Political Residency, Bushire: letters received and sent

IOR/R/15/1/1-118

Political Residency, Bushire: letters received and sent

1763-1849

The records consist of correspondence received ('letters inward') and sent ('letters outward') by the Political Residency, Bushire. Much of the early correspondence is with the East India Company Agent at Bussora [Basra]; later with the Government of Bombay in its various departments, other British Agents and naval officers in the Persian Gulf, and local Arab and Persian rulers and officials. There is also some correspondence with the Government of India in Bengal and the British Government in London. The records are as follows:. IOR/R/15/1/1-5: letters received and sent, 1763-1803; IOR/R/15/1/6-9: diaries, 1803-1807; IOR/R/15/1/10-37: letters received and sent, 1806-1826; IOR/R/15/1/38-118: letters received and sent, 1826-1849; The diaries consist of chronological diary entries containing transcripts of correspondence received and sent, supplemented by notes on the arrival and departure of vessels at Bushire.

The correspondence volumes of the Bushire Residency in the early years of its history were of a general nature, but by the 1830s, as the business of the Residency expanded, the volumes became increasingly specialised, so that by the 1830s there were three types of compilation: 'General' correspondence with Bombay etc., 'Native' correspondence, and 'Secret' correspondence. Letters from Bombay were by this date bound up according to the relevant department from which they emanated (e.g. Political, Military, Marine) and under Bombay Government letter numbers. The date of despatch and date of receipt are given, and enclosures are bound with the letters. Letters Outward were kept in chronological order and numbered according to their destination (i.e. with a separate numerical sequence for each Bombay department) while enclosures were either bound with the individual covering letter or referred to by their page number in another compilation (e.g. Inward Letter Book or 'Translation Book'). Letters to destinations other than Bombay were unnumbered. The volumes known as 'Translation Books' or 'Native' correspondence contain translations of letters received in Arabic or Persian and draft letters to be translated into those languages before being despatched. Enclosures to Native letters inward were bound with their covering letters and a note was made in the general correspondence with Bombay of their page numbers in the relevant Translation Book. The Translation Books also indicate the number of the covering letter under which copies of Arabic/Persian letters received were despatched to Bombay. The third group, 'Secret' correspondence, comprises mainly letters to and from the Bombay Secret Department, the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors, the Ambassador or Envoy in Persia, and anyone else with whom Secret correspondence was thought to be desirable. Secret letters outward were noted in the general letter books as having been entered in the Secret Letter Book. All the correspondence volumes were previously numbered chronologically with a 'Book Number', which is given in the detailed list. [From Penelope Tuson, The Records of the British Residency and Agencies in the Persian Gulf, IOR/R/15 (London: India Office Library and Records, 1979)].

Public Record(s)

Arabic; English; Farsi; French; Hindi; Persian; Turkish, Ottoman

118 files and volumes

Unrestricted