Abstract: Correspondence concerning two horses given to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Vincent Biscoe) by the King of Nejd and Hejaz, Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] in 1932. The majority of the correspondence takes place between staff at the Political Agency in Bahrain and the Political Residency in Bushire in the wake of Biscoe’s sudden death in July 1932, and relates to attempts to dispose of the horses and their offspring. Aside from Agency and Residency staff, the file’s other principal correspondent is the Bahrain merchant Abdul Aziz Alqosaibi & Brothers [‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Quṣaybī], who are charged with looking after the horses while a buyer is found, and regularly send invoices for expenses incurred in keeping the animals. Correspondence from Abdul Aziz Alqosaibi & Brothers is in Arabic, with some letters translated into English.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 61; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 3-57; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 85 of 1840, dated 21 October 1840.The enclosure is dated 14 September 1840. It consists of a letter from Captain Atkins Hamerton, on a mission to Muscat (as East India Company Agent in the Dominions of the Imām of Muscat), to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, Lestock Robert Reid. Hamerton writes that at the request of the Imaum [Imām] of Muscat, he is enclosing a letter (not included in this item) to be sent on to Lord Palmerston, HM Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Hamerton states that the letter concerns the four horses sent by the Imaum to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and that the letter was not sent with the horses due to an oversight by the Imaum’s Secretary.Physical description: 1 item (3 folios)
Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 25 November 1873 and received in the India Office Political Department on 1 January 1874, forwarding copies of papers relating to the prohibition by the Turkish Government on the exportation of horses from Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq], with the Government of India's request that HM Government try to influence the Ottoman Porte to remove or at least relax the prohibition. The despatch is in continuation of Political No. 141 of 4 August 1873 (IOR/L/PS/6/111, ff 96-99a). The despatches include only the abstracts of contents; the enclosures are not present.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 122, and terminates at f 124a, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains three foliation anomalies: f 122a, f 123a, and f 124a.
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 124 of 1846, dated 29 October 1846.The enclosures, numbered 3-8 and dated 16 to 29 October 1846, consist of:Minutes of the Governor of Bombay and the Civil Members of the Board, regarding the suggestion made by the Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq], Major Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, in a despatch to HM Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul], of increasing the duty levied on horses exported from Bussorah [Basra]A letter from the Secretary to Government of Bombay, Arthur Malet, to the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General, Frederick Currie, forwarding copies of these minutes for submission to the Governor-General.Physical description: 1 item (9 folios)
Abstract: Enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 28 of 1840, dated 13 April 1840. The enclosures are dated [1 October 1839-2 March 1840] and contain correspondence relating to:Concerns of the East India Company (EIC) for the provisions, bhoosa [provender], uniforms, and funding of the Bombay Army’s mission to Afghanistan; its passage via Shekarpore [Shikarpur, also written in the item as Shikarpore and Shikarpoor] to Quetta; the passage of a military kafilla [qāfilah] carrying provisions via Ferozepore [Firozpur] to Cabool [Kabul, also written as Caubool in the item]; and compensation for horses of a ‘lost’ regimentDescriptions of the security, troops, and household of the Durrani Ruler, Shah Shoojah Ool Moolk [Shāh Shujāʿ al-Mulk]; resignations among the ranks of military leaders; and descriptions of the household and courtiers of the Durrani prince, Shahzadah Tymoor or Tymour [Shāhzādah Tīmūr bin Shāh Shujāʿ al-Mulk]Costs for the British mission to the Sikh Court [Court of the Sikh Khāliṣah] at Lahour [Lahore] covered by the EIC cantonment at Loodhiana [Ludhiana]; perceptions of hostility from the Sikh Court; abstracts of translated intelligence reports or ukhbar [akhbār] on the Sikh Court compiled at Lahore, and for the Punjab compiled at Amritsur [Amritsar]EIC requests for the supply of camels; schedules of payment for the hire of camels; the additional cost of camels procured from Gwalior via Delhie [Delhi]; the decision of the EIC to cover the costs of compensation for the loss of leased camels; and