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1. 'Book No 253'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume contains copies of correspondence sent and original correspondence received by the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Bushire, relating to Bahrein [Bahrain] and the Wahabees [Wahhabis]. The Political Resident in the Persian Gulf throughout the period was Captain (James) Felix Jones.The main correspondents are Hajee Jassem [Ḥājjī Jāsim], British Agent at Bahrein; Henry Lacon Anderson, Secretary to Government, Bombay, and Acting Secretaries to Government, Bombay; Herbert Frederick Disbrowe, Assistant Resident in the Persian Gulf; Commanders of the Persian Gulf Squadron; Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, Baghdad; Mahomed ben Khuleefa, Sheikh (or Chief) of Bahrein [Muḥammed bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah]; Mahomed bin Abdullah [Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh], Sheikh (or Chief) of Demaum [Dammām]; and other local rulers and officials. Correspondence from local rulers and officials is mostly translated into English, but there are two letters in the original.The papers include: reports of relations between the Sheikhs of Demaum and Bahrein; infringements of maritime peace; rules observed by the Resident in registering British subjects in Bahrein, and in defining their privileges of exemption from taxation, June - August 1861 (folios 23-27); account of 'vexatious' behaviour by the Sheikh of Bahrein towards the British Agent and British subjects trading in his territories, September 1858 - March 1861 (folios 103-127); moves by the Ottoman Empire and Persia to obtain influence over Bahrein, March 1859- January 1862 (folios 150-187); and the removal of Mahomed bin Abdullah from Demaum, and the first visit to the backwaters and shallows south of Bahrein by the steam gunboat Hugh Rose, June 1861 - January 1862 (folios 169-220).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the front cover and terminates at 227 on the back cover. The numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and can be found in the top right corner of the recto page of each folio. Foliation anomaly: ff 70A and 70B.Condition: there are holes resulting from insect damage and damage to the edges of pages throughout the volume. This occasionally results in loss of text.
2. 'Vol 195 1854/55 Bahrain; Arab Coast and Muscat; Slave Trade'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume’s correspondence covers three subjects, as follows:Affairs at Bahrain (folios 2-165): the hostilities between Shaikh Muḥammad bin Khalīfah, the Ruler of Bahrain, and Shaikh Muḥammad’s estranged relatives based at Dammām, in cohort with Fayṣal ibn Turki’s forces at Al-Qaṭīf; naval operations against the fugitive Humud bin Mujdell off the coast of Al-Qaṭīf;Arab Coast and Muscat (folios 166-298): including sporadic incidents of maritime hostility on the Arab coast; rumours of a tax on British subjects at Muscat; the shipwreck and plunder of a ship carrying coal off the coast at Ra’s al Ḥadd; the preparation of maps of the Arab coast with Arabic place names; reports on the people and places of the Persian Gulf, and in particular the Arab coast; allocation of the Persian Gulf squadron’s naval resources.Slave Trade (folios 299-388): the import of slaves into the ports of the Persian coast, in particular Charrack [Bandar-e Chārak], Kelat and Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh]; fines levied against the shaikhs of the ports of the Persian coast; measures to suppress the slave trade between Zanzibar and the Gulf.Physical description: Foliation: The letterbook, which is split into two volumes, is foliated from the first subject cover sheet to the last letter, using circle numbers in the top-right corner of each recto. There is an earlier pagination system, using numbers written in ink, running through both volumes. The first volume of the letterbook ends on folio 204. The second volume of the letterbook begins on folio 205. The front cover, front three flyleaves, rear flyleaf and inside back cover of the first volume of the letterbook are unfoliated. The front cover, front flyleaf, rear flyleaf and inside back cover of the second volume are unfoliated. The following foliation anomalies occur: 1A, 1B, 173A, 173B, no 173.
