Abstract: The volume contains correspondence to and from the Resident of the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Hennell) during 1851. The first part of the file (ff 2-29) relates to miscellaneous issues of a largely domestic nature arising at the Residency. The second part of the file (ff 31-76) contains copies of correspondence exchanged between the Commanding Officers of the Honourable Company's [East India Company] ships in the Gulf and the Residency, concerning the disputes occuring at the time between the Wahhabi and Qatari tribes and the Sheikh of Bahrain, and correspondence relating to coastal towns of Guttur [Qatar].Physical description: Foliation: There is an incomplete pagination sequence and a complete foliation sequence. The foliation sequence is written in pencil, in the top-right corner of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and runs through to 84, ending on the inside of the back cover of the file. Foliation errors: f 27 missing.Condition: Some of the papers in the file have deteriorated significantly at the edges and show signs of significant insect damage, both of which affect the legibility of some parts of their text.
Abstract: The file contains papers, mostly correspondence, relating to: a tour of Muscat by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Geoffrey Prior, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and HM Consul-General, Bushire, in February 1940; his journey from Muscat to Bahrein [Bahrain] in the ship LT [Lighthouse Tender]
Nearchus; and a later tour of Bandar Abbas, Jask and Chahbar [Chabahar] in Iran by Prior in November and December 1943.The correspondence includes the following letters from Prior to the Secretary to the Government of India External Affairs Department: a letter dated 26 April 1940, which consists of a detailed account of his trip to Muscat, including the day he spent at Kuwait with Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, and a stop to refuel and meet the Senior Naval Officer at Khor Kuwai [Khawr al Quway‘] on the way to Muscat, with twelve enclosed photographs [IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 22; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 23; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 24; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 25; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 26; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 27; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 28; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 29; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 30; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 31; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 32; IOR/L/PS/12/3940, f 63]; and a letter dated 29 April 1940, recounting Prior’s cruise from Muscat to Bahrain, with stops at Qais [Kish] Island and Ras Tanura. Copies of these letters were sent from Prior to Roland Tennyson Peel at the India Office.The file also includes: a copy (sent from Prior to the Secretary of State for India) of a letter from Prior to Sir Reader William Bullard, HM Minister, Tehran, dated 28 January 1944, which contains a report of his tour of Bandar Abbas, Jask and Chabahar; a letter in response from Bullard to Prior dated 22 February 1944; and a letter from the Foreign Office to Bullard, dated 23 March 1944, regarding Prior’s report.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 66, these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.