in Arabic as to what was required, or delegate somebody familiar with the Arabic language, in order that we may verbally represent all that is required, so that he may communicate the same to the illustrious government.

May God protect you.

‘Abd al-‘Aziz’.[i]

Who was this Shakespear? – to whose letter from Cairo in 1914 [1332 H.], at the completion of his journey across Arabia, Ibn Sa’ud had replied:

From our part, the honourable father al-imam al-kabir and brothers Muhammad and Saad and Saud and ‘Abd-Allah, and the sons of all, ask after you and hope always for your peace and happiness and tranquillity and everlasting friendship. May god bless and guide you.

‘Abd al-‘Aziz bin ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Faisal

Prince of Nejd and Chief of all its tribes

Ar-Riyadh, 3 Dhu ’l-Qa’da 1332 [3 May 1914][ii]

William Henry Irvine Shakespear was born at Multan in the Punjab in October 1878. His father was an official in the Indian Forestry Service, and many of his family served in the Indian Army throughout the nineteenth century. When he was nine years old, Shakespear and his brothers went to England with their mother for schooling. He entered the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in 1895, and was commissioned in 1898, having passed out eleventh of his course and gained a number of prizes in military subjects.

He joined the Devonshire Regiment in India, but soon transferred to the Bengal Lancers regiment of the Indian Army, from which he transferred to the Indian Political Department. In that service during 1901–2 he was put in charge of large sectors of Bombay in fighting a plague epidemic during which nearly half a million people died. He qualified in Urdu, Pushtu, Persian and Arabic, and, in 1904, still only a second lieutenant, was posted as HM Consul in Bandar Abbas. He returned to service in India in 1907, but soon departed on his first leave to England for nine years. Having purchased a car in Bombay, he shipped it to Bushehr, and from there made the first journey by car back to England. When his leave ended he returned to India, but was posted back to Bushehr as Cox’s assistant and then to Kuwait in 1909 as Political Agent, a post normally reserved for a more senior officer.

There, after some initial disagreements, he established a good relationship with the Ruler, Sheikh Mubarak, which was to lead to his first meeting with Ibn Sa’ud and the beginning of their friendship nearly a year later. Shakespear began at once to extend his knowledge of the country and the tribes, the language and the customs. He became an experienced desert traveller, getting to know the bedu, especially the shaiyukh (sheikhs) of the Mutair and Ajman, and joining them in hunting with his own salukis and his famous falcon ‘Shalwa’. He ‘gradually extended his influence into the interior and by several excursions into the comparatively unknown hinterland had filled up large blanks on the Map’.[iii]

Shakespear’s first journey at the end of 1909 took him south through Burgan and Wafra between the coastal plain and the Wadi Shaqq. East of Khafji he turned westwards to the Wadi, travelling north along it before returning to Kuwait through Subaihiyah and Jahrah. Early in 1910 he made a much longer journey, travelling to al-Safa and from there to Hafar al-Batin. He then followed the Batin to the Zubair plain, before returning to Kuwait through Safwan and Jahrah. His journey had been marred by misfortune near al-Safa, where his party had been attacked at night by men of the Mutair, and Khalaq, his rafiq, had been killed.

Before starting that journey, Shakespear had been informed by Sheikh Mubarak that Ibn Sa’ud might possibly come to Kuwait for a visit, and he had asked the Sheikh to let him know by special messenger of his arrival, as he had ‘heard so much of him and should like the opportunity of meeting such a distinguished man’.[iv] On his return to Kuwait on 28 February 1910 [Muharram 1328 H.] he found that Ibn Sa’ud had arrived, and with him his brothers Sa’ud, Muhammad and Sa’ad and his son Turki. Shakespear’s meetings with them were to give us the first sight of Ibn Sa’ud through European eyes in both words and pictures. Shakespear reported:

They were much interested in the ways of foreigners and the outer world. They dined with me and appeared to appreciate a Western table and menu, and also submitted to the camera. Ibn Sa’ud is a fair, handsome man, considerably above average Arab height with a particularly frank and open face, and after the first shyness, a genial and very courteous manner ... [he] is a broadminded, ‘straight’ man. His reputation is that of a noble, generous and just man who does not descend to mean actions. He did not discuss politics with me beyond remarking that he thanked God there were no Turks nearer his capital than those in Al Hasa, and that the English, as the friends and brothers of Mubarak as-Sabah, were thereby his friends and brothers. He had often heard Colonel Pelly’s visit to Riadh spoken of, but had never seen a white man in the place nor in fact ever in his life before the present occasion. He offered me a welcome should I ever contemplate a tour so far afield as Riyadh.[v]