3. 'Vol 282 Head IV, Volume 11 (eleven) Bahrein and Wahabee Complications'
- Description:
- Abstract: Correspondence regarding relations between the people of Bahrein [Bahrain] and the Wahabees [Wahhabis] and the involvement of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Captain (James) Felix Jones, in affairs.The correspondence consists of letters and reports sent by Captain Jones to the Secretary to Government at Bombay (Henry Lacon Anderson, Alexander Kinloch Forbes) describing the situation in Bahrein in which an atmosphere of anxiety and alarm had arisen over reports that Mahomed ben Abdullah, Chief of Demaum [Dammam] was amassing men and boats for an attack on Bahrein, and detailing the response by Captain Jones to these reports, including the decision to send British vessels of war to help boost morale and assist in the defence of Bahrein; investigations made by these vessels into the forces massing to attack Bahrein; and the seizing of boats and vessels belonging to the Chief of Demaum and his supports. Also included is a copy of the Government resolution permitting Captain Jones to have Mahomed ben Abdullah and his supporters forcibly removed from Demaum.Enclosed with them are copies of correspondence and reports on affairs at Bahrein including accounts of the forces massing at ports including Demaum and Katiff [Al Qaţīf], which were sent to and from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf by Hajee Jassem [Haji Jasim], British Agent at Bahrain; Shaikh Mahomed ben Khalifah (also written bin Khuleefa) [Muḥammed bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah], Chief of Bahrein; Sheikh Alee bin Khuleefa [‘Alī bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah]; [Sheikh Mahomed ben Abdullah [Muḥammed bin‘Abdullāh], Chief of Demaum; Ameer Fysul ben Torkee [Faisal ibn Turki], Ruler of Nedjd [Najd]; The Senior Naval Officer Commanding the Persian Gulf Squadron (Charles Golding Constable, Charles John Cruttenden) ; Commander Philip William Fendell of HMS Falkland; Commander Richard William Whish of HM Schooner Mahi; and Commander William Balfour of HM Steam Frigate Semiramis.Also included in the file is correspondence with Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson and Charles Alison, Her British Majesty's Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia, and Lewis Pelly, Charge d'Affaires at the Court of Persia, regarding Mirza Mehdi, Persian Agent for Foreign Affairs at Bushire, who is sent by the Prince Governor of Farsistan [Fārs] on a special mission to meet Ameer Fysul, Ruler of Nedjd [Najd] to discuss safe passage for Persian Pilgrims to Mecca, which the Political Resident believes is also being used as an opportunity to discuss Bahrein, which the Persians and the Wahabees have both laid claim to. Further correspondence on the matter includes intelligence reports from the British Agent at Bahrein, Hajee Jassem, including the arrival of Turkish emissaries at Bahrein and the decision by the Shaikh of Bahrein to hoist the Persian Flag at his forts.Later correspondence includes letters to and from Richard Rogers, Officiating Political Agent at Basreh [Basra], John McAdam Hyslop, Officiating Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, and Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, HBM's Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire regarding Turkish functionaries who had been sent on a mission from Basreh to Bahrein; and the raising of the Turkish flag at Bahrein. This correspondence also includes letters written in both English and Ottoman Turkish to the Governor-General of Baghdad, and copies of letters in Arabic from the Shaikh of Bahrein to the Pasha of Baghdad.The file concludes with correspondence relating to Mahomed ben Khuleefa's attempts at retaliation, including blockading the Wahabee ports of Demaum and Katiff; and the decision in May 1861 to sign a convention and bond with the British Government:Terms of a friendly convention entered into between Sheikh Mahomed ben Khuleefa, independent ruler of Bahrein on the part of himself and successors, and Captain Felix Jones, Her Majesty's Indian Navy, Political Resident of Her Britanic Majesty in the Gulf of Persia on the part of the British Government, 1 May 1861, in Arabic and English (ff 321-326).Translation of a bond sealed by Sheikh Mahomed ben Khuleefa of Bahrein and entered into by him with Captain Felix Jones, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, 31 May 1861, in Arabic and English (ff 327-328).Physical description: Foliation: The foliation sequence runs across the two volumes, and is therefore split into two ranges ff. 1-182 & ff. 183-341. It commences at the first folio of writing in volume one and terminates at the last folio of writing in volume two. These numbers are written in pencil, and can be found in the top right hand corner of the recto side of each folio. Foliation errors: 1, 1A.
