Abstract: This item consists of two copies of letters by the Government of Bombay and Captain Thomas Perronet Thompson. Thompson’s letter explains the role played by the Imaum of Muscat [Imam of Muscat, Sayyid Sa‘īd bin Sulṭān Āl Bū Sa‘īd] in the battle of Ash Kara [Ash Sharqiyah, during the Bani Bu Ali expedition], and the letter from Bombay sets out a possible gift for the Imaum of cut glass and porcelain, modelled on the French gift observed by Major General Lionel Smith.The title page of this item contains the following references: ‘Bombay Political, Draft 215, 1823/4, Examiners’ Office 1824’.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 128, and terminates at f 130, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the bottom right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the volume also contains an original pagination sequence.
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 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 133 of 1842.The enclosure is dated 5 November 1842. It consists of a letter from the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General, Thomas Herbert Maddock, to HM Consul at Cairo, stating that presents from the Malia Rajah [Raja] of Lahore to Queen Victoria will be sent from Bombay [Mumbai] to Egypt and from there to England. Maddock requests that HM Consul apply to the Pacha [Pāshā] of Egypt for free permits for the cases of presents, to be ready for the time they arrive by steam ship at Suez, from where they will be conveyed to Alexandria and then to England.Physical description: 1 item (3 folios)
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of Enclosures to a Despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 30 of 1841, dated 27 April 1841. The enclosures are dated 25 February to 28 April 1841, and relate to a British Mission to the King of Shoa [Shewa].The enclosures mostly consist of copies of letters sent and received by the Government of Bombay. The most frequent correspondent is Captain William Cornwallis Harris, Head of the British Mission to Shoa. The enclosures also include: letters to the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, the General Pay Master, the Military Board, and the Secretary to the Government of India; letters from the Political Agent at Aden; and memoranda by the Political Secretary to the Government of Bombay.The enclosures include correspondence regarding: Lieutenant Sydney Lloyd Horton offering his services to accompany the Mission, the acceptance of the offer of his services by the Government of Bombay, and his pay and allowances on the Mission; the proposal of Johannes Rudolf Roth and Johann Martin Bernatz, two German Professors, to accompany the Mission (Roth as a naturalist, and Bernatz as a draftsman and artist), and their claim for compensation from the Government of India for the cost of the articles and instruments they brought out with them for the Mission; the transport of packages belonging to the Mission on board the ship
Auckland, to be landed at Aden; the accommodation of Captain Harris and others proceeding with him on special duty to Aden on board the
Auckland.The enclosures also include: lists of presents for the King of Shoa, and a copy of a bill for these presents; and copies of two sketch maps of Shoa from the missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf.Physical description: There is an abstract of contents of the despatch, numbered 1-47, on folios 641-649. These numbers are repeated for reference on the last verso of each enclosure.
Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 31 of 1843, dated 1 May 1843. The enclosures are numbered 3-9 and are dated 26 February to 5 April 1843.The enclosures relate to brass guns captured in Afghanistan, and sent to Bombay, which were intended as a present for the King of Prussia. They include discussion of: the Secretary to the Government of Bombay, John Pollard Willoughby, requesting that the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, Captain Robert Oliver, give his opinion on the best way of giving effect to the wishes of the Governor-General of India that the guns be transported to London to the address of the Minister to the King of Prussia; Oliver submitting a tender from Messrs Dirom, Carter & Co, agents for the ship
Dartmouth, for the conveyance to England of the brass guns via the ship for the sum of twenty five Rupees, with Oliver recommending acceptance ‘as the terms are moderate’; and the Governor-General approving the acceptance of the tender.The main correspondents are the following: the Secretary to the Government of Bombay; the Officiating Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General, James Thomason; and the Superintendent of the Indian Navy.Physical description: 1 item (12 folios)
Abstract: A copy of a letter in French from Comte Jean Paskevitch d’Erivan [General Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich-Erivansky, Governor-General of Georgia] to the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, sent from Tiflis [Tblisi] and dated 5 May 1828.Paskevitch thanks the British Mission in Persia for their good offices in the recent peace negotiations between Russia and Persia and presents Macdonald Kinneir and other members of the British Mission with decorations and gifts from the Emperor [Tsar] of Russia.This document was originally enclosed in dispatch No. 101, in Macdonald Kinneir’s dispatch No. 36 to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company of 5 October 1828 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/253).Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: A translation of an intercepted letter from General Paskevitch [General Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich-Erivansky, Governor-General of Georgia] to Abbas Meerza [‘Abbās Mīrzā Qājār], Crown Prince of Persia [Iran], undated.The letter discusses pieces of artillery and a portrait of the Emperor [Nicholas I] gifted to Abbas Meerza and expresses hope for continued friendly relations with Persia,This document was originally enclosed, numbered 2 in dispatch No. 111, in the East India Company Envoy to Persia Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir’s dispatch No. 36 to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company of 5 October 1828 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/262).Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: The file contains a copy of a letter from Said bin Taimur, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, sending thanks to Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, for the gift of a stud bull. The file also contains correspondence forwarding the letter to Lord Linlithgow via the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the India Office.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 6; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: A letter from Fath-‘Ali Shāh Qājār, Shah of Persia [Iran], to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, expressing thanks for the gifts delivered by Edward James Matthews.The letter was delivered by Matthews in June 1823.Physical description: The folio comprises one large sheet which has been folded.
Abstract: This bundle consists of summaries of two despatches sent by HM Consul at Tehran, Richard W Stevens (10 July 1856, Numbers 42 and 43), addressed to George William Frederick Villiers, 4 Earl of Clarendon and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The despatches are concerned with news of the position of Essa Khan [Isa Khan Bardorani, Minister Regent of Herat] at Herat, and the deputation of Ferouk Khan as Persian Ambassador to France – details of the gifts to be presented to the Emperor and Empress of France have been included.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: Letter from the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, at the Royal Camp near Ahar, to the Secret Committee of the East India Company, of 19 September 1826, which was received on 25 November 1826. The letter originally enclosed a memorandum detailing a list of articles which the King of Persia [Shah of Persia, Fath-‘Ali Shāh Qājār] has requested that Macdonald Kinneir procure for him (now catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/70/145).Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
Abstract: Letter from the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, in Tehran, to the Secret Committee of the East India Company, of 23 December 1826, which was received from the Foreign Office on 9 March 1827. The letter originally enclosed a copy of Macdonald Kinneir’s dispatch to the Governor-General of India of 21 December 1826, and its enclosures, and a translation of a letter from Daoud Khan [Prince Dāvūd Khān Zādūriyān] to the Prince Royal, Abbas Meerza [Crown Prince of Persia, ʿAbbās Mīrzā Qājār] (now catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/70/157-162 and 163). In the letter Macdonald Kinneir also requests that he be sent items such as fine cloth, cutlery, and watches to give as gifts to members of the Persian Court so that he may maintain his influence there.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)