IOR/L/PS/9/20

The volume consists of despatches to the Duke of Argyll, Secretary of State for India, from Lewis Pelly, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, dated 13 January-26 June 1872, forwarding copies of his despatches to the Secretary to Government, Political Department, Bombay. The despatches contain enclosures consisting of correspondence, telegrams, reports and other papers sent and received chiefly by the Political Resident. Each despatch is stamped: in blue ink with the date it was received in the India Office Secret Department; and with red ink with the route via which it was mailed (either ‘via Southampton’ or ‘via Brindisi’).

A large portion of the volume relates to the Turkish [Ottoman] Expedition in Nujd [Najd, also spelled this way in the volume] and occupation of parts of the Gulf coast of the Arabian Peninsula, in particular Lahsah [Al-Hasa, also spelled Lahsa and L. Hassa in this volume], Kuteef [Al-Qatif, also spelled Khatif and Kateef in this volume], Odayd [Khawr al Udayd], El Biddah [Al Bidda, also spelled Biddah in this volume], and Ojair [Al ‘Uqayr]. Topics covered include:

• The activities of brothers Abdullah and Saood ben Faysul [‘Abdullāh and Sa‘ūd bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd (Feysul also used in this volume)], including: reports of their reconciliation; Saood’s apparent attempts to both defeat as well as achieve favourable terms with the Ottoman Governor of Lahsah, Ferek Pāshā [also spelled Fereek and Ferrek in this volume]; Abdullah’s continuance at Riadh [Riyadh]; and Saood’s defeat near Kowait [Kuwait]
• The movements and actions of Turkish military governors and occupying forces, including: Ferek Pasha’s replacement by his less conciliatory and consequently unpopular namesake; military operations; the embarkation and landing of troops and supplies by sea; and the condition and health of the Turkish troops
• Turkish relations with Bahrain [also spelled Bahrein in this volume], concerning: the murder near Bahrain of a Turkish messenger; and the ‘irregular’ detention at Bahrain of two craft which the Ottoman authorities claim had been ‘plundered’ at Kateef by Saood ben Faysul
• British suspicions regarding Turkish ambitions to invade Bahrain, and the British policy of ‘protection’ towards the ‘Chief’ of Bahrain, Esaw ben Alli [‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfah; also spelled Eysaw and Eysau, and bin Ali in this volume]
• Turkish intentions regarding pearl boats, including the levying of taxes, and the pearl banks, especially off the Guttur [Qatar] and Kateef coasts, and Pelly’s insistence that a British vessel of war patrol the area during the pearl fishery season
• Turkish relations with and actions towards the ‘Trucial Chiefs’, the rulers of Guttur and Kowait, and the local populations on the eastern Arabian coast.

Also covered significantly in the volume is the state of affairs in Oman, the persistent threats to the position and financial stability of the Sultan of Muscat [Sulṭān of Muscat, also spelled Muskat in this volume], Syud Toorkee bin Saeed [Turkī bin Sayyid Āl Bū Sa’īd; Seyyid and Toorki also used in this volume], and the Sultan’s relations with the British Agent and Consul at Muscat, Major Edward Charles Ross, and with Pelly. Topics covered include:

• Hostilities between Syud Toorkee and the Governor of Sohar, Ibrahim bin Kais [Ibrāhīm bin Qais Āl Bū Sa’īd; Ebrahim and Gheis also used in this volume], over control of the coast north-west of Muscat, notably Khabooreh [Al Khaburah], Shinas and Lawa [Liwa]
• The activities of former Sultan of Muscat, Syud Salim bin Thoweynee [Sayyid Sālim bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Sa’īd; various spellings used in this volume], against Syud Toorkee, southward of Muscat, notably his attempts to take Soor [Sur], plans to move on Muscat, efforts to raise campaigning funds from Zanzibar, and ‘intrigues’ at Bideeyah [Bidiya, also spelled Bideeya in this volume], and Jaalan [Jalan Bani Bu Ali]
• British suspicions of alliances against Syud Toorkee between Ibrahim bin Kais, Syud Salim, and (inland at Ibra) Saleh bin Ali [Ṣāliḥ bin Alī, Banū al-Ḥārithī; Sauleh also used in this volume]
• Syud Toorkee’s expressions of his lack of money and ‘pressing need’ of the ‘Zanzibar subsidy’ from the Sultan of Zanzibar
• The various and changing tribal allegiances to the leading adversaries in Oman
• The efforts of the Muscat government to push back Persian [Iranian] encroachment in Charbar [Chahbahar] and Gwadur [Gwadar].

Other matters notably covered in this volume include:

• The proceedings of the Persian Famine Relief Committee at Bushire [Bushehr] chaired by Pelly
• The detention, by Ibrahim bin Kais, of British Indian merchants at Sohar, and the measures taken by Ross and Pelly to gain their release
• The question of the right to British protection of Messrs. Malcolm & Co., residing at Bushire, following the company’s complaint about extra duty levied on their goods at Yezd [Yazd] (including a document in Persian, f 217)
• The appointment by the US Navy Department of Messrs Gray Paul & Co, as agents for ‘the supply of coal and all other necessaries to the United States War Ships’ (f 385) visiting the port of Bushire
• Pelly’s disapproval of the acceptance by the British Postmaster at Muscat, of an appointment by the Oman and Ottoman Steam Navigation Company to act as agent for Turkish steamers at the port (including his letter of appointment in French, f 330)
• Pelly’s disapproval of the attempts of an English private company to prosecute pearl fishery at Ras-el-Tanoureh [Ras Tanura] and the ‘Nejdian coast’
• The torture (by bastinado) of two ‘inoffensive and respectable Arab merchants’ (f 832), under Turkish protection, by the Persian Foreign Office Agent at Bushire
• Pelly’s report of the covert, anti-British and pro-Turkish proceedings of the Dutch Consul at Bushire (including an extract of the Consul’s 1871 letter to Pelly, in French, denying any connection with the Ottomans, f 836).

As well as the Political Resident, the primary correspondents in Pelly’s enclosures are: Major Ross; Captain Charles Grant, Assistant Political Resident, Bahrain (also referred to as the Second Assistant to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf); Syud Toorkee, his military commander and chief minister; Ibrahim bin Kais; the ‘Chief’ of Bahrain; James Charles Edwards, Uncovenanted Assistant to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the ‘News Writer’ at Bahrain; Charles Alison, HM Minister at Teheran [Tehran]; various British naval commanding officers and Turkish, Persian and British officials; the Government of Bombay; and British Indian traders and merchants.