Aden Colony

On 18 January 1839, the British East India Company landed Royal Marines at Aden. Their aims were to establish a supply port and stop attacks by Arab pirates against British shipping to India. The British Government thereafter considered Aden to be an important settlement due to its location, as the Royal Navy could easily access the port for resupply and repairs.[1] Later, British influence extended progressively into the hinterland, both west and east, leading to the establishment of the Aden Protectorate.

Esplanade Road in the late 1930s

Unloading cargo in Maala, Aden

Aden soon became an important transit port and coaling station for trade between British India and the Far East, and Europe. The commercial and strategic importance of Aden increased considerably when the Suez Canal opened in 1869. From then and until the 1960s, the Port of Aden was to be one of the busiest ship-bunkering, duty-free shopping, and trading ports in the world.[2]

In 1937, Aden was separated from British India to become a Crown colony, a status that it retained until 1963. It consisted of the port city of Aden and its immediate surroundings (an area of 192 km² [74 sq mi]). The Aden Settlement, and later Aden Colony, also included the outlying islands of Kamaran (de facto),[3] Perim and Kuria Muria (see map).

Prior to 1937, Aden had been governed as part of British India (originally as the Aden Settlement under the Bombay Presidency, and then as a Chief Commissioner's province). Under the Government of India Act 1935 the territory was detached from British India, and was re-organised as a separate Crown colony of the United Kingdom; this separation took effect on 1 April 1937.

Through the latter years of its existence, Aden Colony was plagued by civil unrest.

Map of British Aden, 1922

Sheikh Othman north of Aden

British Forces headquarters

British Aden centennial celebrations, 1939

“The town of Aden was tied much more closely into the fabric of the British Empire and developed more rapidly than its surrounding hinterland".[4] The fundamental law for the Crown colony of Aden is the Order of Council 28 September 1936, which follows the usual lines of basic legislation for British colonies.

Aden was notable in that Sharia law was not used in the Colony. "All suits, including those dealing with personal status and inheritance of Muslims, are entertained in the ordinary secular courts of the colony".[5]

Within Aden Colony there were three local government bodies. The Aden municipality, which covered the town, Tawali, Ma'alla and Crater, the Township authority of Sheikh Othman and finally Little Aden had been established in recent years as a separate body, covering the oil refinery and the workers' settlement. All of these bodies were under the overall control of the Executive Council, which in turn was kept in check by the Governor.

Until 1 December 1955, the Executive Council was entirely unelected. The situation improved only slightly after this date, as four members were elected.[6] Judicial administration was also entirely in British hands. "Compared with other British possessions, the development towards self-government and greater local participation has been rather slow".[6]

Education was provided for all children, both boys and girls, until at least intermediate level. Higher education was available on a selective basis through scholarships to study abroad. Primary and Intermediate education was conducted in Arabic while Secondary and independent schools conducted their lessons in Arabic, English, Urdu, Hebrew and Gujarati. There were also Quranic schools for both boys and girls, but these were unrecognised.[7]

After 1937, the economy of Aden continued to be largely dependent on the city's role as an entrepôt for east–west trade. During the course of 1955, 5239 vessels called at Aden, making its harbour the second busiest in the world after New York.[8] However, tourism declined over the last years of the Colony with the number of tourists landing dropping by 37% from 204,000 in 1952 to 128,420 in 1966. At the end of British rule in 1967, the main revenues of the Colony were the Port Trust with an annual gross revenue of £1.75 million (2014 prices: £28.4 million) and the British Petroleum refinery which made direct payments to the Aden Government of £1.135 million (2014 prices: £18.4 million).[9]

In 1956, Aden Colony had a revenue of £2.9 million (approximately £65 million in 2014 prices). This was equivalent to around £58 per capita, one of the highest per head revenue earners amongst Britain's smaller colonies behind only the Falkland Islands, Brunei and Bermuda.[10] However, the benefit to the United Kingdom of this was tempered by their commitments to the Aden protectorates which had revenue per capita of only 2.5 pence (only 23p in 2014 prices).