4. Vol 180: Secret letters Inward and Outward
- Description:
- Abstract: The file contains Secret and Political correspondence sent inwards and outwards from the British Residency in the Persian Gulf; the file primarily represents communications between the Resident, and the Secret and Political Department of the Bombay Government.It covers diplomatic relations with Persia, which includes British naval measures to prevent the importation of slaves; reports on Persian fortification work on the island of Khārk, Jazīreh-ye; British proposals to occupy Khārk, Jazīreh-ye; Shaikh Houssein Nasir's failed attempt to restore himself to the position of Governor of Bushire in 1853; along with the withdrawal of the British Envoy, Charles Augustus Murray, from Tehran at the end of 1855, and the suspension of diplomatic relations.Bahrain is also a subject of much of the correspondence, the principle topic being the reconciliation mediated by the Resident between Shaikh Muḥammed bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah, Chief of Bahrain, and Shaikh Mahomed bin Abdullah, Chief of Demaun in 1855. Followed by British efforts to prevent the Al Ali tribe from relocating to the Arabian Coast, and settling in the region of Demaun [Ad-Dammān] that same year; the Al Ali tribe was viewed as a threat by the rulers of Bahrain.Also included in the file is correspondence relating to the replacement of the Treaty of Maritime Truce 1843 with the Perpetual Treaty of Maritime Peace 1853, which was signed between Britain and the Shaikhs of the Arabian Peninsula. This includes the Resident's resolution of a crisis caused by a discrepancy in the English and Arabic expiry dates of the 1843 treaty, which had meant that not all parties were working to the same timetable. In relation to this topic, the issues Shaikh Sulṭān bin Saqr has with a ruling of the East India Company Court of Directors — indicating that compensation payments for violations of the Maritime Truce should be paid directly to injured parties without reference to their ruler — are also covered.A dispute between Syed Saeed [Sa‘īd bin Sultān Āl Sa‘īd], the Imam of Muscat, and Tahmesp Meerza, the Prince Governor of Fars Province, over Bandar-e ʻAbbās is another issue discussed in the file; a Persian force marched against the settlement in 1854. The main point of concern being the Imam's desire to recruit assistance from Bahrain, and Basra to support his claim over the town, which the British feared could lead to the disruption of maritime peace in the Persian Gulf.Physical description: Foliation: The main foliation sequence commences at the front cover and terminates at the back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, and can be found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.The file contains the following foliation corrections; 1, and 1B; 125, and 125A.Pagination: The file has also been paginated; this sequence is written in a combination of blue crayon and ink.
5. Vol 192: Letters Outward (Squadron, Persian Gulf)
- Description:
- Abstract: This file consists almost entirely of letters written by the Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire, to the Commander of the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf, Bassidore [Bāsa‘īdū]. The Resident at this time was Arnold Burrowes Kemball; the Commander of the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf during this period was Commodore George Robinson.In addition, this file includes a small number of letters addressed by Kemball to the following East India Company ship commanders: Lieutenant William Balfour, Commander of HC steam frigate Acbar; Lieutenant David Rose Dakers, Commander of the HC brigantine Tigris; Captain William Charles Barker, Commander of HC steam frigate Ajdaha; Captain John William Young, Commander of HC steam frigate Queen. Some of these letters appear as enclosures to Kemball's letters to Robinson; other letters appear as letters in their own right.Other enclosures within the principal letters include translations of letters received from the following correspondents: Sheikh Sultan ben Suggur [Sulṭān bin Saqr Āl Qāsimī], Chief of Rasul Khymah [Ra's al-Khaymah]; Hajee Yacoob [Hajji Yaqoob], Agent at Shargah [Sharjah]; Moolla Ahmed, Agent at Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh]; Hajee Haji Jassim [Hajji Jasim, also referred to in secondary sources as Hajji Abu'l Qasim]. There are also a small number of enclosed letters which are written by Herbert Frederick Disbrowe, Assistant Resident in the Persian Gulf.Subjects discussed in correspondence include: the movements of East India Company ships within the Gulf; Britain's political relations with Persia; the alleged misappropriation of monies recovered from offenders by Hajee Yacoob, Native Agent at Shargah; relations between rulers along the Arab coast; a siege on Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] by Persian forces; the liberation of slaves imported from Africa into various ports in the Gulf; the shipping of liberated slaves from Bassidore to the Bombay Presidency; hostilities between the Chiefs of Bahrein [Bahrain] and their relatives residing at Demaum [Ad-Dammān]; British responses to acts of piracy.Physical description: Condition: The first five folios of this file have suffered from severe insect damage, which has resulted in some of the text being lost. Some of the folios later on in the file have suffered from water damage, which has made some of the text illegible.Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is written in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto of each folio. It should be noted that the following anomalies are present in the sequence: f 1 is followed by f 1A; f 111 is followed by f 111A; f 112 is followed by f 112A. Also present are letters and numbers written in blue crayon, which belong to an internal referencing sequence. The aforementioned foliation sequence is the sequence which has been used by this catalogue to reference items within the file.
