Page 67 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

But as the war continued it became more difficult to maintain the pleasant,
easy relations which had existed for so long bet ween the Agency and the
Government. One or two of the ‘Politicals’ who served in Bahrain at this
time were badly chosen and difficult to deal with and the brunt of the
trouble was borne by me. Everybody was anxious and their nerves were
on edge and it was a time when carefully picked men should have been
sent to the Gulf, but perhaps at that time they were not available. So often
the attitude was as though the Resident was the headmaster of a school,
the Political Agent a form master, the Shaikh the head boy and I—well,
I don’t quite know what—neither fish, fowl or good red herring! Often
small things served to irritate the Arabs; one Political Agent used to write
notes in a little book while he was talking to Arabs; they resented this
very much as they always assumed that he was writing something de­
rogatory about them. The same man developed a belief, which became
an obsession, that everyone in Bahrain was anti-British, which was not
the case. The Shaikh, who was more pro-British than any of the other
rulers, felt that his co-opcration and help were not being appreciated, and
various incidents occurred to foster this idea.
There was the affair of the Papal insignia. The Shaikh was very broad­
minded in matters of religion; he often said to me that he liked everyone
to practise their own religion in Bahrain provided that they did not
interfere with the religion of the country. He gave permission for a
Roman Catholic church to be built and presented to the Catholic com-
munity a piece of land in Manama for that purpose. When we wished
to build an Anglican church Shaikh Sulman gave us a piece of land near
the fort on which we built the church of St Christopher and a vicarage
for the Chaplain. In appreciation of the Shaikh’s attitude the Pope created
him a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Silvester, and the
Roman Catholic Bishop arrived in Bahrain to deliver the insignia to the
Shaikh, but the British authorities objected and the Shaikh
was com-
pelled to accept their views. I had the embarrassing task of trying to explain
\ to the Bishop why the Shaikh could not accept the Order; when the
Bishop left I saw him off from the pier and he then said to me that he
had never known of an important Papal decoration being refused in such
a manner. The Shaikh and his family were extremely upset at the attitude';
of the British and the incident did not improve the relations between i
:s '
them and the Shaikh. However, after some time the objection was with-;
drawn and the Shaikh received the insignia. I was never able to fathom
the real reason for the British attitude in this matter. It was a time
when we required all the support we could get from loyal friends like
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the Shaikh, yet at this critical period the British representatives frequently
acted in a manner which might have been deliberately calculated to
antagonize the Shaikh and his people. Fortunately after some moves and
transfers new people appeared on the scene and all went smoothly as
before.
The tenth anniversary of Shaikh Hamed’s succession was held on
February 16th, 1942; it had been postponed for a few days because heavy
rain had Hooded the fort parade ground and the open space in front of
the palace. When the rain came it usually caused floods, as much of the
town was not more than two feet above sea level and the drains which
now carry away the surface water did not then exist. There was a cere-
mom ial parade of the State Police at the palace and the Shaikh took the
salute, but it was a gloomy occasion; everyone was feeling depressed and
anxious over the war news. Shaikh Hamed, as I noted in my diary, looked
tired and ill and the grey stormy sky with heavy black clouds banked
over the town made a sombre background for the marching police,
relieved only by their scarlet turbans.
Two days later I was awakened early in the morning by a messenger
with the news that Shaikh Hamed had had a stroke at his little shooting
lodge at Rumaitha, in the hills at the south end of the island. I dressed
hurriedly and drove out to Rumaitha. I found a sad scene. Usually when
I went to see the Shaikh there was bustle and chatter and noise, ser-
vants hurrying in and out of the buildings, cars coming and going and
camels and donkeys grazing in the valley among the hills, but that day,
though most of the family and the household servants and retainers were
gathered there, there was silence, broken only by some of the men who
were sobbing. I saw the Shaikh twice during the day; he was unconscious,
lying in the inner room of the little bungalow with Hosha, his favourite
silugi, crouching on the ground beside him. He was being looked after
by Dr Snow, Dr Harrison of the American Mission, who knew him well,
and Dr Holmes, who had been for many years in charge of the Victoria
Memorial Hospital, who happened to be staying in Bahrain. They took
at watching him, but there was little that they could do. In the
turns
evening I went home and Marjorie went across to Muharraq to see the
Shaikh’s wife, the daughter of Shaikh Rashid; she, poor lady, had been •
given little news. Next day there was no change. In the late afternoon
Shaikh Abdulla, Shaikh Hamed’s brother, came to me and asked that I
should suggest to the doctors that they should use leeches. After sunset
Marjorie and I went to one of the pools and with great difficulty caught
a few and sent them out to Rumaitha.
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