Abstract: Copy of a letter dated 23 December 1865 concerning Dr Colvill's breach of privacy in relation to the publicity of their trip to Riyadh earlier that year. Pelly asks Colvill to submit to government an explanation of his conduct.A second letter dated 27 December 1865 is also enclosed in which Colvill responds directly to Pelly denying having directly or indirectly written to any newspaper, review or scientific society concerning their trip to Riyadh and requesting that Pelly inform him of what has been written or said.Physical description: 2 folios
Abstract: Copy of a letter in which Pelly accuses Dr Colvill of evading his questioning and requests that Colvill meet him at 2 p.m. to review the letters purported to have been written by him and to look at the passage from the
Edinburgh Review.Enclosed with the letter are notes on the meeting between Pelly and Colvill, dated 27 December 1865 which took place at the Residency in Bushire.Physical description: The letter with enclosures has been foliated in the top right corner of each page as 21-22
Abstract: Mr Weller requests that Pelly mark the places mentioned in his article on the map, encloses additional prints of the map which Pelly had requested and informs Pelly of the intention to also include a map of Arabia to show places mentioned by Pelly that are outside of the route the main map coversPhysical description: 2 folios
Abstract: Letter from Daniel Oliver, Keeper of the Kew Herbarium, to Pelly regarding the examples of Arabian Plants Pelly had sent to them and Pelly's request for a list of the specimens he sent.Physical description: 2 folios
Abstract: Letter informing Pelly that Dr Colvill's journal would not be published by the Royal Geographical Society and reassuring Pelly that Dr. Colvill had not sent the journal to the society himself, and most likely had not had any intention of making it public.Physical description: 2 folios
Abstract: Letter from Joseph Dalton Hooker, Director of the Royal Botanical Gadens at Kew regarding samples of Arabian plants which Pelly had collected on his travels to Riadh [Riyadh], some of which were of considerable interestPhysical description: 2 folios
Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 77 of 1841, dated 30 September 1841. The enclosures are dated 17 July-28 September 1841.The principal correspondents are: Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent at Aden; the Officiating Chief Secretary to Government, Bombay; the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; and the Military Board.The papers cover and include the following matters:A copy of a survey of the ‘coast of Africa in the southward and westward of Aden’, entitled ‘Memorandum to accompany the Chart of the Bay of Tajoorah [Tadjoura], & part of the Coast of the Hebrawul’, by Lieutenant W Barker, Indian Navy, Commanding the HC [Honourable Company’s] brig
Euphrates(ff 38-79), forwarded by Haines to the Secretary to the Government, Bombay. Also included are letters from the Acting Secretary to Government, Bombay, to Haines, the Engineers’ Department, Bombay, the Secretary to the Government of India, and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy. The letters acknowledge the ‘memoir’ and map (not included in this item), order and forward copies of the map, and convey the approbation of the Government, Bombay for the ‘zeal and energy’ of Lieutenant BarkerAn application by Haines to the Government of Bombay explaining the need for the appointment of a clerk to aid the Assistant Political Agent (notably with Post Office duties) and listing the current duties of the Assistant and his own duties (ff 87-91), and the refusal of the Government of Bombay to agree to the requestReports by Haines of the disruption to kafilahs [camel caravans] of supplies entering Aden, resulting from violent clashes between divisions of different competing tribes near the frontier of the settlement. Haines notably describes the activities and forces of Sultan M’Houssain Futhel of Lahidge [Muḥsin bin Faḍl al-‘Abdalī, Sultan of Lahej] and the Foudthelee ‘Chief’ [Sultan Aḥmad bin ‘Abdullāh al-Faḍlī], their apparent hostility to the British, and the alleged plan of the Foudthelee ‘Chief’ to attack the field works at AdenMeasures to be pursued as a result of the ‘perseverance exhibited by the Chief of Lahedge in stirring up the other tribes in the neighbourhood to unite with him in hostile attempts against our garrison at Aden’, and the policy to be adopted with respect to the ‘oppressive and unjust treatment of the subjects and dependents of the British Government by the Sheriff [Sharīf] of Mocha’ (f 98)Minute by the Governor in Council, Bombay, concurred in by civil members of the Board (ff 100-102), giving Haines discretionary powers, during the relief of the European portion of the garrison of Aden, to mount an offensive against the tribes in the immediate neighbourhood who are considered hostile to the British Government, including authority to attack Shaick Othman [Ash Shaykh ‘Uthmān] where a post has been erected by ‘the hostile Arabs’ (f 107). Authority is given for military measures provided that: Haines thinks it would be politically expedient; the officer commanding at Aden has the means to undertake it; it will not increase hostility towards the British; and it will not require prolonged operations. Haines is also permitted to take advantage, if necessary, of HMS
Endymionin the Red Sea to enforce ‘redress’ from the Sheriff of MochaHaines’s detailed response and justification of his actions, subsequent to a complaint made by the Superintendent of the Indian Navy regarding Haines’s ‘interference’ in the duties of various vessels in the Red Sea, notably delaying the HC [Honourable Company’s] schooner
