Abstract: Enclosure nos. 2-13 to a despatch from the Secret Department, Government of Bombay [Mumbai], dated 29 October 1844. The enclosures are dated 8 September-28 October 1844.The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence relating to affairs in Aden and East Africa, including:Reports that the Imam of Sana [Sana’a] has recovered the city from rebelsA visit by Edward Law, Lord Ellenborough, on his return to England after serving as Governor-General of IndiaA planned tour of the coast of East Africa by the Assistant Political Agent, Aden, in part to investigate: the trade in enslaved persons; the situation in Berbera between the Aial Ahmed and Aial Unus [Reer Ahmed Nur and Reer Yunis Nur, sub-clans of the Habr Awwal], and whether action is needed to protect British merchants there; and the possible recoverability of the cargo of a ship wrecked at Ras Assyryow [Cape Guardafui]Support for labourers injured working for the Engineer’s Department at Aden.The primary correspondent is the Political Agent, Aden.Physical description: 1 item (23 folios)
Abstract: Enclosure nos. 2-41 to a despatch from the Secret Department, Government of Bombay [Mumbai], dated 30 November 1844. The enclosures are dated 27 August-27 November 1844.The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence relating to affairs in Aden and East Africa, including:Reports that an army led by the Imam of Sana [Sana’a] is marching in the direction of Aden, with the apparent intention of attacking Lahidge [Lahej], and has reached as far as Ereem [Yarim], but has been halted by news of the usurpation of Sana by the Imam’s uncleReports that the Sultan of Ourlghee [Aulaqi] also intends to attack Lahidge, but requires permission from the Sultan of Fouthelee [Fadhli] to march through his territoryA request from M Houssain Fudthel [Sultan Muḥsin bin Faḍl al-‘Abdalī], Sultan of Lahedge, for shot and powder to aid in his defenceThe high rate of illness among the troops at Aden, a request for the worst cases to be invalided out, and the need for reinforcementsReports of a massacre and mass enslavement committed by the King of Shoa [Shewa]Payment of a grant to the Assistant Political Agent, Aden, to cover his expenses from his tour of the coast of East AfricaThe need of extensive repairs to, or replacement of, the building currently housing the Political Agent’s office and the Agency Treasury.The primary correspondents are: the Political Agent, Aden; Lieutenant-Colonel William Croker, commanding the troops at Aden; the Sultan of Lahedge; the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; the Quartermaster-General, Bombay; and the Government of India.Physical description: 1 item (85 folios)
Abstract: Enclosures no. 2-10 to a despatch from the Secret Department, Bombay [Mumbai] Castle, dated 2 March 1848. The enclosures are dated 18 January-1 March 1848. The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence relating to affairs in Aden and reports received there of events elsewhere, including:Reported hostilities between the Imam of Sana [Sana’a] and Hussain ibn Ali Hyder, Sheriffe [Sharif] of Mocha, and a request from the Imam for a British ship to be sent to protect Hodeida [Al Hudaydah]A report of the death of Sallah Selassie, King of Shoa [Sahle Selassie, Negus of Shewa], and bloodshed in Shoa over the successionA reported dispute between the Egyptian Governor of Mussowah [Massawa] and the French ConsulA visit to Berbera by the Assistant Political Agent at Aden, with the hopes of improving relations with and between the Aial Ahmed and Aial Unus [Reer Ahmed Nur and Reer Yunis Nur, sub-clans of the Habr Awwal]The arrival in Aden of Henry Hardinge, Viscount Hardinge, on his return trip to the UK after having served as Governor-General of India.The primary correspondent is the Political Agent, Aden.Physical description: 1 item (16 folios)
Abstract: Enclosures no. 2-12 to a despatch from the Secret Department, Bombay [Mumbai] Castle, dated 15 March 1848. The enclosures are dated 4 January-11 March 1848. The enclosures consist of copies of correspondence relating to affairs in Aden, including: a planned visit to Berbera and Ras Haffoon [Ras Hafun] by the Assistant Political Agent at Aden, to assess the situations there and the trade in enslaved persons from Abyssinia [Ethiopia]; and a visit to Aden by Ahmed M Houssain Fudthel [Sultan Ahmad bin Muhsin al-'Abdali], Sultan of Lahedge [Lahej]. The primary correspondent is the Political Agent, Aden.Physical description: 1 item (20 folios)
Abstract: The papers consist mainly of express letters, circular letters, memoranda, notices, and telegrams announcing postings, leave, and transfers of Political Residents in the Persian Gulf. The notifications were sent to other senior British officials in the Persian Gulf, Middle East, India, and London, and to various Gulf Rulers, including the Rulers of Bahrain and Qatar.The letters to Gulf Rulers are in English and Arabic, and are accompanied by replies in Arabic with English translations. The file also records notifications of the postings of some Political Agents; programmes of handover arrangements; papers recording progress of movements; and related correspondence.The correspondence in this file runs from 13 November 1926 to 1 October 1943; the overall date range is provided by an entry in the notes at the end of the file.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation system in use commences at 1A on the front cover and continues through to 256 on the back cover. The sequence is wrtten in pencil and appears in the top right hand corner of the recto page of each folio. The sequence of numbers is enclosed in a circle from f.117 on. Foliation anomalies: ff.1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E; ff.10A, 10B. The following folios need to be folded out to be read: ff.1D, 3, 8, 22, 25, 38, 47, 50, 71, 95, 109. A second, incomplete, foliation sequence (uncircled) runs between ff.117-244; these numbers are also written in pencil and can be found in the same portion of the relevant folios as the main sequence.