the substitution of camels with bullocks at Peshawur [Peshawar, also written this way in the item]The decision of the EIC to honour bills for the security of Afghan political allies; the treatment of state prisoners and maintenance for their households, including ‘enslaved’ persons; the release of prisoners from Cabool; the suppression of groups involved in plunder; and the cleaning of wells and sanitation.The correspondents listed in the abstract of contents (folios 438-443) are the Governor General, Calcutta [Kolkata]; Secretary with the Governor General, Calcutta; Her Majesty’s Envoy and Minister at the Court of Shah Shoojah Ool Moolk, Cabool; Office of the Collector at Delhie; Accountant of the North West Provinces; Envoy of Kelat [Kalat]; Political Agent, Loodhiana; Officiating Political Agent, Loodhiana; Commander-in-Chief of the Indus Army; Political Agent, Candahar [Kandahar]; Accountant General; Resident in Sinde [Sindh]; Assistant Resident in Sinde; Financial Department; Military Department; Political Agent, Shekarpore; Officiating Political Agent, Shekarpore; and the Deputy Assistant Commissary General, Ferozepore.Physical description: 1 item (431 folios)
Abstract: This item consists of copies of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 4 August 1873 and received by the India Office Secret Department 3 September 1873, forwarding a copy of a letter from the Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq] to HM Ambassador at Constantinople [Istanbul], relating to the prohibition by the [Ottoman] Turkish Government of the exportation of Arabian horses from Nejd [Najd] for a period of seven years; and notifying the Secretary of State for India that the Resident in the Persian Gulf has been asked by the Government of India Foreign Department to encourage the export of Arabian horses from the Southern Arabian ports beyond Turkish influence, and from the northern Persian [Iranian] ports near the Turkish frontier. The despatch in continuation of Political No. 110 of 7 July 1873.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 96, and terminates at f 99a, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains four foliation anomalies: f 96a, f 97a, f 98a, and f 99a.
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 137 of 1842, dated 30 November 1842. The enclosures are numbered 3-57 and dated 1 June to 30 October 1842.They mostly consist of correspondence relating to affairs in the Persian Gulf. The enclosures concern matters including:The Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Dundas Robertson, reporting that he has addressed a letter to Abddoolla bin Sooneyan [‘Abdullāh bin Thunyān bin Ibrāhīm Āl Sa‘ūd], the new ‘chieftain’ of Nedgd [Najd, also spelled Nedjed in this item], regarding his ‘intercourse’ with the ‘Piratical Arab Tribes of Oman’, and the Government of Bombay directing Robertson that all ‘interference’ with him should be avoidedRobertson’s explanations for his proceedings in relation to Shaik Nassir [Shaikh Nāṣir, Governor of Bushire, i.e. Bushehr] on Robertson’s arrival at Bushire to re-establish the British Residency thereThe duty leviable on horses exported from Bushire according to the Commercial Treaty with Persia [Iran] of October 1841, and the suggestions of the Assistant Resident in Persian Gulf, Lieutenant Kemball, in relation to the purchase of colts for the cavalry and artilleryRobertson stating that he places no value on the plan he drew up for obtaining a ‘good, convenient and healthy’ port in the Persian Gulf for the use of the naval squadron, and that it would be unwise to give the scheme a moment’s considerationMeasures proposed by Robertson for obtaining privileges for the Honourable Company’s vessels of war in the Persian Gulf and the Red SeaNecessary repairs to the Residency buildings at BushireThe inconvenience caused as a result of the despatches sent on board the Honourable Company’s brig of war
Euphratesnot having been landed at Bushire when the vessel passed that port on the way to the Island of Karrack [Kharg Island]Robertson reporting on the intention of Persia to attack Bahrein [Bahrain]The conduct of the Persian soldiers stationed at Bushire towards Lieutenant Campbell of the Indian Navy when Campbell visited the Commodore in the Persian Gulf, William LoweThe rates of pilotage levied by the Persian authorities on KarrackThe removal of the naval stores from Karrack to Bassadore [Basaidu]Commodore Lowe hoisting a flag at his house on KarrackLowe reporting the occurrence of a dispute between the Garrison of Karrack and some of the subjects of the Imaum [Imām] of Muscat, leading to six of the Garrison being woundedThe Native Agent at Shargah [Sharjah] reporting the latest intelligence from Shargah, including the success of the pearl fishing that year (1842), and that no ‘disturbance or piracy’ has occurred on the seasRobertson's opinion on the necessity or otherwise of maintaining an Agent at Brymee [Al Buraymi]The arrangements made by Robertson for filling up the vacancy