Constancefrom being despatched to Suez with the mails (ff 108-110). Included are copies of Haines’s letters to the Superintendent of the Indian Navy concerning the use of the
Euphratesand
Constancein connection with Captain William Cornwallis Harris’s mission to Shoa [Shewa] and to monitor and counteract French activities and influence in the vicinity of Zeyla [Zeila] and Tedjoura, and requesting that the HC sloop-of-war
Cliveremain at Aden to potentially proceed on ‘secret service’ to Mocha (ff 111-115). The Government of Bombay responds that vessels should ‘not be interfered with except under some great emergency involving the safety of important interests which justify the disregard of ordinary rules altogether on the responsibility of the officer deviating therefrom’ (f 116), and undertake to inform him in future when a vessel is on express orders from GovernmentThe murder of the ‘Arab interpreter named Ahmed’ outside the Turkish Wall at Aden, notably a copy of an account written by Captain George Duff, 10th Regiment Native Infantry, Commanding the Turkish Wall outpost (ff 119-124)Supplies and stores on board the HC brig
Palinurus(at Bombay [Mumbai] harbour) including: distribution of the biscuit amongst the Indian Navy vessels in harbour and the steam vessel conveying the relief regiment to and from Aden; instructions for the rest of its provisions to be unloaded; and the lack of room on the steamer proceeding to Suez on 1 September to convey to Aden any portion of military stores on board the
Palinurus(ff 125-131)A memorandum recording the present establishment attached to the
Palinurusand her proposed employment to convey convicts to Singapoor [Singapore], including a table of foodstuffs ‘of the quantity of diet for convicts’, and a ‘statement shewing the monthly cost of provisions supplied during the voyage to European and native convicts transported from Bombay’ (ff 132-135).Physical description: 1 item (105 folios)
Abstract: The minute by Sir Bartle Frere summarises the history of the Wahabee [Wahabi] power in Central Asia, checks to their power about forty-five years ago and more recent incidents which are a cause for concern.Frere refers to visits made by William Palgrave and Lewis Pelly to the Wahabee Capital, and potential reasons for their regrowth including the frailties of the ruler of Muscat and the lack of a British naval presence in the Gulf.He goes on to highlight potential threats that the Wahabees could pose to British interests including the reviving of piracy, impeding trade and their interference with telegraphic communications, and to make suggestions on steps the British Government may wish to take, primarily through His Highness the Imaum [Iman] of Muscat rather than through direct interventionsPhysical description: Foliation: The report has been foliated in the front top right corner of each page with a pencil number enclosed in a circle.The report also contains original pagination in the top centre of both sides of each page, numbering 1-3
Abstract: The note states '1864-1866 Miscellaneous papers concerning Riadh trip and other papers concerning Riadh trip placed in my book containing my reports of travel'.Physical description: 1 folio
Abstract: Pencil note from the Royal Geographical Society enquiring whether Pelly will be able to send them his full report on his travels to Lingah [Bandar-e-Lengeh], Kishm [Qeshm] and Bunder Abbas [Bandar Abbas]. The note has been written on the reverse of an invitation to breakfast with Charles Sturge, President of the Birmingham Temperance Society, 9 July 1865Physical description: 1 folio
Abstract: Copies of correspondence between Pelly and Dr Colvill written on blue paper and in the handwriting of a third [unidentified] individual. Some of these letters are duplicates of other copies elsewhere in the file.The correspondence includes:Copy of a letter from Pelly to Colvill, 13 February 1865, concerning Colvill's conduct in Pelly's absence and asking him to refrain in future from giving any instructions. Enclosed is a copy of a note of an order given to Mr Lucas, Pelly's interpreter, by Colvill.Copy of a letter from Colvill to Pelly, 13 February 1865 in response to Pelly's letter of the same date, explaining his conduct.Copy of a letter from Pelly to Colvill, 13 February 1865 in response to Colvill's letter of the same date, in which Pelly clarifies his position and further reprimands Colvill.Copy of a letter from Colvill to Pelly, 14 February 1865, in response to Pelly's second letter of 13 Feb, in which Colvill expresses regret for his conduct and requests to join Pelly on his forthcoming trip.Copy of a letter from Pelly to Captain H W Warner, 13 February 1865, regarding a package of medicines Dr. Colvill is preparing for him.Copy of a letter from Pelly to Colvill, 14 February 1865 allowing Colvill to accompany him to Riyadh and instructing him to collect specimens of flowers and rocks.Copy of a letter from Captain H W Warner to Pelly, 14 February 1865 in response to Pelly's of the previous day regarding medicine.Physical description: The corrrespondence has been foliated in the top right corner of each page as 23-26
Abstract: Article printed in a Bombay newspaper, and originally taken from the
Bengal Hurkaru, 30 December 1865 regarding the dangers of Wahabeeism [Wahhabism] and concerns over the British Government's attitude towards the potential threat.Physical description: 1 folio