Abstract: This file contains correspondence between the British Political Agent at Bahrain and the British Political Resident at Bushire, as well as with the Comptroller of India Treasuries; Secretary and Treasurer of the Bank of Bombay; Gilbert John Elliot Murray Kynymound, Viceroy and Governor General of India; and Sheikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī, ruler of Qatar. These correspondence concern the appointment of the first Assistant Political Agent and Political Agents between 1900 and 1916, including:John Calcott Gaskin (February 1900 - October 1904)Francis Beville Prideaux (October 1904 - May 1909Charles Fraser Mackenzie (May 1909 - November 1910)Stuart George Knox (November 1910 - April 1911)David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer (April 1911 - November 1912)Arthur Prescott Trevor (November 1912 - May 1914)Terence Humphrey Keyes (May 1914 - March 1916)Hugh Stewart (March 1916 - June 1916)Trenchard Craven William Fowle (July 1916 - November 1916)Percy Gordon Loch (November 1916 - February 1918)Contained within the correspondence are notifications of appointments, including the appointment of the first Assistant Political Agent in 1900 and copies of Charge Certificates signed by the outgoing and incoming Agents; details regarding designation of positions, including the raising of the post to Political Agent in 1905 and usage of the vernacular term
al-balyūz; details concerning pay and allowances; specimens of signatures; examples of various 'Last Pay Certificate for Gazetted Officers Proceeding on Duty to Another Residency or Province or to Another Place in the Same Province'; and documentation regarding policy and regulations for admissions into the Political Department, including a notification entitled 'Rules regulating the admission of junior military officers to the Political Department of the Government of India' dated 31 August 1914.Physical description: Foliation: There is one incomplete foliation sequence and one complete sequence. The complete sequence is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1. There are then three blank folios before the sequence resumes on number 2 and runs through to 193, ending on the inside of the back cover of the volume.Condition: Some of the text in this volume is difficult to read due to insect damage and torn pages.
Abstract: The file concerns proposals for the appointment of a British Agent at Salalah, the capital of the province of Dhofar in Muscat and Oman. The proposed appointment was considered necessary because of the prospective inauguration of an air route along the southern coast of Arabia, and because the Sultans of Muscat and Oman had recently shown a tendency to spend a great part of their time in Dhofar province.The papers cover: a proposal by the Political Agent, Muscat, to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf for the construction of a bungalow at Salalah to enable the Political Agent to visit the area at intervals, 28 October 1941; correspondence between the Political Agent, Muscat, and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel William Rupert Hay) concerning recruitment to the post of British Agent at Salalah, including the suggested appointment of a Kuwaiti citizen, February-March 1942; and correspondence concerning the appointment of a Sub-Assistant Surgeon at Salalah, May-November 1942.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 25; 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 2-20; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
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: Correspondence concerning the appointment of an Assistant Political Agent at Muscat to handle the matters connected to the development of the South Arabian air route. The papers deal with the initial detachment of the Political Officer in the Trucial Coast to Salalah to fill the role on a temporary basis in 1942; the need to retain an Assistant Political Agent in Salalah and a Political Officer in the Trucial Coast in 1943; the question of financial responsibility for the post; the extension of the post until February 1948.Principal correspondents include officials at the Government of India (External Affairs Department), Foreign Office, Treasury, India Office and the Political Residency and Consulate General at Bushire.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 36; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.