By the time British rule was ending the Federation of South Arabia, of which the Colony was a part, was receiving £12.6 million (£209 million in 2014) from the British government to support its 1966–67 Budget.[11]

Aden was located in a vital strategic location, on the main shipping routes between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. During the days of Empire, the value of the port was in providing key communications and bunkering facility between the Suez Canal and India. Even after the independence of India, Aden continued to be regarded as a vital asset in Britain's worldwide defence network.[24] By 1958 Aden was the second busiest harbour in the World, after New York. "Its importance cannot be overestimated, as it is the base that protects British oil interests in the Persian Gulf" .[25] The Little Aden oil refinery was essential to the economy of Aden as it could process 5 million tons of crude oil annually and formed one of the Colony's only exports. The safety of this refinery was a clear priority for the government of Aden.[26]

"As a temporary expedient, the Aden base has the merits of a stabiliser at a moment when the Yemen is split by civil war, when the Saudi Royal house has not yet made itself a name for consistent rule, when the Iraqi and Syrian governments are prone to overnight revolutions and when Egypt's relations with both of them are uncertain".[27]

For much of Aden's later history, relations with the UAR (United Arab Republic) were of primary consideration. "The Formation of the UAR in 1958 increased the importance of Aden as a British military base in this troubled corner of the world".[28] However even before the formation of the UAR, Arab Nationalism had been growing in the awareness of Adeni's. "In 1946 Students protested that the anniversary of the founding of the Arab league had not been made a public holiday"[29]

The most serious problem facing Aden in the late 50s and 60s was the relationship with the Yemen and Yemeni raids along the borders. But the adherence of Yemen to the UAR created a delicate situation and several political problems arose. Immigration into the Colony was a major concern of the local Arab workforce.

Previously to the creation of the UAR, peace in Aden it was admitted came not from the presence of the tiny garrison, but from a lack of Arab poles of attraction for malcontents.

However some contemporary writers, such as Elizabeth Monroe thought that the British presence in Aden may have been self-defeating, as it provided a casus belli for Arab nationalists. So rather than supporting British peace efforts in the region, Aden was actually the cause of much anti-British sentiments in the region.

“As in Kuwait prosperous older men appreciate the advantages of the British connection, but young Arab nationalists and a vigorous trade union movement think it humiliating".[30]

Postage stamps with an East African shilling overprint (1951)

Being an extension of British India, the British Indian rupee was the currency of Aden until shortly after India gained independence in 1947. In 1951, the rupee was replaced by the East African shilling which was on par with the shilling sterling. Then with the advent of the South Arabian Federation, a new South Arabian dinar was introduced in 1965 which was on par with the pound sterling. The South Arabian dinar was a decimal unit divided into fils.

Aden became independent as the South Yemen on 30 November 1967 without joining the Commonwealth, but the South Arabian dinar continued at the one-to-one parity with sterling until 1972. In June 1972, the British Prime Minister Edward Heath unilaterally reduced the sterling area to include only the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and the Ireland (and Gibraltar the following year).[31][32]

The South Yemen reciprocated immediately by introducing its own exchange controls and ending the fixed peg to sterling. South Yemen was still however listed in British law as being part of the overseas sterling area, that being a list of scheduled territories which continued to enjoy some exchange control privileges with the United Kingdom right up until 1979 when Geoffrey Howe abolished all United Kingdom exchange controls.

To solve many of the above problems, as well as continuing the process of self-determination that was accompanying the dismantling of the Empire, it was proposed that Aden Colony should form a federation with the protectorates of East and West Aden. It was hoped that this would lessen Arab calls for complete independence, while still allowing British control of foreign affairs and the BP refinery at Little Aden to continue. It was the hope of the government of Harold Macmillan that creating a federation that would be dominated by the traditional sultans would allow for indirect British control as he wrote in his diary that his government planned to use "the Sultans to help us keep the colony and its essential defence facilities".[33] However, the population of Aden was urban, well educated, secular and generally left-wing while the population of the protectorates were rural, mostly illiterate, religious and generally conservative, making the proposed federation a mismatch.[33]