resulting from the death of the Agent stationed at Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh]HM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran, Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil, nominating Mahomed Alli Khan [Muḥammad ʿAlī Khān, also spelled Mahomed Allee Khan in this item] to act as Agent at Shiraz (in place of the dismissed Mirza Mahomed Reza [Mīrzā Muḥammad Rizā]) until the fourteen year old Mirza Mahomed [Mīrzā Muḥammad], for whom the position has been reserved, is qualified to take up the duties of the officeThe account of the ‘Chief’ of Bahrein, Sheek Abdoola bin Ahmed [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Aḥmad Āl Khalīfah, also spelled Abdoollah bin Ahmed and Abdoolla bin Ahmed in this item], of the circumstances surrounding the murder of Hamood bin Omeeree [Ḥammūd al-‘Umayrī, also spelled Hamood bin Omeree and Humood bin Oomeree in this item] and his servants, who had obtained protection from the Native Agent at Bahrein, Mahomed Ali [Muḥammad ʿAlī, also spelled Mahomed Ally in this item], during the ‘disturbances’ on the Island; and the dismissal of Mahomed Ali by the Officiating Resident in the Persian GulfThe complaint of Sultan bin Suggur [Sulṭān bin Ṣaqr al-Qāsimī, Ruler of Ra’s al-Khaymah and Sharjah] against the ‘Chief’ of Amulgavine [Umm al-Qaywayn], Abdoolla bin Rashid [‘Abdullāh bin Rāshid], erecting a bastion, contrary to the agreement concluded between them in 1840The observations of the Advocate General, Bombay, Augustus Smith Le Messurier, on the case of the killing of a subject of the Imaum of Muscat by a British seaman, reported on by HM Consul in the Dominions of the Imaum of Muscat, Captain Atkins Hamerton; and the opinion of the Advocate General on the extent of powers with which Hamerton is vested under the terms of the treaty the United Kingdom recently entered into with the ImaumHM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran forwarding copies of his despatches to HM Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of Aberdeen, relating to affairs at TehranThe amount of compensation to be paid to the Shroff of the Residency at Bushire for the articles belonging to him which were destroyed when his house was attacked by a mob in 1838Robertson’s explanations of his reasons for not having availed himself of the permission granted by the Persian Government to reside during the Summer months at Khoormooj [Khormoj].The main correspondents are the following: the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Assistant Resident in Persian Gulf; the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, John Pollard Willoughby; the Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, L R Reid; the Secretary with the Governor General of India, Thomas Herbert Maddock; the Commodore in the Persian Gulf; and HM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran.Other correspondents include: Lootf Ally Khan [Luṭf ‘Alī Khān]; the Native Agent at Shargah [Sharjah], Moollah Hoossein [Mullā Ḥusayn]; the Ruler of Bahrein; Sultan bin Suggur; the Advocate General, Bombay; the Shah of Persia, Mahomed Shah [Muḥammad Shāh Qājār]; the Grand Vizier or Prime Minister of Persia, Hajee Meerza Aghasee [Ḥājī Mīrzā Āqāsī]; the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Meerza Abul Hussan Khan [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shīrāzī, Īlchī Kabīr, also spelled Meerza Abul Hassan Khan, and Meerza Abool Hossan in this item]; the Collector of Customs, Henry Glass; and J A Malcolm, a merchant.Physical description: 1 item (185 folios)
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 126 of 1842, dated 31 October 1842. The enclosures are numbered 3-47 and are dated 1 September to 29 October 1842. There is no abstract of contents.The enclosures, which consist mostly of correspondence with some resolutions of the Government of Bombay, relate to Persian Gulf affairs. They concern matters including:The Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Dundas Robertson, addressing a despatch to the Secret Committee, suggesting the advisability of removing the Residency from Bushire [Bushehr] to some other position in the Persian GulfRobertson residing in Karrack [Kharg] instead of Khoormooj [Khormoj] during the Summer months‘Insults’ to British subjects in Persia [Iran], including members of the British Mission and Residency, by soldiers in Bushire and others, and punishments for these ‘insults’The Government of Bombay requesting that Robertson be cautious in his proceedings at Karrack and refrain from ‘interfering in matters in which the British Government is not concerned’, in response to a letter from Robertson regarding the ‘oppressive conduct’ of Lootf Ally Khan [Luṭf ‘Alī Khān Lārī], the Officer in Charge of the detachment of Persian troops stationed at Karrack, towards the inhabitants of the island and the men under his commandThe removal of the Head Quarters of the Indian Naval Squadron in the Persian Gulf from Karrack to Bassadore [Basaidu, also