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helped to establish representation to the company in Bahrain. Belgrave and his
33
newly-wedded wife arrived in Bahrain on 31 March 1926. The official
34

appointment of Belgrave by the Government of Bahrain addressed to the Political

Agency was dated 12 April 1926. Belgrave borrowed the name of The Times
35
advertisement section as the title for his published memoir on Bahrain, Personal

Column.

The initial contract of four years in service to Bahrain’s Government became

three decades. Belgrave’s presence was felt early as was documented by the

Political Agent in Bahrain, Captain CG Prior, to the Secretary to the Resident in 1929.

Reforms undertaken by Belgrave in the first three years of his service were

summarised by Prior into the following points: his control of expenditure; the

reorganisation of customs; the reformation of courts; the organisation of the pearl

industry; the establishment of a Land Department with a survey of Bahrain in the

process of completion; the development of the Police Force (the Adviser also

assumed the title of Police Commandant); the development of a Public Works

Department (with the intention of installing electricity soon); the organisation of

Waqfs; the establishment of a municipality on Muharraq Island; and the
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establishment of the first girls’ school. With the rate of developments that took

33 J. Mantle, Norwich Union: The First 200 Years (London: 1997), 90-91; K.M. Kanoo, The House of
Kanoo: A Century of an Arabian Family Business (London: 1997), 146; and M. Field, The Merchants:
The Big Business Families of Arabia (London: 1984), 281.
34 Belgrave, Personal Column, 15.
35 IOR/R/15/2/128, Government of Bahrain to Daly, 12 April 1926.
36 Waqf: Religious endowments.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 9