Page 1 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

Belgrave Diaries

Papers of Charles Dalrymple-Belgrave, 1926-1957

Charles Dalrymple-Belgrave (b 1894) took up the post as Personal and Financial Advisor to
Shaikh Hamad of Bahrain in 1926, as an experienced British colonial officer. The island was
thought by the British to be particularly politically unstable in the early 1920s, a period when
Iran had claims on ownership of the country. During the 1830s, Bahrain had signed the first
of many treaties with Britain, who offered Bahrain naval protection from Ottoman Turkey in
exchange for unfettered access to the Gulf. This arrangement kept the British out of Bahrain's
internal affairs until a series of internecine battles prompted the British to install their own
choice for emir in 1869, the Al-Khalifa ruler Sheikh Isa bin Ali, ending a period of fiefdom
rule and inter-tribal feuding. In 1923, Britain intervened to replace Sheikh Isa bin Ali with his
son Sheikh Isa Hamad bin Isa.After a succession of Political Agents it became apparent that a
permanent administrator should be found who would ensure some political continuity. Sheikh
Hamad agreed to appoint a Personal Adviser employed by himself and not by the British
Government, who would help him to modernise the state. There were no readily available
candidates and the post was advertised in The Times in August 1925. Charles Dalrymple
Belgrave was eventually appointed with an annual salary of £720. During the war he had
served with the Frontiers Districts Administration Camel Corps and had spent two years in
the oasis of Siwa. At the time of his appointment he was on leave after two years in the
Colonial Service in Tanganyika. He brushed up his Arabic at the School of Oriental and
African Studies in London and arrived in Bahrain in March 1926. He became Advisor to the
Government of Bahrain in 1933, a position which he held until 1949. He helped create the
country's educational system, overseeing much modernisation and reforms of Bahrain's
infrastructural development. When Emir Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa ascended the throne in
1942, he further capitalised on Bahrain's superior level of development to take advantage of
the oil boom happening in Saudi Arabia and other neighbouring countries, making Bahrain
the Gulf's main entrepôt.Belgrave remained in Bahrain until 1957 when British involvement
in Bahrain was under heavy criticism. At this point, British troops had been brought into the
country as part of the Suez crisis of 1956. Britain announced its intention to leave the Gulf 15
years later, prompting Bahrain to proclaim its independence on 14 August 1971.