LT COL HAMILTON'S 1917 POLITICAL MISSION TO EMIR ABD AL-AZIZ AL-SAUD OF NAJD.

This article is an account of the political mission of Lt Col Robert Edward Archibald Hamilton (later Udny-Hamilton, 11th Lord Belhaven and Stenton, 1871–1950) to the Emir Abd Al-Aziz Al-Saud of Najd in 1917. It particularly draws on Hamilton's private diaries, as well as other reports and notes as well as on Philby's Report on Najd Mission 1917–1918. It contains an account of the political and military background to the mission in the Arab world and Mesopotamia in the context of the First World War, including Ibn Saud's relationships with the Ottomans, Kuwait, the British, Sharif Hussain, and the Ajman tribe. It also contains further biographical information about Hamilton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]