Saudi Arabia. Captain Shakespear. Photographs, journals and transcript of his diary.

SAUDI ARABIA AND KUWAIT ̶ SHAKESPEAR, CAPTAIN WILLIAM HENRY IRVINE

Thirty three photographs of Ibn Saud, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, 1909-1914 by Captain Shakespear, with a copy of the typescript diary of his 1914 trans-Arabian journey, and the 1922 issues of the Geographical Journal containing ‘Shakespear’s Last Journey’ with a map of Northern Arabia charting Shakespear's travels in 1909–14.

33 photographs (average 200 x 255mm., or the reverse), many silver prints from Shakespear's original glass plate negatives held by the Royal Geographical Society, with their stamp on the reverse, and some copy prints, a few with minor wear

The Geographical Journal, Vol. LIX, nos. 5 and 6, May and June 1922, 2 volumes, 8vo, original wrappers (slight wear), containing the two-part article by Douglas Carruthers entitled ‘Captain Shakespear’s Last Journey’ (pp. 321–334, and 401–417), with large folding map of Northern Arabia charting Shakespear’s Arabian journeys

Journal of Trip via Central Arabia to Egypt, photocopy of an early typescript of Capt. Shakespear's unpublished diary of his 1914 journey that covered 1,810 miles, entitled in 2 parts of 62 pages each (3 Feb. - 30 April and 1-25 May 1914); this is an early typescript of Shakespear's manuscript diary now in the British Library (Mss Eur A230)

TODAY CAPT. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR'S PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AMONG THE BEST-KNOWN EARLY IMAGES OF KUWAIT AND SAUDI ARABIA.

Today, Capt. William Shakespear’s photographs are among the best-known early images of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Shakespear arrived in Kuwait in 1909 as British Political Agent – a post he was to hold until 1914. He grasped every opportunity to explore and document the territory in which he found himself. He worked with a large plate camera which was specially adapted to take panoramic views and later acquired a Houghton’s Ensignette – a small folding camera which took film negatives. His photography was limited only by the amount of equipment he could carry on his desert journeys.

From 1909 on, Shakespear made seven journeys of exploration into eastern and central Arabia. In 1909, he explored some 200 miles of territory to the south of Kuwait Bay. In 1910 he went farther south, to the well of “as-Safa” (= al-Lisafah), turning north-west to Hafar al-Batin and then returning along the Batin to Hulaibah and beyond, returning thence southwards to Jahrah. Both of these journeys kept within what was to be recognized by Britain and Turkey in 1913 as Shaikh Mubarak of Kuwait’s sphere of influence. Today a part of each route – in the case of the 1910 journey a large part – falls within Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province – a state of affairs that traces itself to Sir Percy Cox’s frontier adjudication at the ‘Uqair Conference in 1922.

Shakespear’s great ambition was to establish relations with ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Ibn Saud, then Amir of Riyadh, and to visit his remote Najdi capital. He had met and taken three photographs of the young ruler in Kuwait in 1910. His 1911 journey took him south to the wells of Thaj, technically in Ottoman-controlled al-Hasa, where he conferred with Ibn Saud again and took further photographs of him.

Shakespear’s journeys culminated in his great crossing of Arabia in 1914, covering 1,810 miles from Kuwait to Suez via Majma‘ah, Riyadh, ‘Unayzah, and Buraydah, thence along the eastern fringe of the Great Nafud via Hayyaniyyah, and on to al-Jawf, Jabal Tubayq, ‘Aqabah and Sinai, as recorded in the typescript document offered here.

He returned to Arabia in 1915 as Political Officer on Special Duty, only to meet an untimely death with the Saudi forces at Jarrab in Najd in January 1915.

Sources

Carruthers, D., ‘Captain Shakespear’s Last Journey’, Geographical Journal, vol. LIX, nos.5 and 6, May and June 1922. London: Royal Geographical Society

Facey, W.H.D., Riyadh: The Old City. London 1992

Facey, W.H.D. and G. Grant, Saudi Arabia by the First Photographers. London 1996

—— Kuwait by the First Photographers. London 1998

Winstone, H.V.W., Captain Shakespear. London 1976