6. Persian Gulf Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 45 of 1856, dated 25 June 1856. The enclosures are dated 5 May-19 June 1856.The enclosures chiefly comprise copies of the correspondence of Commander Felix Jones, Acting Resident, Persian Gulf, with Commodore Richard Ethersey, Indian Navy, Commanding the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf, and the Government of Bombay, relating to the removal of the Al Ali [Āl ‘Alī] tribe from Demaum [Dammam].They notably cover and include:Jones’s and Ethersey’s agreement to make a demonstration of naval strength at Demaum with the Ajdaha, Semiramisand Falkland, and if that fails to bombard the town and fort of Demaum, followed if necessary by further coercive measures including the blockading of the port and destruction of any captured Al Ali boatsEthersey’s reservations regarding the agreed measures to be taken at Demaum, due to: the inadequacy of naval resources to carry out the Demaum action in addition to policing the Gulf and searching vessels for enslaved persons; the unsuitability of the Ajdahafor the shallow seas around Demaum; and the urgent need for the Semiramisto return to Bombay [Mumbai] for repairsJones’s hope that a brief show of naval strength at Bahrein [Bahrain] and his negotiations with the Sheikh of Demaum [Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh, Shaikh of Dammam] will achieve the British objective, his reluctant agreement that the Semiramisreturn to Bombay before the monsoons set in, and his decision to retain the Constanceat Bushire [Bushehr] during the temporary withdrawal of the Ajdahaand FalklandEthersey’s provision of the Ajdahafor Jones’s visit to Demaum and tour of the Gulf, due to the inadequate cabin accommodation on his own vessel the FalklandJones’s report to the Government of Bombay on his proceedings at Bahrein regarding the Al Ali, including: his meetings with Sheikh Mahomed ben Khuleefa [Muḥammad bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah, Shaikh of Bahrain], the Sheikh of Demaum and with Ali ben Sultan [Alī bin Sulṭān], chief of the Al Ali; the agreement of Jones and the Sheikh of Bahrein not to force the Al Ali to return to Geis [Kish, also was known as Kenn] due to its unsuitable living conditions, and proposal that the Al Ali go to Kuweit [Kuwait], Grane [Kuwait] or Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi]; Jones’s encouragement of those Al Ali who wish to reconcile with the Sheikh of Bahrein and return to the island without punishment; Jones’s consent to the Sheikh of Demaum’s request (f 367) to allow the Al Ali to remain at Demaum until the month of Ramadhan [Ramadan] has ended; Ali ben Sultan’s compliance following Jones’s threat to bring the squadron to Demaum; Jones’s pleasure that he has achieved a ‘peaceful resolution’ and relief at the avoidance of a potentially ineffective and expensive blockadeJones’s orders to Ethersey that the Semiramisshould go to Bombay should any important despatches arrive at Bushire for India.In this item Jones also reports unverified intelligence from the Acting Native Agent at Muscat that the agents of the Imam of Muscat and Persia [Iran] at Kishm [Qeshm] have agreed that the Imam will take possession of Bunder Abbas [Bandar Abbas].Physical description: 1 item (25 folios)