IOR/R/15/1/1-118

The correspondence volumes of the Bushire Residency in the early years of its history were of a general nature, but by the 1830s, as the business of the Residency expanded, the volumes became increasingly specialised, so that by the 1830s there were three types of compilation: 'General' correspondence with Bombay etc., 'Native' correspondence, and 'Secret' correspondence.

Letters from Bombay were by this date bound up according to the relevant department from which they emanated (e.g. Political, Military, Marine) and under Bombay Government letter numbers. The date of despatch and date of receipt are given, and enclosures are bound with the letters. Letters Outward were kept in chronological order and numbered according to their destination (i.e. with a separate numerical sequence for each Bombay department) while enclosures were either bound with the individual covering letter or referred to by their page number in another compilation (e.g. Inward Letter Book or 'Translation Book'). Letters to destinations other than Bombay were unnumbered.

The volumes known as 'Translation Books' or 'Native' correspondence contain translations of letters received in Arabic or Persian and draft letters to be translated into those languages before being despatched. Enclosures to Native letters inward were bound with their covering letters and a note was made in the general correspondence with Bombay of their page numbers in the relevant Translation Book. The Translation Books also indicate the number of the covering letter under which copies of Arabic/Persian letters received were despatched to Bombay.

The third group, 'Secret' correspondence, comprises mainly letters to and from the Bombay Secret Department, the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, the Ambassador or Envoy in Persia, and anyone else with whom Secret correspondence was thought to be desirable. Secret letters outward were noted in the general letter books as having been entered in the Secret Letter Book.

All the correspondence volumes were previously numbered chronologically with a 'Book Number', which is given in the detailed list.

[From Penelope Tuson, The Records of the British Residency and Agencies in the Persian Gulf, IOR/R/15 (London: India Office Library and Records, 1979)].