IOR/L/PS/5/376, ff 104-130

This item comprises correspondence between Thomas Herbert Maddock, Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General, and John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to the Government, Bombay [Mumbai], with relevant enclosures, and minutes of the Governors in Council. The enclosures comprise letters to and from: Captain Samuel Hennell, Political Resident, Persian Gulf; Lieutenant-Colonel James Shirreff, Commanding the Detachment at Karrak [Kharg, also known as Khark]; the Adjutant-General of the Army; Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin Shee, Commanding the British Detachment in Persia [Iran]; the Superintendent of the Indian Navy; the Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq]; and the Judge Advocate-General.

The papers mainly cover:

• The approbation of the Governor-General of India for the actions undertaken by the Hennell relating to Khooshed Pasha [Khūrshid Pāshā], Commanding the Egyptian Army in Nedgd [Najd, also known as Nejd], and negotiations for the possible return of the Residency from Karrak to Bushire [Bushehr]
• The disapprobation of the Governor-General of the expulsion of Sheik Nasir [Shaikh Nāṣir Āl Mazkūr II, a former Governor of Bushire] from the island of Karrak by Liuetenant-Colonel Shirreff, who is considered to have over-stepped his authority and interfered in political matters which are the remit of the Political Resident
• Arrangements for the removal of the British detachment in Persia, (if deemed by Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Sheil , HM Chargé d’Affaires at Tehran, to be no longer required by the Shah of Persia), to Bagdad [Baghdad] and then Karrak for onward sea transport to Bombay, including statement by the Adjutant-General of the Army of the strength and disposition of the British detachment in Persia (f 118)
• Lieutenant-Colonel Shirreff’s request for powers to assemble General Courts Martial in order to deal with the alleged threat to security at Karrak from Persia, ‘incendiaries’ and ‘well-poisoners’, and assent to his request on condition that, unless under attack or siege, capital punishments must be referred to a superior authority.

There is a note at the beginning of the item stating that the ‘Enclosure in Bombay Secret Letter No. 78, dated 20th June 1839, is missing from this Collection.’