IOR/F/4/2133/101402

The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence, minutes and resolutions cited in, or enclosed with, an extract of a Political Letter from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] to the East India Company Court of Directors, dated 24 December 1845.

The item relates to requests made to the Government of Bombay by Abul Hassan Khan Sherazee [Mīrzā Abū al-Ḥasan Khān Shirāzī], Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Shah of Persia [Iran]. Citing a similar arrangement that the Government had with the Persian Prince Futteh Oollah Khan [Fatḥ-‘Alī Khān], he requests that the Government will become trustees of any property he has remaining in the Government's treasuries at the time of his death and will take on the role of executors of his will. He also requests that, after his death, the Government will continue to pay half of his pension to his surviving sons.

The requests are considered and discussed by: the governments of Bombay and India; W C Bruce, Accountant General, Bombay; and the Court of Directors. Details on the arrangement with Prince Futteh Oollah Khan are also included, as well as details of the original arrangement for Abul Hassan Khan Sherazee’s pension which was agreed in 1810.

The item contains two versions of Abul Hassan Khan Sherazee’s will. The first, dated 8 January 1842 and forwarded by Sir John McNeill, HM Envoy at the Court of Persia, can be found at folios 679-681. The second, dated 4 May 1843 and forwarded by Lieutenant Colonel Justin Sheil, HM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran, can be found at folios 692-695.

There are multiple spellings for Abul Hassan Khan Sherazee within the item.

The majority of the item’s contents date from between 1842-45, with the exceptions of a few extracts quoted from letters dating from 1810.

The title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Bombay Political Department’, ‘P.C. [Previous Communication] 5196, Draft 323/46, Coll[ection] 7’, ‘Collection N. 8 of N. 144’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.