IOR/H/552

Papers mainly relating to Jacob’s career in Sinde [Sindh, also spelt Scinde and Sind in this volume], notably as Political Superintendent and Commandant on the Frontier of Upper Sinde before the Anglo-Persian War; terms of the Anglo-Persian peace treaty and post-war events 1857; political instability in Sind and Beloochistan [Balochistan] and the state of affairs in Kelat [Kalat, also spelt Khelat in this volume], 1857-72. Documents are copies unless otherwise stated.

(There are no indexes, or lists of contents, in this volume.)

Folios 9-10: Extracts of Brigade Orders, February 1840, by Brigadier Gordon, on transferring command of the troops in Upper Scinde to Brigadier Keverson, and by Major Billamore on breaking up of the force under his command, both praising the conduct of the troops and performance of Lieutenant John Jacob, commanding the artillery

Folios 11-36: Correspondence of and relating to Lieutenant Jacob, Bombay Artillery, dated 21 May 1840-1 December 1841, mainly regarding Jacob’s much-lauded report and map of his journey from Hyderabad to Nuggur Parkur, confirming it as a practicable route to march troops between Sinde and Guzerat [Gujarat], plus praise for his ability, endeavours and enterprise when he was based in Upper Sinde in 1839. Correspondents include Captain James Outram, Political Agent in Lower Sinde; Henry Torrens, Officiating Secretary to the Government in India; J P Willoughby, Secretary to the Government, Bombay; L R Reid, Chief Secretary, to the Government, Bombay; Lieutenant-Colonel P Wilson, Commanding 3rd Regiment Light Cavalry; J D Leckie, Assistant Political Agent in charge, Hyderabad

Folios 27-28: Two Revenue Department letters, June and September 1842, relative to Jacob's allowances whilst on foreign field service in Afghanistan

Folios 34-75: Correspondence and papers, dated February 1848-September 1853, regarding Jacob's claim for the considerable costs he has incurred since 1847 in exercising political duties assigned to him as Political Superintendent (as well as Commandant) on the Frontier of Upper Sinde. Jacob notes that he has only been paid for his regimental command of the Sinde Irregular Horse, despite all his other work in bringing tranquillity to the previously violent territory and improving agriculture and the economy; he additionally complains of disadvantages from the post not having a permanent establishment. Chiefly, correspondence between the Henry Bartle Edward Frère, Commissioner in Sinde (who supported Jacob’s case), and Jacob; Frère’s letters to Viscount Falkland, Governor and Resident in Bombay; Jacob’s petitions to Frère and memorial to Marquis Dalhousie, Governor-General of India, 15 September 1853 (folios 66-75)

Folios 64-65: The Court's ‘confidential’ letter to the Government of India, 22 June 1853, recommending Lieutenant-Colonel Outram, who had been recalled from his post as Resident in Baroda [now Vadodara, in Gujarat], for return to duties in India, and the circumstances of his recall from Baroda

Folios 76-87: ‘Memoranda of a personal communication by Major Jacob to HH the Khan of Kelat at Mustoong [Mastung] on the 13th May 1854’ proposing a new Treaty between the Khan and the British Government; and copy, in English and Persian of ‘Treaty between the British Government and Nusseer Khan, Chief of Kelat’, concluded by Jacob on behalf of the Governor-General of India, 14 May 1854, ratification by the Governor-General 2 June 1854, and two amendments (1855)

Folios 88-105: Letters, dated October 1856-January 1857, from Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob, Acting Commissioner in Sind, to Lord Elphinstone, Governor and President in Council, Bombay, regarding Major Frederic John Goldsmid, whom Jacob asserts is opposing his authority and has attempted to claim credit for the work of the Jagheer [jagir or jageer] Enquiry in Sind, when (Jacob states) the majority was undertaken by Captain Lewis Pelly whilst Goldsmid was on sick leave in Europe and then with the Turkish contingent in the Russian [Crimean] War

Folios 106-107: Letter (original) from Outram to Sir George Clerk, Under-Secretary of State for India, 20 November 1856, containing suggestions relative to the Persian Expedition

Folios 108-109, 132-143: Letters from, and intelligence (originally sent to the Earl of Clarendon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) forwarded by the Secret Committee, East India Company to Lieutenant-General Outram, relative to conclusion of peace with Persia, the Paris Peace Treaty (4 March 1857), and Russian troops on the Persian Frontier, March-May 1857

Folios 110-111, 120-121: Letters from Clarendon to Rt Hon Robert Vernon Smith, MP, President of the Board of Control, regarding the peace treaty and suitability of the British soliciting the assistance of disaffected ‘native tribes’ in Persia, March-April 1857

Folios 112-115: Correspondence between Lord [John] Wodehouse, British Envoy Extraordinary to Russia in St Petersburg, and Clarendon, regarding Russian views on the British peace with Persia and the treaty ratification, including Wodehouse’s conversations with Prince Gortchakoff [Alexander Gorchakov], Russian Foreign Minister (see also IOR/H/550 folios 188-206), March 1857

Jacob, regarding post-conflict dispersal of the British troops from Persia, 20 April 1857

Folios 122-125: Letter from Outram to Clarendon, relating to the peace and dispersal of British troops from Persia, 22 April 1857

Folios 126-127, 130-131: Letters (originals) from Outram to Jacob, relating to Persian acceptance of the treaty terms, May 1857

Folios 128-129: Letter from Charles A Murray, in Baghdad, to Outram, regarding ratification of the treaty with Persia, 2 May 1857

Folios 144-145: Extract from the Tehran Gazette, 6 August 1857, confirming the release of Afghans recently taken prisoner in Persia and granting of their free movement in any part of the country. (Forwarded by Captain Felix Jones, Political Agent, Persian Field Force and Civil Commissioner and Resident in the Gulf, to Jacob, 3 Sep 1857)