Flag of Aden Colony

Flag of the State of Aden

Federalism was first proposed by ministers from both the colony and protectorates, the suggested amalgamation would be beneficial they argued, in terms of economics, race, religion and languages. However the step was illogical in terms of Arab Nationalism, for it was taken just prior to some impending elections, and was against the wishes of Aden Arabs, notably many of the trade unions. An additional problem was the huge disparity in political development, as at the time Aden colony was some way down the road to self-government and in the opinion of some dissidents, political fusion with the autocratic and backward Sultanates was a step in the wrong direction. In the federation, Aden colony was to have 24 seats on the new council, while each of the eleven sultanates was to have six. While the federation as a whole would have financial and military aid from Britain. The federation was opposed by the majority of the people of Aden, leading to a series of strikes and protest marches while the elections for the council were rigged in favor of supporters of the federation.[34] Right from start, the federation was seen as illegitimate.[35]

On 18 January 1963, the colony was reconstituted as the State of Aden (Arabic: ولاية عدن Wilāyat ʿAdan), within the new Federation of South Arabia. With this Sir Charles Hepburn Johnston stepped down as the last Governor of Aden.

Many of the problems that Aden had suffered in its time as a colony did not improve on federation. Internal disturbances continued and intensified, leading to the Aden Emergency and the final departure of British troops. British rule ended on 30 November 1967.

The federation became the People's Republic of South Yemen, and in line with other formerly British Arab territories in the Middle East, it did not join the Commonwealth of Nations.

• Sir Bernard Rawdon Reilly (1 April 1937 – 24 October 1940)
• John Hathorn Hall (24 October 1940 – 1 January 1945) (From 2 December 1940, Sir John Hathorn Hall)
• Reginald Stuart Champion (1 January 1945 – 1950) (From 1 January 1946, Sir Reginald Stuart Champion)
  • William Allmond Codrington Goode (1950 – April 1951) (Acting)
• Sir Tom Hickinbotham (April 1951 – 13 July 1956)
• Sir William Henry Tucker Luce (13 July 1956 – 23 October 1960)
• Sir Charles Hepburn Johnston (23 October 1960 – 18 January 1963)

• James Taylor Lawrence (1938–>1942) (died 1944)
  • Geoffrey Barkitt Whitcombe Rudd (1944) (Acting and afterwards in Kenya)
  • Ronald Knox-Mawer (1952) (Acting and afterwards in Fiji)
• Ralph Abercrombie Campbell (1956–1960) (afterwards Chief Justice of the Bahamas, 1960)
• Richard Lyle Le Gallais (1960–1963)

• British foreign policy in the Middle East#Aden
• Jews of Aden
• Yemen
• Aden Emergency

• Colonial Reports. Aden Report: 1953&1954, HM Stationery Office 1956.
• Paul Dresch. A History of Modern Yemen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
• R.J. Gavin. Aden Under British Rule: 1839–1967. London: C. Hurst & Company, 1975.
• Gillian King. Imperial Outpost:-Aden: Its Place in British Foreign Policy. Chatham House Essay Series, 1964.
• H. J. Liebensy. Administration and Legal Development in Arabia. Middle East Journal, 1955.
• Tom Little. South Arabia: Arena of Conflict. London: Pall Mall Press, 1968.
• Elizabeth Monroe. Kuwayt and Aden: A Contrast in British Policies. Middle East Journal, 1964.
• Newsinger, John (2012). British Counterinsurgency. London: Springer. ISBN 1137316861.
• E. H. Rawlings. The Importance of Aden. Contemporary Review, 195, 1959.
• Jonathan Walker. Aden Insurgency: The Savage War in South Arabia 1962–67, Spellmount 2004,
• D. C. Watt. Labour Relations and Trade Unionism in Aden: 1952–60. Middle East Journal, 1962.

• Schaefer, Charles (1999). ""Selling at a Wash:" Competition and the Indian Merchant Community in Aden Crown Colony". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 19 (2): 16–23. doi:10.1215/1089201X-19-2-16.