IOR/R/15/1/193

The volume is a weekly diary registering English and Arabic or Persian (vernacular) correspondence received at and sent from the Residency, and political intelligence received at the Residency from British representatives (agents and telegraph station operators) at Bahrain, the Arab Coast (Sharjah), Muscat, Tehran, Shīrāz, Isfahan, Gwādar, and Bandar-e Lengeh.

Entries for received correspondence (received in either the English or Vernacular Office) are recorded with serial number, date and sender, the subject matter of the correspondence, and actions taken. Entries for issued correspondence (sent from either the English or Vernacular Office) are recorded with serial number, date, recipient and subject matter. Political intelligence comprises: the arrivals and departures of individuals or vessels at or from Bushire; reports on the actions and movements of the region’s rulers; financial affairs, including taxation; relations between the region’s neighbouring tribes, including conflicts, raids, alliances; robberies and killings; and pearl fishing season activity. Over the course of the diary, the recording of intelligence from the various agents around the Gulf becomes more thorough and systematic.

Folios 35A and 36 are letters (dated 7 April and 24 April 1883 respectively) exchanged between Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Charles Ross, the Resident in the Persian Gulf and Captain Thomas Hope, relating to an enquiry over the importation of cannon artillery, as recorded in the Political Diary.