11/16/2014 The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave and Modern Bahrain - Asian and African studies blog

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/the-adviser-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1-ch… 1/8

Asian and African studies blogMain

Previous post | Next post

28 February 2014

The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave andModern BahrainAt the time of his death on 28 February 1969, Charles Dalrymple Belgrave hadnot set foot in Bahrain for more than a decade. Yet for over 30 years –between 1926 and 1957 – when he served as Adviser to the rulers of Bahrain,Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (reigned 1923-1942[1]) and Sheikh Salmanbin Hamad Al Khalifa (1942-1961), Belgrave was an immensely powerfulfigure in the country and played an instrumental role in its development duringthis period.

Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Charles Belgrave, Bahrain, 1945.(Dmitri Kessel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

11/16/2014 The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave and Modern Bahrain - Asian and African studies blog

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/the-adviser-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1-ch… 2/8

Born in England on 9 December 1894, Belgrave was educated at BedfordSchool and Oxford University. After leaving Oxford he joined the British Armyand during WWI he served in Egypt, Sudan and Palestine with the ImperialCamel Corps Brigade. After the war, he served as an administrator in the SiwaOasis in Egypt before becoming an administrative officer in the British mandateof Tanganyika Territory (formerly German East Africa).

In the summer of 1925, while on leave in London from his posting inTanganyika, Belgrave saw an advertisement for a vacancy in the personalcolumn of The Times newspaper that was to transform his life.

Young Gentleman, aged 22/28, Public School and/or Universityeducation, required for service in an Eastern State. Good salaryand prospects to suitable man, who must be physicially fit: highestreferences; proficiency in languages an advantage. Write with fulldetails to Box S.501, The Times, London E.C.4.(The Times, 10 August 1925)

Belgrave applied for the post and after a series of interviews with BritishGovernment officials (including the British Political Resident in the PersianGulf, Francis Prideaux) he was offered the position of Adviser to ShaikhHamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the ruler of Bahrain. A letter Belgrave wrote toPrideaux in September 1925 reveals that he had conveniently forgotten hisown age when he applied (he was 31 at the time and the upper age limit was28).

11/16/2014 The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave and Modern Bahrain - Asian and African studies blog

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/the-adviser-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1-ch… 3/8

First page of a letter sent from Belgrave to Prideaux, 11 September 1925(IOR/R/15/1/362 f. 1E)

Before setting out for Bahrain, Belgrave completed a three-month Arabiccourse at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in order torefresh his Arabic and married his fiancée, Marjorie Lepel Barrett-Lennard.The newly-married couple arrived in Manama in March 1926 having combinedtheir journey to Bahrain with their honeymoon.

Belgrave began his new role at a tense time in the country, Shaikh Hamad hadbeen installed as ruler by the British only three years earlier when his fatherShaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa had been forced to step down. This had led tolingering tensions between Shaikh Hamad and factions within Bahrain –including members of his own family – that supported his elderly father, Isa.

11/16/2014 The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave and Modern Bahrain - Asian and African studies blog

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/the-adviser-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1-ch… 4/8

Belgrave was Adviser to Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the ruler of Bahrain(pictured above) from 1926 until Hamad’s death in 1942. Source: WikimediaCommons

Though Bahrain was nominally independent, Britain had dictated its foreignpolicy since the 19th century, before consolidating its power over the islands in1900, with the creation of the post of British Political Agent in Bahrain.Although Belgrave was an employee of the Shaikh and not the BritishGovernment, as his hiring process clearly demonstrates, his position wasclosely tied to the colonial aims of the British in the region. Belgrave swiftlybecame a powerful figure in Bahrain and came to be known simply as ‘TheAdviser’ (المستشار). He essentially ran Bahrain’s government, was the head ofits police force and – in the absence of an organised legal code – personallyoperated its courts. Belgrave oversaw a programme of modernisation that sawthe creation of an education system, a police force, a health service and anextensive series of public works (including roads, power stations, piers andairports). This transitional period also saw a centralisation of power and theconsolidation of both the British and Al Khalifa family’s position in Bahrain.Belgrave was also instrumental in supporting oil exploration in the country,which was the first in the region to discover oil, in 1932.