The two men seem to have found an immediate friendship. Shakespear was allowed to take the first known photograph of Ibn Sa’ud. They were to meet again a year later, when during the course of further desert exploration through Summan to al-Haba, during March and April 1911 [1329.H.], Shakespear spent some days with Ibn Sa’ud in camp at Thaj. They had long and intimate discussions, which Shakespear later reported in detail to Sir Percy Cox, the Political Resident at Bushehr. He began with an account of the treatment he had been accorded and the reason for such a detailed account:

He [Ibn Sa’ud] treated me most hospitably and in the most genuinely friendly manner, sparing no pains to make my stay with him as pleasant as possible. All my questions regarding their country, its customs, resources, etc., were answered in the frankest manner whilst I was left free to wander amongst the tents and converse with all and sundry. I frequently discussed matters of doctrine, custom and religion and was always answered with calm and intelligent reasoning ... My object in stating the above is to show that my relations with the Al Sa’ud were of sufficiently intimate description to leave no doubt of the sincerity in what passed between us: indeed, I was habitually addressed as ‘Brother’ and if I had been one in fact I could not have been treated more as one of the family.[vi]

Their discussions were informal but of great importance. Ibn Sa’ud described his position and his ambitions in great detail. He spoke at length about the earlier relations of the al-Sa’ud with the British Government from the time of the Imam Turki bin ‘Abd-Allah, about his own relations with Turkey and about his attitude to the Trucial sheikhs.

In turn Shakespear cautioned Ibn Sa’ud against any thoughts that merely because he had discussed political matters with a British Government official, the British Government would do anything to disturb the existing state of affairs by supporting any challenge to Turkish authority in Arabia. He promised him to report their discussions in full, but again warned him that he was unlikely to get any answer of the nature that he desired. Ibn Sa’ud replied that ‘whatever answer might be returned, it would be a true one’, and he preferred ‘the truth from the English than the equivocation experience had taught him to expect from the Turks’.[vii]

From his discussions with Ibn Sa’ud Shakespear ventured to suggest that serious consideration should be given to the situation in Central Arabia. On Ibn Sa’ud’s account of the opposition to Turkish rule throughout Arabia, he opined ‘that a revolt is not only probable but would be welcomed by nearly every tribe throughout the Peninsula’[viii] and that with the al- Sa’ud established in al-Hasa and in friendly relations British interests would be strengthened.

On receipt of Shakespear’s report by the Foreign Office in London and by the Government of India the question of policy towards the al-Sa’ud was again considered. However, it was agreed that it seemed preferable to hold to the existing policy unless the Government of India reopened the question by proposing a departure from it. The Foreign Office’s reaction to Shakespear’s next meeting with Ibn Sa’ud showed a hardening of that attitude. It should be remembered that at this time the British and Ottoman Governments were engaged in negotiations about their disputes and on various matters in the Gulf region that were to continue until the ratification of the Anglo-Turkish Convention in June 1914.

Soon after the submission of his report Shakespear took leave for England for the Coronation of King George V in May 1911 [Jumada ‘l-awwal 1329 H.]. He then visited India to attend the Durbar, and returned to Kuwait at the end of January 1912 [Safar 1330 H.].

Shakespear was not to meet Ibn Sa’ud again until May 1913 [Jumada ‘l-awwal 1331 H.]; but meanwhile another English officer on leave from India was to visit Ibn Sa’ud in Riyadh. Captain Gerard Leachman made a private journey from Damascus to Riyadh. Leachman was already well known in the desert, but, unlike Shakespear, who always wore his British uniform, Leachman dressed, and passed, as an Arab on his travels. In 1910 he had travelled with the Anaiza and the Shammar and experienced the fighting between them, returned to Syria through Kurdistan and Anatolia, and then ridden from Damascus to Baghdad in nine days – a total distance of about 2,500 miles by horse and camel in less than six months!

Leachman left Damascus in November 1912 [Dhu ‘l-Hijja 1330 H.] with 'agailat [a camel train] returning to Qasim. He hoped to travel to Riyadh through Rass and western Qasim, but at Ayun he was told that he must go to Buraydah, as Ibn Sa’ud was visiting that town. He arrived there just after the latter’s departure. Ibn Sa’ud had left for Riyadh. Leachman wrote that the Emir, Fahd bin Mu’ammar, ‘was offended at my refusal to tell him what my business was with Ibn Sa’ud although I should have been puzzled to tell him this, as in truth I had none’.[ix] A messenger sent by bin Mu’ammar to Ibn Sa’ud returned with instructions to send Leachman to Riyadh, and he travelled there by the direct route through Shaqra, finding on his way that ‘Ibn Sa’ud had most kindly issued orders for my comfort at every town on the road, which greatly smoothed matters’.[x] He was greeted on his arrival by Ibn Sa’ud, who ‘regretted that his palace could not offer better quarters or more luxury, but said that since his arrival in Riyadh ten years before ... [he] had had no leisure to add to or improve his palace’.[xi]

