IOR/L/PS/9/67

Letters and enclosures received by the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company concerning the relations of the United Kingdom and the Government of Bengal with Qājār Persia [Iran] between 1799 and 1812.

The file focusses on the three missions of John Malcolm to Persia as Envoy of the Supreme Government of India (i.e. the Government of Bengal) in 1800, 1808, and 1810, and the 1808-1810 mission of Sir Harford Jones, British Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia. It also includes correspondence related to the 1809-1810 mission of the Persian Ambassador Mirza Abul Hassan to London. These missions led to the conclusion of commercial and political treaties between Britain and Persia in 1801 and the Preliminary Treaty of 1809.

Persia became significant in the foreign policy of Britain and India in this period in the context of the Napoleonic Wars (1800-1815) and the interlinked Russo-Persian War (1804-1813). Persia is approached in this series from the standpoint of geopolitics and imperial strategy: the Government of Bengal’s concern with external defence, particularly in respect to France and also at times Russia and Afghanistan, is a key theme of the file.

Other subjects addressed in the series include: the war of succession in Afghanistan in 1801; relations with Muscat; and Malcolm’s proposed security strategy in the Gulf which bypasses the need for an alliance with Persia.

Principal British correspondents include: John Malcolm; Harford Jones; the Governor of Bengal; the Board of Control; and the Court of Directors of the East India Company. Principal Persian correspondents include the Shah (Fath-'Ali Shāh Qājār) and the Prime Minister (also referred to in the correspondence as Grand Vizier or Sadr-e ‘Azam). Some of the correspondence is in Farsi. The file also contains some correspondence in French, in particular from Claude-Matthieu Gardane, French Envoy to Persia.