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background to the topic as the records of the archive do not cover the time period of

the thesis.

The Government of Bahrain’s annual reports republished in a number of

volumes under the title of Bahrain Government Annual Reports 1924-1970 were

explored in the preparation of this thesis. The Residency’s monthly and annual

administration republished reports on the Gulf region were also scrutinised. These

included the Political Diaries of the Persian Gulf and the Persian Gulf Administration

Reports.

Another category covered was the memoirs and diaries of personalities

directly related to the research. The memoirs of those concerned include Belgrave’s

memoir on Bahrain entitled Personal Column that offered a general sketch of the

development of the crisis in Bahrain with little detail. Al-Bakir’s account in From

Bahrain to Exile in the Arabic language stands as the only published description of

events from a member of the nationalist movement. There are a number of issues

with the memoir. First, it provided only slight insight into the inner politics of the

Movement. Second, two dominant gaps can be found in the memoir as little

information is provided, the first was evident in 1955 and the second was during the

period of Al-Bakir’s departure from Bahrain between the end of March and

September 1956. The third issue is Al-Bakir’s incoherent narrative flow. He shifts

from a topic to another one totally unrelated to it. In addition to Al-Bakir’s memoir,

a long speech he presented in Arabic in 1956 to the Kuwaiti Studentship Union

entitled The Political Situation in Bahrain and its Recent Events, republished in 2007,

was also reviewed.

© Hamad E. Abdulla x