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of the strike that was mainly due to the fact that it occurred on a religious and public

holiday. On the second day of the festivities the Scouts were not seen again.

Referring to the Scouts Burrows said to the FO that it had ‘become clear that

the Bahrain Government must now take determined action to stop the existence of

this private army’. 779 It was estimated by the Residency that the Scouts organisation

had reached a thousand members who were called the Suez Canal Troop and that

the NUC was working on organising another troop consisting of an additional one

thousand to be named the Palestine Troop. The uniforms worn by the Scouts

certainly got Burrows’ attention as he commended the ‘beautiful uniform[s]’ for

their design. Interestingly he further viewed the Scouts to be ‘the foundation of the

future Bahrain national army’. 780 The statement by Burrows highlighted the

Resident’s view of the future of Bahrain, seeing through the Scouts the future of

Bahrain as an independent nation with its own defence force.

Based on the information provided, the only concern at the time to the FO in

relation to the Scouts organisation was reflected in a FO document by SH

Hebblethwaite in which he asked the Residency: ‘Can you tell us who supplied the

beautiful uniforms to the Scouts?’ 781 In response the Residency replied that the

Scouts’ uniforms were made at different tailors in Bahrain and each Scout was

responsible for the purchase of his own uniform. Each uniform cost the equivalent

of about £3.00. 782

779 TNA, FO 371/120686, Despatch 737, Burrows to FO, 18 August 1956.
780 TNA, FO 371/120686, Despatch 749, Burrows to FO.
781 TNA, FO 371/120686, S.H. Hebblethwaite from FO to Residency, 24 August 1956.
782 TNA, FO 371/120686, P.W. Wilkinson from Residency to FO, 5 September 1956.

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