IOR/F/4/2122/100072

The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence and minutes cited in, or enclosed with, a Political Letter from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] to the East India Company Court of Directors, dated 10 June 1845. Further enclosures to this letter can be found in IOR/F/4/2122/100073.

The item refers to a request by the Governor General of India for political officers to provide details on the Company’s political relations with ‘native states’. The majority of the item is made up of the subsequent response from Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Captain in the Indian Navy and Political Agent at Aden, who provides information on Aden and the surrounding territory.

His report (ff 311-347) is split into:

• A history of Aden and Yemen from AH 7 [c 628 AD] to the mid-1830s (ff 311-328), including a ‘Table Shewing the descent of the present reigning Family at Lahedge [Lahij]’ (f 325)
• A description of the events at Aden between 1837-43, including Haines’s dealings with M’Hassan Foudthel, the Sultan of Aden [Sultan Muḥsin bin Faḍl al-'Abdalī, Sultan of Lahij], and how Aden came to be under British control (ff 328-337)
• A brief description of the tribes in the territories surrounding Aden (f 338)
• A brief note on the climate of Aden (f 339).

Haines’s report also contains several enclosures:

• Letters sent by Haines to Captain Smith, Senior Naval Officer at Aden, and Major S Bailie, Commanding the Military Force, in January 1839 requesting their aid in taking Aden under British control (ff 340-341)
• A letter from Haines to the Government of Bombay, 25 January 1839, describing the storming of Aden by the British in January 1839 (ff 341-343)
• A copy of a treaty concluded by Haines and the Sultan, 11 February 1843 (ff 343-345)
• A copy of the bond obtained from the Sultan, signed 20 February 1844, confirming the salary he will receive from the British as well as an oath of loyalty on behalf of himself and all individuals under his jurisdiction (ff 345-346)
• A map of the ‘South Coast of Arabia’ [south-western Yemen], April 1845, indicating: mountain ranges; settlements; tribal regions; and areas of cultivation (f 347).

Correspondents: Haines; the governments of Bombay and India; M’Hassan Foudthel; and Sultan Ahmed [Sultan Aḥmad bin Muḥsin al-‘Abdalī], son of M’Hassan Foudthel.

The majority of the material in the item is dated from 1838-45, apart from the original circular sent by the Governor-General of India, which is dated 17 October 1833.

M’Hassan Foudthel is also written as M’Houssain Fudthel and M’Houssain Futthel.

The title page of the item contains the following references: ‘Bombay Political Department’, ‘P.C. [Previous Communication] 5061, Coll[ection]: 20, Vol: 1, Draft 29/46’, ‘Collection N. 1 of N. 59’ and ‘Examiner’s Office’.