Page 141 - Arabian Studies (V)

British Financial Advisers in Muscat
during the Interwar Period

J. E. Peterson

The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman during the first half of the
twentieth century was but a shadow of the expansionist A1 Bu
Sa‘Id state which had prospered a century earlier. Although the
Sultanate was at least nominally independent throughout this
period, British influence in the capital at Muscat was at times as
pervasive as in the various protectorates of the Gulf. Between 1925
and 1932, British advisors on contract to the Sultanate held posi­
tions of extensive authority in Muscat. Even though the period of
time during which the Financial Advisors (FA) functioned in
Muscat was relatively short, their activities, rivalries, and disagree­
ments with the British establishment and with each other’s policies,
exhibited a long-term effect on the country, especially as reflected
in the personality development of the future Sultan, Sa‘Id b.
Taymur (r. 1932-70).
The ascendancy of British dominance in Muscat—as exercised
through the Government of India’s representative, the Political
Agent, Muscat (PAM), and his superior, the Political Resident in
the Persian Gulf (PRPG), based in Bushire—was less the result of
an aggressive policy of imperialism than the aftermath of a cumula­
tive series of attempts to shore up and reform a feeble government.
As late as the 1890s, Delhi’s avowed policy had been the exclusion
of other European powers from the Sultanate while shunning inter­
ference in Muscat’s domestic affairs. However, by 1915, Delhi was
forced to abandon its policy of neutrality between the A1 Bu Sa‘Id
Sultans and the tribal powers of interior Oman.
The British, fearing that a fanatical and xenophobic Imamate
arising in the Oman interior would replace the Sultanate, felt that
only active Government of India support could prevent that out­
come. Consequently, Delhi provided military protection for the
Muscat/Matrah region and then instituted various administrative
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