IOR/F/4/2475/138728

The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence and minutes cited in, or enclosed with, a Political Letter from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors, 31 March 1852, and found at IOR/F/4/2475/138723. It is the fifth in a series of eight items about the Persian Gulf.

The item relates to the leave of absences, first temporary and then permanent, granted to Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Hennell, Resident in the Persian Gulf, who feels compelled to return to Europe on health grounds. In particular, the item concerns:

• Arrangements for Hennell's interim replacement, complicated by the temporary absence of Captain Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Assistant Resident in the Persian Gulf, who is filling in for Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Rawlinson, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia [Ottoman Iraq]
• Details of Hennell's health status and his applications for leave
• Hennell's suggestion that Mr Edwards, Residency Accountant, should receive rewards on account of his work in Kemball's absence
• Kemball's return to Bushire [Bushehr] to resume the position of Assistant Resident
• Hennell's resignation letter, dated 17 March 1852, which includes reflections on the current status of the Gulf
• Appointment of Kemball as Hennell's replacement
• Proposals to abolish the position of Assistant Resident once Kemball becomes Resident.

Correspondents include: Hennell; Gilbert James Blane, Acting Civil Auditor; and the governments of Bombay and India.

The title page of the item contains the following references: 'Bombay Political Department', 'Draft No. 733 of 1852', 'Collection No 7', 'Vol: 5', and 'Examiner's Office'. Originally, the Collection number was given as '5 of No. 35' but this has been crossed out.