IOR/F/4/1380/55099

The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence, minutes and resolutions cited in, or enclosed with, letters from the Government of Bombay, the Government of Bengal, and the Court of Directors of the East India Company.

The item relates to the suggestion – first in 1828 by Captain David Wilson, the Resident in the Persian Gulf, and again in 1832 by David Anderson Blane, Wilson’s successor – to remove the Residency at Bushire [Būshehr] to the nearby island of Kharrack [Jazīreh-ye Khārk]. In particular the item concerns:

• The temporary removal in March 1832, due of the outbreak of plague, of the Residency at Bushire to the island of Corgo beside Kharrack, and Blane’s arguments in favour of making this move permanent
• The Government of Bombay’s subsequent revisiting of the points raised during Wilson’s earlier suggestion in 1828
• Wilson’s research in 1828 into potential sites to which the Residency at Bushire could be relocated, with Kharrack found to be the most favourable option
• Discussions in 1828 of the allowances for numerous Residents and Agents throughout the Persian Gulf and options for reducing expenses
• Research commissioned by the Supreme Government [Government of Bengal] in 1828 to ascertain comparative costs of establishing a footing on Kharrack and maintaining the Residencies at Bushire and Bussorah [Basra]
• Suggestion by the Calcutta Financial Committee in 1830 to abolish the Agency at Bussorah and consolidate the affairs of the Gulf under one authority which would be titled ‘Political Agent in the Gulf of Persia’
• Discussions of the viability of acquiring Kharrack from Persia
• The survey of Kharrack by Lieutenant Samuel Hennell, Assistant in Charge of the Residency in the Persian Gulf, in 1831 to ascertain costs of establishing military fortifications on the island.

The principal correspondents in the item are: Wilson; Blane; the Court of Directors; and numerous secretaries heading various departments within the governments of Bombay and Bengal. Other correspondents include: Hennell; John Wedderburn, Civil Auditor and Accountant General, Bombay; Pasha of Bagdad [Dāwūd Pasha, Governor of Baghdad]; Lieutenant-Colonel David Barr, Military Auditor General, Bombay; Sir Charles Malcolm, Superintendent of the Indian Navy.

The item also contains a lengthy Minute by John Malcolm, the Governor of Bombay, which mentions numerous policies applicable to the Residency at Bushire (f 49 recto – f 55 recto).

The ‘Resident/Residency in the Persian Gulf’ is also referred to as the ‘Resident/Residency at Bushire’ throughout the item.

The title page of the item contains the following references: 'Bombay Political Department No. 2’, ‘P.C. 1216, Draft 111, 1834' and 'Examiner's Office'.