Abstract: The file contains letters mainly received by the Resident in the Persian Gulf regarding Persia and the Persian coast of the Gulf, from the Secretaries to the Government at Bombay Castle. There are also two documents which become part of the file at a later stage, in 1856; they were both proclamations by the Political Agent with the Field Force and Resident in the Persian Gulf at the time, Felix Jones.The subjects of the file include: the British occupation of Bushire and the Island of Kharg; opium trade (including copies of earlier documents); employment and career progression of native servants; the Battle of Alma.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation is written in pencil, circled, and can be found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.The numbering begins on the first page, on number 1, and runs through to 51, ending on the final page.
Abstract: The volumes consist of original correspondence sent to and copies of letters sent from the Bushire Residency; the principal correspondents being Captain Arnold Burrowes Kemball, followed by Captain James Felix Jones as Resident in the Persian Gulf at the time, the Assistant Resident in Charge, Herbert Frederick Disbrowe, Sir Charles Augustus Murray, British Ambassador at Tehran, and the Secretaries to the Government at Bombay.The main subjects covered are the diplomatic and commercial relations with Persia and the Persian Coast. Another subject covered is the siege of Sevastopol, and other events that occurred during the Crimean War. The book contains translations of letters from the Persian Shah.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation is in pencil, in the top right corner of each folio. The numbering sequence runs across two volumes (volume one ff 1-141 and volume two ff 142-283), commencing at the third sheet of volume one with 1, 1A and 1B and terminating at the third sheet from the back of volume two with 283.
Abstract: The volume comprises information about the Bashi-Bazouks and other irregulars including the following:remarks – discusses the notoriety and character of the Bashi-Bazouks, and their involvement in the Bulgarian atrocities during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. A brief assessment of Turkish and Russian military is included, alongside a summary of current British interests in Asia Minor, and the involvement of William Ferguson Beatson with the Bashi-Bazouks during the Crimean War (1853-1856);Egypt – notes British interest in the country, and the announcement of intentions to send a force from India to occupy and hold Egypt in the event of an attack;the Turkish Irregulars – notes the use and advantage of using large irregular forces;Major-General W F Beatson – provides a biography of the man with remarks on his character, and details of his military career;papers relating to General Beatson's Indian Career - contains extracts, an inscription, and a quote dated 1848-1860.The front cover (f 1) contains an inscription to General Sir Garnet Wolseley (who served in the Crimea Campaign) with the author's compliments, dated July 1877.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 12; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
Abstract: This volume consists mostly of correspondence between the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Bushire, and the Secretary to the Government of Bombay. Writing on behalf of the Residency are Commander (James) Felix Jones, Acting Resident (and later in the volume, Resident) in the Persian Gulf, and Herbert Frederick Disbrowe, Assistant Resident in the Persian Gulf. At this time the Secretary to the Government of Bombay was Henry Lacon Anderson.The volume is divided into two sections. The first section (ff 1A-65) concerns Persia and the Persian coast. Several of Anderson's letters contain copies of received correspondence, including a letter (ff 3-7) from George Frederick Edmonstone, Secretary to the Government of India, as well as extracts of letters from the East India Company's Court of Directors. In addition, there is a copy of a petition (ff 41-44) addressed by Cornwallis Hewett, Resident at Kurrachee [Karāchi], to Lord Elphinstone, Governor and President in Council at Bombay, in which Hewett complains that he has sustained losses as a result of the Governor of Bushire detaining a number of his horses. This petition is followed by copies of letters between the Residency and Hewett (and Hewett's agent), which date from September 1855 to May 1856.Some of the letters from the Residency to Bombay include translated extracts of correspondence with native agents and local rulers, including the Agent at Shiraz and His Royal Highness the Prince of Shiraz.Other subjects covered in this section include Britain's commercial treaty with Persia (1847) and its implications for granting passports to Indian-born and Persian-born subjects, and the onset of the Anglo-Persian War.The second section (ff 66-93) has been labelled as miscellaneous correspondence. One letter from Jones to Anderson (ff 67-75) contains translated extracts of correspondence both with native agents and with a number of local rulers, including: Zayid ben Khuleefah [Shaikh Zayed bin Khalīfah Al Nahyan], Chief of Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi]; Sheikh Abdul Rahman ben Suggur, Governor of Kishm [Qeshm]; Sheikh Ali ben Khuleefa [Shaikh Ali bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah], Chief of Bahrein [Bahrain]; and Ameer Fyzal [Faisal bin Turki bin ‘Abdullāh Al Sa‘ūd], the Wahabee Ameer [Wahhābī Emir]. These enclosures relate to the Crimean War: each extract expresses the respective ruler's pleasure at having learned of the fall of Sebastopol [Sevastopol].This section also includes a letter (ff 76-84) from Jones to Anderson on the subject of the Residency's finances, in which Jones encloses lists of the allowances for the various positions attached to the Residency on 1 May 1827, 1 May 1832, 1 October 1835 and 1 July 1856 respectively.In another letter to Anderson (ff 85-88), Jones includes copies of correspondence, dating from 1844, between Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, and the Secretary to the Government of India, on the subject of replacing Indian sepoys with horsemen for the purpose of collecting and carrying dispatches.Physical description: Pagination: An original pagination sequence is present between folio 2 and folio 93; these numbers are written in ink and can be found in the top left corners of the versos and in the top right corners of the rectos.Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the title page and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil and can be found in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. It should be noted that the following anomalies occur in this sequence: folio 1 is followed by folio 1A; folio 71 is followed by folio 71A; folio 79 is followed by folio 79A; folio 80 is followed by folio 80A; folio 81 is followed by folio 81A.
Abstract: This file consists of letters sent from and to the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Bushire. The two officials corresponding on behalf of the Residency are Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Resident in the Persian Gulf, and Herbert Frederick Disbrowe, Assistant Resident in the Persian Gulf, who is stated as being in charge of local duties at Bushire.The file is divided into two sections: '1854/55: Bushire Residency, Persia' (folios 1A-50), and '1854/55 Bushire Residency, General' (folios 51-77). A large proportion of the first section of the file consists of letters written from the Residency to William Taylour Thomson, Her Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at the Court of Persia, Tehran. This section also contains one letter addressed by William Taylour Thomson to the Resident.Other figures engaged in correspondence with the Residency include: Meerza [Mirza] Reza, Persian Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Mirza Hassan Ally Khan (also spelled Meerza Hussein Ali Khan), Governor of Bushire (also referred to as the Durya Begee). Most of the Residency's correspondence with the Governor of Bushire is enclosed within the letters addressed to William Taylour Thomson. These letters, and their enclosures, primarily concern two subjects: the Governor of Bushire's proposal to erect a bastion in front of the Residency (deemed unnecessary by the Resident); the reported oppression and molestation, by some of the Governor of Bushire's sirbaz [foot soldiers], of British dependents connected with the Residency (particular attention is given to an incident in which a sirbaz allegedly mistreated a waterman employed by the Residency).Other subjects covered in the first section include the liberation of slaves imported from Africa into various ports in the Gulf, and relations between the British and the Persians.The second (and smaller) section of the file contains the Resident's correspondence with the following British officials: Edward Eden Elliot, Accountant General at the Government of Bombay; John George Taylor, Her Majesty's Consul and Honourable Company Agent, Bussorah [Basra]; Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia and Her Majesty's Consul General, Baghdad; Lieutenant Edward Francis Tierney Fergusson, Indian Naval Draughtsman. Kemball's correspondence with Rawlinson, which makes up the bulk of this section, discusses aspects of the Crimean War, including the Russian army's operations in Armenia and the state of the Turkish [Ottoman] army.Also included in this section are the following items of printed material: papers issued by the Foreign Office entitled 'Part IV, Eastern Papers: Instructions of the British and French Governments for the Joint Protection of British and French Subjects and Commerce'; a notification from the Bombay Government concerning the appointment of a central committee to arrange the collection and eventual transmission to England of selected specimens of the raw produce and manufactures of India (included in this document is a list of articles deemed desirable for the Paris Exhibition of 1855).Physical description: Pagination: There is an original pagination sequence, which is written in ink, in the top right corners of the rectos and in the top left corners of the versos.Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto of each folio. This sequence begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 78. The following anomalies are present in the sequence: f 1 is followed by f 1A and f 1B; f 36 is followed by f 36A. The foliation sequence is the sequence which is used by this catalogue to reference items within in the file.