During his stay in Riyadh Leachman had a stream of visitors in his room who, without exception, showed him the greatest courtesy. Sometimes he went into the town with Ibn Sa’ud, who was occasionally asked why he was entertaining a Christian, and would reply that ‘any Englishman, Christian or not, was his friend’.[xii] Ibn Sa’ud gave Leachman an account of his rise to power; but if he mentioned Shakespear – and it would seem strange for him not to do so – Leachman recorded no mention of his fellow-countryman. He was pleased to meet Ahmad al-Thunaiyan and others, who, he found, were always ready to discuss with him the geography of the country, and particularly the direction and extent of the great wudian or dried-up water-courses. However, he was disappointed when Ibn Sa’ud would not agree to his continuing his exploration to Yabrin and the Rub’ al Khali. Instead, he left for al-Hasa and the coast. At Hufuf he failed to persuade the Turkish officers to allow him to penetrate the country to the south; and so he left for Uqayr, from where he crossed to Bahrain.

In March 1913 [Rabia ‘l-thani 1331 H.], Shakespear set out on a longer journey to al Majma’a and, on learning that Ibn Sa’ud was camped at Khafs, joined him there for four days at the beginning of April [Rabia ‘l-thani 1331 H.]. He later reported that in the course of his four-day visit Ibn Sa’ud had discussed with him his future policy with great frankness. According to Shakespear Ibn Sa’ud ‘had stated that his power in Central Arabia had increased till he no longer feared any of its shaikhs or rulers ... the Al Sa’ud were prepared to hold what they had recovered of their ancient dominion’.[xiii] He explained that this would be comparatively easy to do but for the menace of Turkish aggression from al-Hasa and the Hejaz. The al-Sa’ud were not strong enough to fight on both fronts; but by evicting the Turks from al-Hasa they would secure their eastern boundaries, and so be better able to defend the west. The al-Sa’ud had just grounds for their claim to Qatif and al-Hasa, which had been recognized decades before both by Midhat Pasha, for the Turks, and by Colonel Pelly, for the British. He said that the Arabs felt equal to evicting the Turks from those areas, and asked that ‘if the situation is now altered and Great Britain is not willing to preserve the former friendship, which is his earnest desire, he may he definitely informed, so that he may look to his own interests’.[xiv] Shakespear concluded his report: ‘I have the honour to solicit your support for a re-consideration of the whole question of our relations with the Amir of Najd for I cannot avoid the impression that the matter will become an urgent one before long and that it will he to our advantage to have reached beforehand some definite decision in regard to our relations with Bin Sa’ud.’[xv]

In forwarding Shakespear’s report and commenting on it, Cox also reported to the Government of India that since the meeting Ibn Sa’ud had captured al-Hasa without opposition. He suggested that Britain and Turkey should recognize Ibn Sa’ud ‘as autonomous ruler of Najd under the suzerainty of the Porte, and that we [the British] should be accorded the right to accredit an agent to him’.[xvi] This led to controversy between the Foreign Office and the India Office. The latter, who were concerned that British interests in the Gulf should not suffer, observed that ‘it would he a pity if we said or did anything which would discourage the local people [i.e. Cox and Shakespear] from saying what they think and encourage them to say what they think they are wanted to say.’[xvii] However, the Foreign Office view prevailed, and, for the sake of Anglo-Turkish relations, it was decided that British policy should be ‘to abstain from intervention, direct or indirect, in the affairs of Najd’[xviii] and that to follow Cox’s suggestion ‘with a view to concluding direct agreements with Ibn Sa’ud as an autonomous ruler, would give rise to [Turkish] suspicion and might have far-reaching and regrettable effects’.[xix] The result of this debate in London was that the following instruction, dated 10 June 1913 [5 Rajab 1331 H.], was sent to Cox and repeated for information [and compliance] to Shakespear in Kuwait:

Policy of the British Government at present is to endeavour to consolidate the dominions of the Porte in Asia Minor and to refrain as long as possible from any intervention direct or indirect in Central Arabia. Should Abdul Aziz bin Saud make any overtures [then the] Resident should communicate with Government and ask for instructions.[xx]

