Mss Eur F126/33

Drafts and copies of the reports, despatches and letters that Lewis Pelly submitted to His Excellency Earl Canning, Viceroy of India and Charles Alison, British Minister at Tehran during his special duty in Afghanistan.

These drafts include Pelly's daily despatches from his stay at Herat, which are numbered 1-16, and include the special reports he was asked to compile on subjects ranging from the situation with the Persian Army following their battle with the Turcoman's at Merv; the state of affairs in Bokhara [Bukhara]; the movements and intentions of the Russian Mission to Herat; and the commercial and political state of affairs in Herat. Also included are copies of correspondence between the Viceroy and Sirdar Sultan Ahmed Khan, Governor of Herat, in which the Sultan expresses his desire to establish more friendly relations with the British Government.

The later correspondence dates from 1861 and relates to Pelly's salary for the special duty, the travelling expenses incurred by him, and recommendations for gifts for local rulers that assisted Pelly en-route.

The final item includes copies of Pelly's daily journal entries, the full versions of which can be found at Mss Eur F126/30 and Mss Eur F126/31, along with an additional entry dated 10 September 1864 in which Pelly explains why there were no journal entries for his visit to Candahar [Kandahar] and his onward journey back to India, and provides details of them.