Folios 146-147: Letter from Lord Elphinstone, Bombay, to Outram, relating to the peace treaty terms, 7 April 1857

Folios 148-156: Accounts of bravery, recommendations for medals, and honourable mention of officers who served during the Persian war, May 1857 (see also IOR/H/550, folios 111-167)

Folios 157-168: Memorandum by Frère, Commissioner in Sind, Kurrachee, dated 6 June 1857, detailing measures necessary for maintenance of order in and external defence of India (following uprisings and ‘mutiny’ against the British), and ‘Route between Hindioon or Endgaon on the Persian Gulf and Kalay Sadawut on the direct route from Bushire to Shiraz, turning and avoiding the passes of Kootoob-i-Muloo and Kootoob-i-Kanaredje’ (suitable for troops accompanied by artillery)

Folios 169-170, 173-174: Letters from Jacob to Brigadier H W Trevelyan, Commandant of Artillery, ‘Late on Duty’, concerning the latter’s mission to the camp of Meerza Mahomed Khan [Mirza Muhammad Khan], Persian Commander in Chief, and relations between the British and Persian camps, 8 July 1857

Folios 171-172, 203-204: Letters (originals) from Outram to Jacob, 7 and 14 July 1857, appearing to discuss arrangements for Outram’s return to India and Jacob’s role in Bushire (the handwriting is partly illegible)

Folios 175-176: Letter, dated 11 July 1857, of commendation and congratulation from HM Government (Foreign Office) to Outram for his conduct of the campaign in Persia

Folios 177-178: undated middle section of a letter (probably from Jacob, based on handwriting comparisons in this volume and IOR/H/549-550), regarding troop transports in Bushire, c.1857

Folios 179-202: Letter from Jacob to Clarendon, 11 July 1857, conveying reports on the recent mission to the Persian military camp by Trevelyan and Herbert Frederick Disbrowe, Assistant Resident Persian Gulf

Folios 206-208: ‘Memorandum of portions of recent correspondence between the Acting Commissioner in Sind and Government relative to the attempts of the Persians to obtain a footing in Mekran and the aid afforded to the Persians by Azad Khan of Khursan [Khorasan]’, recording events December 1856 to April 1857

Folios 209-245: Detailed report by Frère to Lord Elphinstone, on the ‘present state of affairs at Kelat’, dated 19 February 1857

Folios 246-263: Documents on Kelat forwarded by Jacob to Frère on 28 May 1858, comprising letters from Henry Green, Political Superintendent on the Frontier of Upper Sind, to Jacob, 20-21 May 1858, and from Colonel H B Lumsden to Green, 13 May 1858. Plus, document (author not identified) relating events in the Kelat territory from August 1868, when Green was succeeded by Colonel R Phayre in August 1868, and from March 1869 when Captain Harrison became Political Agent in Kelat, with a ‘Table of routes in Upper Sind and Cutchee’ with distances between places, state of the roads, conditions for camps, supplies, forage and water (folios 256-263)

Folios 264-299: Copies of Despatches from Sir Charles Wood, Secretary of State for India, (India Office, London) to the Governor-in-Council, Bombay, relative to the construction of the Mekran Line of Telegraph. The Despatches cover July-December 1862 and include reports and communications of Brevet Major Patrick Stewart, Bengal Engineers and Lieutenant-Colonel in Persia, and cover more generally telegraphic communications with India through Persia, extension of the line to Bussorah [Basra] and Bagdad [Baghdad], connection with the Turkish telegraph, and laying a submarine cable in the Persian Gulf (Set of despatches forwarded by Major William Lockyer Merewether, Acting Secretary to the Government, Bombay, to Major Malcolm Green, Political Agent in Khelat, 27 February 1863)

Folios 302-304: copies of letters by the British India authorities relating to passports for British subjects passing to the West of the Indus (into ‘foreign territory’), 1863

Folios 305-319: Printed copies of correspondence, 12 December 1868-12 April 1869, between Colonel R Phayre, Political Superintendent, Frontier of Upper Sind, Colonel Sir W L Merewether, Commissioner in Sind, Captain R G Sandeman, Officiating Deputy Commissioner, Deyra Ghazie Khan, Rt Hon Sir William Robert Seymour Vesey-Fitzgerald, Governor and President-in-Council, Bombay, concerning ‘outrages’ committed by the Murree [Mari] tribe on the Sind Frontier, violent instability caused by warring Murree, Boogtee [Bugti], Doombkee [Dombki] and other Belooch [Baloch] tribes, and British relations with Khans of Khelat for purposes of alleviating the conflicts

Folios 320-352: Report, dated 30 November 1872, by Colonel Phayre to Colonel Merewether, detailing his visit to the Frontier, including places visited, geography, inhabitants, warring tribes

Folios 353-386: printed reports to Colonel Merewether, on disturbances in Kelat, notably conflict between Murree and Boogtees and British relations with the Khans of Kelat. Reports by Colonel Phayre, 15 February 1872, and Captain R Sandeman, on Special Duty in Jacobabad, 6 March 1872, accompanied by Merewether’s letters and detailed comments criticising the analysis and actions of both Phayre and Sandeman, January-March 1872

Folios 387-401: Document ‘Notes on Persia’ by Lieutenant-Colonel J Holland, Quartermaster-General, Bombay, originally prepared for Lord Elphinstone in February 1854, with table of the ‘Route between Bushire and Shiraz’, covering terrain, climate, roads, villages, availability of supplies and water, assailability, value of possible British possessions

Folio 402: Coloured ‘Sketch showing the localities of the Tribes on the Frontier of Upper Sind, 1854