Cox, the Resident, had to comply with that instruction almost immediately, for on 13 June 1913 [8 Rajab 1331 H.], Ibn Sa’ud had written to inform him of his capture of al-Hasa and Qatif. Shakespear had heard of this on his return to Kuwait, and had reported the details to Cox, expressing his surprise at the suddenness of Ibn Sa’ud’s move against the Turks, and commenting that he ‘could hardly have selected a better moment or managed the affair more deftly, as he appears to have secured the support of the responsible men of Hasa itself.’[xxi] In his letter Ibn Sa’ud suggested that there should be a friendly understanding about the situation on the same terms as he believed his grandfather, Faisal, had agreed with Pelly fifty-five years before. Cox, observing his recent instructions, could only reply that ‘the British Government considered it necessary to observe a strictly neutral attitude towards both sides [the Porte and the Saudis].’[xxii] However, he added a personal note expressing his own appreciation of the kind help and assistance that Ibn Sa’ud had afforded to English travellers. In further exchanges during the year, Ibn Sa’ud’s requests for a clearer explanation of the British attitude were answered only with assurances that ‘the British Government will continue to maintain the friendly relations which have been sustained in the past’.[xxiii]

But Cox did not want to lose contact with Ibn Sa’ud. Just before he left the Gulf in December 1913 [Muharram 1333H.], having been posted back to India as Secretary of the Foreign Department, he arranged for a meeting to take place at ‘Uqayr later that month between Ibn Sa’ud and the Acting Political Resident at Bahrain, Major Trevor, representing the Political Resident, and accompanied by Shakespear. They later reported on the lengthy discussions they had with Ibn Sa’ud during the two days they were his guests. Trevor wrote that they had arrived in a ‘boom’ provided by ‘Abd-Allah al-Gusaibi, Ibn Sa’ud’s agent in Bahrain, and continued:

A little before sunrise ... we saw Bin Sa’ud’s camp being pitched on the sand hills about a mile east of the Custom House and Serai (the only buildings or habitations of any description at ‘Uqair) ... We were received by Bin Sa’ud with great politeness on the shore outside the Serai. After a short interview in the Serai Bin Sa’ud called for horses and we rode to the camp with him accompanied by a large crowd of horsemen, who on the way gave us an ‘ardha’ or welcoming ceremony.[xxiv]

Ibn Sa’ud recounted how his family had ruled over Nejd for generations without interference from outside. He had consolidated his authority in Central Arabia and taken al-Hasa and Qatif. He outlined the terms of a treaty proposed by the Turkish Government and how he would delay giving his answer; he hoped that the British Government would see ‘his sincere desire to arrive at a modus vivendi with them [the British]’.[xxv] He said that he would be satisfied if the British would maintain the maritime peace along his coast and recognize his position as de facto ruler. ‘If not, he would have to trust in his own sword.’[xxvi]

Trevor concluded his despatch about this meeting:

I would observe that only Bin Sa’ud, Captain Shakespear and myself were present at any of the interviews at which politics were discussed, and I should like to say that the exceedingly frank and cordial attitude of Bin Sa’ud at the meeting was due to his friendly feelings towards Captain Shakespear. The latter’s knowledge of the language and ways of the Bedouin from Central Arabia was also most helpful and his presence was mainly responsible for any favourable results which may follow from the meeting.[xxvii]

Following his meeting with Ibn Sa’ud at Khafs, Shakespear himself had been instructed not to meet him again under any circumstances without prior government approval, and to confine himself to the territory ‘assigned to Kuwait under the Anglo-Turkish Convention’.[xxviii] He feared that this would prevent his planned journey across Arabia to the Red Sea. British Government objections were based on their desire not to upset the Turks. However, in recommending that Shakespear should he permitted to attempt the journey, the Viceroy of India wrote ‘It will be most unfortunate if for political reasons, Englishmen are always to be excluded from exploration in Central Arabia while the field is left open to foreigners.’[xxix]

In January 1914 [1332 H.] Shakespear received permission to undertake his journey. The Political Resident wrote to him ‘now you have got permission I think it is your duty to your country and yourself to start without delay. God speed you in your great enterprise.’[xxx] He left Kuwait on the 3 February [Rabia ‘l-awwal 1332 H.] and arrived in Riyadh five weeks later, where he was warmly greeted by Ibn Sa’ud. His diary records meetings with Ibn Sa’ud and the Imam Abd al-Rahman, but little detail of their conversations. He spent much of his time walking around Riyadh and the gardens and taking photographs. He witnessed Ibn Sa’ud making preparations to leave Riyadh on a ghazu (razzia) and, when paying his farewell call on him two days later, discovered that he was ‘to march with the standard’[xxxi] on the following day. He travelled with Ibn Sa’ud for four days. During that time, he recorded that he treated Ibn Sa’ud, who was not very well, spent time discussing history and religion with him and others in the majlis, and took many photographs, which he despatched to Kuwait. The night before he left Ibn Sa’ud, not far from Huraymila, he noted that he had ‘another long discussion with him, got lette