11/16/2014 The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave and Modern Bahrain - Asian and African studies blog

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/the-adviser-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1-ch… 5/8

A 1935 Indian postage stamp picturing King George V that is marked for use inBahrain. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Belgrave is an extremely visible presence in the records of the PoliticalAgency, Bahrain, and elsewhere in the India Office Records held at the BritishLibrary, with a very large amount of correspondence and other papers bearinghis name, paying testimony to the range of matters he covered and to his greatattention to administrative detail. In fact, Belgrave’s fastidious attention to detailwas something for which he was criticised. In May 1941, Charles GeoffreyPrior, the British Political Resident in the Persian Gulf wrote to his superiors inIndia that Belgrave had a “tendency to waste time on trivialities”. In the sameletter, Prior also claimed that Belgrave’s increasing aloofness had caused adrop in his popularity and that he “and the other Bahrain officials have had theirway for so long without any supervision, inspection or control that they havebecome a society of self-satisfied Czars”.

11/16/2014 The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave and Modern Bahrain - Asian and African studies blog

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/the-adviser-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1-ch… 6/8

Extract of letter from Charles Geoffrey Prior to O.K Caroe at the India Office inLondon, 25 May 1941. (IOR/R/15/1/344 f. 129)

Prior’s concern was prescient as by the 1950s Belgrave had become anunpopular figure in Bahrain; many Bahrainis had grown angry at the amount ofpower that was centralised in his hands. Belgrave had come to embody BritishImperialism in the Middle East at a time of fervent Arab nationalist activity andwhen, after the Suez Crisis, Britain’s standing in the region had reached anadir. Belgrave was viewed by many in Bahrain as an impediment to thecountry making the transition to a democracy and as shown in this BBCarchival clip from 1956, calls for him to leave the country were at the forefrontof the demands of protestors at the time. As one protestor stated to the BBCreporter, “Belgrave is not just an adviser – he is the judge, and when he goesto the court he is also the police commandant. He is everything in Bahrain, heis not an adviser.” Eventually, in April 1957, Belgrave was forced to leave andwas never to set foot in Bahrain again.

Once back in the UK, Belgrave wrote an autobiography named PersonalColumn which offers a fascinating insight into his life and the development ofBahrain during this period. In the book’s conclusion, Belgrave states his belief

11/16/2014 The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave and Modern Bahrain - Asian and African studies blog

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/the-adviser-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1-ch… 7/8

that if a more liberal system of government is to be introduced in Bahrain, itshould be done so gradually and that any attempt to “rush the process” wouldbe “disastrous” - a clear expression of the attitude that eventually made hisposition in the country untenable and forced him to leave. Ultimately,Belgrave’s legacy in Bahrain remains a contentious issue, but it is one thatanyone wishing to understand the modern history of Bahrain must seriouslyengage with.

More stories related to the modern history of the Gulf can be found on theBritish Library's Untold Lives blog.

Further reading:

BL IOR/R/15/1/362: 'File 19/204 I (C 55) Bahrain, Appointment of FinancialAdviser, Belgrave and Assistant, Luard'.BL IOR/R/15/1/344: 'File 19/169 III (C 80) Bahrain Reforms'.Charles Belgrave, Personal Column (London, 1960).Charles Belgrave, The Pirate Coast (London, 1966).Mayy Muḥammad al-Khalīfah , Tshārlz Biljrīf : al-sīrah wa-al-mudhakkirāt(Beirut, 2000).Photographs of Bahrain: Life Magazine, Life in the Middle East: Power andPetroleum in the Gulf in 1945.

Louis Allday, Gulf History/Arabic Specialist, British Library/Qatar FoundationPartnershipTwitter - @Louis_Allday

[1] Note: some do not recognise Hamad’s reign as formally beginning until thedeath of his father, Isa in 1932.

Posted by Ursula Sims-Williams at 11:59 AM

Tags

Diplomacy, Qatar, Trade

Comments

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by: |

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Post Edit Your comment could not be posted. Error type:Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appearuntil approved by the author. Post another comment

568 19 181 1

11/16/2014 The Adviser (المستشار): Charles Belgrave and Modern Bahrain - Asian and African studies blog

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/the-adviser-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1-ch… 8/8

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please tryagain.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbersyou see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from postingcomments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Continue

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approvedthem.

This weblog only allows comments from registered users. To comment, pleaseSign In or Register.

Copyright © The British Library Board

Privacy & Terms

Type the text