Page 134 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

114 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

The Order granted extensive powers to the British political agent based
in Manama. It subordinated the Al Khalifah administration to the
4
Residency of Bushehr, and hence to the Government of India. The
establishment of a municipal government in Manama in 1919 inaugu-
rated the new era of political reform which continued apace throughout
the 1920s. In 1923 the reorganisation of the customs administration,
which the Bushehr Residency had advocated since 1903, represented
the first step towards the bureaucratisation of Bahrain’s tribal govern-
ment. Manama’s customs house was placed under the control of Claude
de Grenier, an Englishman who served as its director between 1924 and
1943. Customs receipts were funnelled into a newly created state treasury
and the nine clerks working under his supervision became the first officials
5
on the payroll of the new government. The creation of a Department of
Land Registration (Idarah al-Tabu) in 1925, the establishment of a system
of Civil Courts after 1923 and the reform of the pearling industry initiated
in 1924 constituted the pillars of the new imperial regime. 6
The rationale of British intervention in Bahrain was administrative
rather than political. The reforms maintained the native regime in power
and minimised formal responsibility of government on the part of the
authorities of India. The position of the Al Khalifah family remained
unchallenged as Shaykh Hamad headed the reformed administration as
regent after the forced abdication of Shaykh ‘Isa in 1923 and until his
death in 1932. The centrepiece of the reforms was the abolition of
al-‘imarah system and the suppression of feudal rights exercised by the
ruling family in urban and rural areas. As administrative authority was
progressively devolved to the new departments, positions were no longer
allocated to members of the ruling family and to the clients of the Al
Khalifah on the bases of tribal patronage, at least in principle. In practice,
many of Shaykh Hamad’s relatives turned into state employees as they
served in the Civil Courts and headed the municipal councils of Manama
and Muharraq, the latter established in 1929. Moreover, with the creation
of a state treasury and the institution of a Civil List in 1923, the properties

4
‘The Bahrain Order in Council, 1913’, L/P&S/10/248 IOR.
5
The Bahrain Government Annual Reports, 1924–1970, 8 vols. (Gerrards Cross: Archive
Editions, 1986): ‘Administrative Report for the Years 1926–1937’, vol. II, pp. 15–16;
‘Revenue and Expenditure for the Year 1354’, vol. I, p. 7; ‘Annual Report for the Year
1356’, vol. II, p. 42; ‘Annual Report for the Year 1357’, vol. II, p. 50; ‘Annual Report for
the Year 1358’, vol. II, p. 40.
6
The administrative reforms of the 1920s have been studied in some detail. See as
main contributions Rumaihi, Bahrain, pp. 167–92; Khuri, Tribe and State in Bahrain,
pp. 85–117; al-Tajir, Bahrain, 1920–1945, pp. 52–103.