Page 789 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

aerodrome. M went to tea at the Mission & then motored out to Jessah to call on Sh Sulman's young wife & the
baby. She went with Mrs Van Peussem, the girl is very young and very pretty indeed. Afterwards they called on the
family of another Shaikh who lives close by. I went along to the Skinners to play Bridge, he is at Baghdad getting
some more men for the oil camp. A man called Sampson, of the APOC called. We had met before and I remembered
him quite well but neither of us could remember where we met. I took him along to Mrs Skinners, quite a nice
person. Did some work in the garden on the trees round the tennis court.

Wednesday [14th June]

Old Shaikh Ibrahaim died so there was no joint court. The Shaikh came in to the Palace in the afternoon to receive
calls of condolence, I went up to call with Lock. Sampson was also there & a lot of other people. The only person
who seemed really affected was old Rashid, Sh Ibrahaim's brother, Sh Abdulla put on a would-be sad expression and
Shaikh Mohammed looked a shade more sour than usual. The Shaikh seemed quite unmoved. The old man was one
of the few remaining of the older generation, more a contemporary of Isa's than of Sh Hamed's. He was very
intelligent and fond of reading and took in a great many newspapers and had a good library, but I always thought him
rather tiresome as he constantly said that the Government should do this and that but though often invited he never
took any public part in things. He was wonderfully well acquainted with general news, history & politics and once in a
letter I saw to one of his sons he quoted Gladstone's advice to somebody on some occasion - rather surprising for an
Arab shaikh in Bahrain. Tennis in afternoon, a great many people seemed to come & we had some good games &
good Bridge afterwards.

Thursday 15th June

Fort, office. Lock went to Muharraq to meet Lady Willingdon, the Viceroy's wife, who was passing through en route
to Europe. Motored in afternoon. Russells & Sampson came to dinner. We sat on the veranda & talked & did not
play Bridge. He is quite amusing. We finally remembered where we met which was at Teviot Kerr's in Baghdad five
years ago. He had a Russian wife with him & there was a lot of talk about them & I got the impression that they had
now parted company. She was pretty & smart and much younger than him & there was another man & he was said
to be terribly jealous. We stayed in the same house with them there.

Friday 16th [June]

Bazaar in morning. Did some sketching for a picture of rather a nice bit of bazaar with a dark passage & light street
beyond. Tennis at the Agency, afterwards we all went round to the Russells & sat on their veranda, a most lovely
sunset. Haji Williamson was at the Agency, a queer fellow who works for the APOC. He became a Mohamedan. He
ran away from school when 17 & finally got to the Gulf & has lived out here ever since, he has an Arab wife and family
& speaks Arabic perfectly & is a very useful man to the APOC. I don't care for him myself. Here he wears European