IOR/L/PS/9/68/223

Copy of a letter from Major-General Sir William Grant Keir, aboard HMS Liverpool at the Cove of Muscat, to HM Chargé d'Affaires to Persia [Iran], Henry Willock, of 14 November 1819. The letter reports the embarkation of the British expedition, of which Grant Keir is a commander, to the Persian Gulf to attack Ras ul Khyma [Ra’s al-Khaymah] and other ports accused by the British of piracy in the Persian Gulf. Grant Keir encloses a copy of a letter from the Governor of Bombay to the Prince of Sheraz [Shiraz] concerning the expedition (not included in this item, see IOR/L/PS/9/68/213), and communicates the view of the Government of India that the expedition is of mutual benefit to Britain and Persia and that the sovereignty of the Persian Government is to be respected.

The letter was enclosed in Willock’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 10 January 1820 (see IOR/L/PS/9/68/222), which was received from the Foreign Office on 20 April 1820.