IOR/L/PS/9/23

The volume consists of despatches to the Duke of Argyll, Secretary of State for India, from Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Charles Ross, Acting Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, dated 7 August-27 December 1873, forwarding copies of his despatches to the Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.

The despatches contain enclosures consisting of correspondence, telegrams, reports and other papers sent and received by the Acting Political Resident, chiefly comprising: his communications with Major Samuel Barrett Miles, Acting Political Agent and HM Consul, Muscat, and Major Charles Grant, First Assistant Resident, Persian Gulf, at Bahrain [also spelled Bahrein in this volume]; reports of the News Writer at Bahrain [also called the News Agent or News Collector in this volume], the British Agent at Shargah [Sharjah] [also called the British Native Agent on the Arab Coast in this volume], and the British Government Agent, Shiraz. Correspondents also include: the rulers of Bahrain, Muscat, and the ‘Trucial States’; Arabian leaders in Najd [also spelled Nejd in this volume]; Ottoman and Persian officials; HM Minister at Tehran; British naval officers; and British merchants.

The volume covers and includes the following:

Affairs in Najd, particularly:

• Intelligence of Turkish [Ottoman] troop and naval movements on the Najd coast, notably Kuteef [Qatif, also spelled Kateef in this volume] and Ojair [Uqair]
• Reports of Turkish oppression of Arab populations in Turkish occupied Najd, notably Lahsa [Al-Ahsa], and Guttur [Qatar]
• The whereabouts and activities of brothers Saood and Abdullah bin Feysul [Sa‘ūd and ‘Abdullāh bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd], notably their continuing power struggle and alleged peace overtures, and unsuccessful Turkish attempts to draw Abdullah into an alliance
• The alleged design of Turkish authorities at Najd to capture the fort of Beyremee [Al Buraymi] in Oman, potentially with the collusion of the Ruler of Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi]
• Documentation required by any British vessel carrying out survey operations on the Kuteef coast, to avoid confrontations with the Turkish authorities
• The prohibition by Ottoman authorities on the export of Arabian horses from Turkish occupied Najd.

Affairs relating to Persia [Iran], particularly:

• A memorial signed by the principal British and British Indian merchants of Busreh [Basra] and Bushire [Bushehr], petitioning for a reduction in rates charged by the British and Turkish governments for transmission of telegraphic messages between Bushire, Busreh and Baghdad
• The potential supply to the British of coal from the Bakhtiaree [Bakhtiari] Hills
• The recommendation by HM Minister in Tehran that Ross is not obliged to respond to a request by the Agent of Baron de Reuter for information on customs, tonnage and cargo in Bushire and southern Persia
• Minutes and accounts of the Persian Famine Relief Committee at Bushire
• The complaint of Messrs Gray Paul & Co concerning ‘irregular’ levies by Persian officials of transit duty on their goods passing to the interior of Persia
• The robbery and wounding of Captain Guthrie, Commander of the Bombay Marine Vessel May Frere, in the district of Bushire, including the (largely unsuccessful) efforts of Residency staff, Persian Government officials and HM Minister at Tehran to apprehend and punish the offenders and recover the stolen property.

Affairs in the Persian Gulf, particularly:

• The occupation of Guttur [Qatar] by Turkish troops and the enforced subjugation of its largest town, el Bidda [Al Bidda]
• The question of the sovereignty of Guttur and the competing interests of Oman, the Wahabees [Wahhābīs], and the Ruler of Bahrain [‘Īsá bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah] who claims jurisdiction over the village of Zobarah [Zubarah] inhabited by members of the Naim [al- Na‘īm] tribe, his alleged subjects
• Reports of affairs on the Arabian side of the Gulf, notably covering relations between the rulers of Debaye [Dubai], Aboothabee, Shargah, Ras al Kheimeh [Ra’s al-Khaymah] and Amulgawaine [Umm al-Qaywayn], and pearl fishing and divers
• The rejection by Ross and the Ruler of Bahrain of a scheme proposed by British merchants to form a company to obtain supplies of pearls from the Gulf using modern scientific appliances
• The ‘piratical’ proceedings of a Persian named Abdullah Khan [‘Abdullāh Khān], the former ‘Zabit’ or Governor of Deeloom [Bandar-e Deylam?], in the vicinity of Bunder Deeloom
• The British-led investigation of an ‘outrage’ committed on the Persian coast at an inlet called Khor Boozee [also spelled Khoor Borzee and Khor Boozeeyeh in this volume], which involved the murder of a nakhoda [nakhuda]. Included are telegrams, in French, between HM Minister at Tehran, Ross and Persian Government officials (folios 413, 415, 438 and 457-58.)

Affairs relating to Oman and Seyyid Toorkee [Turkī bin Sayyid Āl Bū Sa’īd], Sultan [Sulṭān] of Muscat [also spelled Muskat in this file], particularly:

• The unsuccessful uprising by Saleh bin Ali El Harithi [Ṣāliḥ bin ‘Alī, Banū al-Ḥārithī] and his Hinawi [al-Hināwī] supporters in El Sharkiyeh [Ash-Sharqiyyah], and their failure to attack Muttra [Muttrah] and Muscat after being repulsed by the Ghafiree [Ghāfirī] tribe
• Seyyid Toorkee’s capture of the Sohar fort from Ibrahim bin Kais [Ibrāhīm bin Qays Āl Bū Sa’īd]
• The failure of Seyyid Abdool Azeez [Sayyid ‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd’], also spelled Abdul and Abool in this volume] to occupy Gwadur [Gwadar]; and his capture, arrest, and removal to Kurrachee [Karachi] on HMS Columbine
• The successful treatment of Seyyid Toorkee’s serious illness at Burka [Barka], by Dr Jayakar, Assistant Surgeon, Muscat
• Seyyid Toorkee’s financial problems, largely due to necessary payments of subsidies to ‘Bedouins, Arab tribes, and various parties who sway the current of political events in Oman’ (f 467), and military campaign costs
• Seyyid Toorkee’s marriage, public works, charitable donations, and request for British assistance in acquiring a small steam vessel to improve communications with his Oman and Mekran coast territories
• The murder of Thoweynee bin Mahommed [Thuwaynī bin Muḥammad], late Wazir [Vazīr] to Seyyid Toorkee, on the streets of Muscat
• Verification that Seyyid Salim bin Thoweynee [Sayyid Sālim bin Thuwaynī Āl Bū Sa‘īd] has not captured Gwadur as recently reported, but remains quietly in Persian territory (Dushtyaree [Dashtiari])
• Debate amongst British officials over the true reason why the commodore of a Turkish squadron arriving at Muscat port fired a twenty-one gun royal salute by whilst flying the Turkish flag.

Matters relating to the trade in enslaved persons, including: measures taken by Miles to cancel the sale of four African enslaved people to an officer of a Turkish vessel; guidance that British ships avoid, if humanely possible, receiving on board fugitives, particularly ‘domestic slaves’ who are pearl divers with Arab owners; and Queen Victoria’s ratification of the Treaty with the Sultan of Muscat for the suppression of the trade.

Précis of intelligence from the British Government Agent at Shiraz, notably covering robberies, unrest and racial and tribal conflicts.