spelled Bassidore in this item], and the establishment of a naval depot on BassadoreThe reply received from Abdoolla bin Sooneyan [‘Abdullāh bin Thunyān bin Ibrāhīm Āl Sa‘ūd], the Ruler of Nedgd [Najd, also spelled Nedjed in this item], to a letter from Robertson regarding Abdoolla bin Sooneyan’s letters to the ‘Arab Piractical Sheikhs’The Native Agent at Bahrein [Bahrain], Mirza Mahomed Ali [Mīrzā Muḥammad ‘Alī], reporting on affairs at Bahrein, including his account of what happened after it became known that some of the ‘women, children, slaves [enslaved persons] and dependents’ of Humood Omeree [Ḥammūd al-‘Umayrī] were in the Native Agent’s house under British protection, and Abdullah bin Ahmed [‘Abdullāh bin Aḥmad] ‘gave orders to his sons to go and kill them’ (folio 152v)The Government of Bombay requesting an enquiry to be instituted by the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf into the conduct of the Native Agent at Bahrein in having first offered an asylum, and then surrendered to the contending factions on that island, persons whom it appears had fled to his house for protectionThe decision that no remuneration should be granted to the Moonshee [Munshi] attached to the Residency of the Persian Gulf for expenses incurred in entertaining a person in the ‘habit and character of a Derveesh [dervish]’ representing himself to be the son of the late Futteh Allee Shah [Fath-‘Ali Shāh Qājār] of Persia and uncle of the present King [Shāh], but who was ‘an imposter’HM Consul and Honourable Company’s Agent in the Dominions of the Imam of Muscat (also spelled Maskat in this item), Captain Atkins Hamerton, addressing a letter to the Government of Mauritius regarding him sending a British seaman, James Dawson, to Mauritius to be tried for the murder of an ‘Arab’ seaman named Ramzan [Ramaḍān], a subject of the Imam of Muscat, in the town of ZanzibarDocuments relating to the complaint made to the Imaum [Imām] of Muscat against Robert Brown Norsworthy, residing in Zanzibar, by Schaikh Awez [Shaikh ‘Uways al-Barāw] of Barawa (also spelled Browa in this item)The reports of the Commodore in the Persian Gulf, William Lowe, on affairs in the Persian Gulf, including: the state of the public buildings at Bassadore; everything being ‘quiet on the [Arabian] Coast with the exception of their usual squabbles inland’ (folio 188); this season being the best for many years for pearl fishing, with some of the merchants having made large sums of money; and his recommendation of Ally [‘Alī], the eldest son of the Agent at Sharga [Sharjah], Moollah Hussain [Mullā Ḥusayn], for the position of Agent at Lingar [Bandar-e Lengeh]A complaint of obstruction by Persian soldiers to the passage through the gate of the town of Bushire of Lieutenants C D Campbell and W B Selby of the Indian NavyLieutenant A E Ball, commanding the Honourable Company’s brig of war
Euphrates, reporting his proceedings on the trip he was deputed to take to the Arab Coast and pearl banks of the Persian GulfCommodore Lowe’s intended measures for removing the naval stores from Karrack to BushireThe separation of the Commodore in the Persian Gulf’s guard for the naval depot at Bassadore from the guard of the Resident in the Persian GulfThe appointment of a committee to determine whether a horse given to Commodore Lowe by the Prince of Shiraz is fit for cavalry, or should be sold by public auction; and the payment by the Government of Bombay of expenses incurred by Commodore Lowe and others on account of the horse.The main correspondents are the following: the Government of Bombay; the Officiating Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General; the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; HM Consul and Honourable Company’s Agent in the Dominions of the Imaum of Muscat; and the Deputy Adjutant General of the Army, Major C Hagart.Other correspondents include: Abdoolla bin Sooneyan; the Commodore in the Persian Gulf, William Lowe; HM Chargé d’Affaires at the Court of Persia, Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil; and the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Meerza Abul Hassan Khan [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shīrāzī, Īlchī Kabīr].Physical description: 1 item (138 folios)
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 62 of 1840.The enclosures are dated 10-20 August 1840. They consist of correspondence relating to the gift of four horses to the Queen of the United Kingdom from the Imam of Muscat in connection with the ratification of the Commercial Treaty signed in 1839. The horses were conveyed from Muscat to Bombay [Mumbai] on Honourable Company Ship
Cleopatraand thence to England. They were accompanied to Bombay by the Imam of Muscat’s agent, Aga Mahomed Rahim Shirazee [Āghā Muḥammad Raḥīm Shīrāzī].Correspondents include: the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; the Secretary to the Government of India; the Resident in the Persian Gulf; and the Imam of Muscat.Physical description: 1 item (9 folios)